
Krefeld, GERMANY 2019
BAUHAUS Europa - Designing the future
First European Arts and Education Labs
2019 our arts4all-Meeting was part of the 3-day-conference 'Bauhaus Europa - Designing the future', in Krefeld, Germany.
There are strong messages which are as simple as they are plausible. “Bauhaus“ is such a message. “Europe“ is such a message. (Youth) Art and Culture Schools also immediately make sense to every European: All the arts under one single roof and accessible to all children and to all youngsters – no more, but also no less.
Therefore, what could be more logical than to place the Jugendkunstschultage NRW, the biennial Youth Art School Conference of North Rhine-Westphalia, under the “European roof” in 2019 – year of the Bauhaus centenary, of the European elections and first Benelux year for North Rhine-Westphalia? – Especially since everybody knows that the easiest and most fundamental things are often the ones hardest to achieve: How do we want to live in our “Bauhaus Europe“? And how do we provide the space for possibility and realization, the horizon, the thrust and the long breath for the ways of living that we desire most?
Together with our sponsors and partners – the Youth Ministry of North Rhine-Westphalia (MKFFI), the Fonds Soziokultur, the city of Krefeld, the Youth Art Schools both in the Werkhaus and in the Citizen’s Initiative Around St. Josef and the European Art Schools Network arts4all we were able to design our common future in Krefeld, remarkable milestone of “Bauhaus in the West“!
Find the programme here.

NETHERLANDS 2018
arts4tomorrow?
Art schools as micro laboratories for visions of future society
arts4all-Meeting
11th-13th June 2018 in Leeuwarden, European Capital of Culture, Netherlands
Leeuwarden-Friesland 2018 tackles it's Capital-of-Culture-year by sticking its head above the parapet: Aim is to bring about (positive) change to the province, the country and to Europe presenting its community as an OPEN community ('iepen minskip'). Leeuwarden-Friesland is aware of the chances that appear in listening to new insights and by being flexible and adjusting without losing its identity.
Referring to the Seoul agenda on arts education (UNSECO, 2010), to the Millenium Development Goals (EU, 2015) and to the motto of Leeuwarden 2018, this year's arts4all-meeting, 'arts4tomorrow? Art schools as micro laboratories for visions of future society' is picking up on this topics by raising the question: How do European Art Schools deal with future questions like poverty, ageing population, exodus from rural areas, (trans)migration, growing world population and climate change within their curricular activities for children and young people? How can arts education contribute to an open society or even create community? How can Art Schools effect cultural development in rural areas?
Daniel Vandersmissen (Flanders Belgium)
Presentation Curriculum
Julia Nierstheimer (Germany)

DENMARK 2017
Rethink architecture!
arts4all-Meeting
25th-27th august 2017 in Aarhus, European Capital of Culture, Denmark
From 25th to 27th august 2017 the arts4all-meeting took place in Aarhus in Denmark.
19 participants from Denmark, Finland, Flanders/Belgium and Germany met in the European
Capital of Culture 2017. Under the title 'Rethink architecture' there were following presentations
Daniel Vandermissen (Flanders/Belgium): reTHINK - a battle of goals and structures.
For the part-time art education in Flandres (and Brussels)Hanne Algot Jeppesen (Denmark): Message to the future - Children's arts opening and further development afterwards (Gunnild Bak de Ridder), Aarhus School of Arts and Media
Eeva Aastala (Finland): The New Curriculum of Architecture in
Basic Education in the ArtsAnu Hietala (Finland): Finnish examples of architecture education projects
Jaana Rausanen (Finland): Experiencing Architecutre - Case:
Children in the City/Urban Space AgentsStephan Gustin (Denmark): Architecture in Aarhus 2017
Sibylle Keupen (Germany): Creative spaces in unusual locations or: how architecture can push cultural education
- Pia Buchardt (Denmark): Aarhus as European Capital of Culture
We visited
Godsbanen, Centre for cultural production in Aarhus
Aarhus School of Arts and Media, Brobjergskolen
DOKK1 (new Library and Citizens' Services at Aarhus Harbour)
'The mobile architecture workshop'/Architecture and Building Days
ARoS Aarhus Art Museum
- and a lot of other locations and events connected with 'Aarhus 2017'
PHOTO GALLERY
BELGIUM 2015
Arts for all?
The role of arts schools in current society
arts4all meeting: 8th November - 10th November 2015, Diest, Belgium &
Pre-Opening: 7th - 8th November 2015, Mons, European Capital of Culture, Belgium
The last EU youth report has come to many positive results. The rate of youngsters between 15 and 29 years who reached higher education degrees, for example increased from 33.8% to 37.9%. Also are 82% taking part in social networks, 50% are members of organisations, 25% are engaged in voluntary work. On the other hand there are 13.7 Mio. youngsters in Europe who are neither in education nor in work. The risk of being unemployed for youngsters with migration backgrounds, health problems and lower education is 50% higher than it is for others in the same ages. The report states that those youngsters are also participating less in politics, culture and voluntary activities. It describes an increasing gap, which is connected with the European crises. There are well-educated youngsters, taking part in society on the one hand and on the other, there are young people with less chance to participate and to live the life they want to. Those young people are threated to be discriminated and marginalized.
Arts education strengthens the subject and helps children to find their own talents. Arts schools and centers of creativity as part of the infrastructure of arts education in Europe ensure cultural education for young people beside the formal school sectors. The societal changes stated above influence questions of participation, accessibility, educational goals, content, diversity politics, learning methods, cooperation partners and digital strategies of arts schools. Remembering the UNESCO development goals on arts education, we will ask, if our institutions are fit for contemporary challenges. What frame conditions do we need to support the right to learn arts for and with everybody on high levels of quality? What are good concepts and examples that might be able to be models for other art schools in Europe?
The voluntary pre-opening meeting in Mons, capital of culture 2015 will be connected with the youth exchange 'I is another', that had been developed within the arts4all network. Youngsters from Mons, Brugge, Riga, Aachen and Munster will present their results after one week of art workshops. There will also be time to explore the Capital of Culture together.
RIGA 2014
SLOVENIA 2012
COMING CLOSER!
HIGH QUALITY IN ARTS EDUCATION
Participation, strategies, discussion & ART KAMP!
arts4all Meeting: 4th-7th July 2012
Arts Education has gained recognizable attention during the last 10 years. It no longer is a concept discussed only by a small number of experts (See UNESCO Development Goals on Arts Education, 2010). Festival agendas of the European City of Culture also content arts education programmes. On the one hand that is a great benefit and chance to find broader recognition for our work and concepts within main stream societies. On the other hand in some countries new 'experts' and providers of arts education services arise from different backgrounds and with different qualities. Since the first arts4all meeting in 2005, we continually reckon that arts schools work quite different within European countries. That concerns financial, pedagogical and structural matters as well as political strategies. However, all art schools and art school associations claim high quality. How can we ensure quality in arts education and communicate that we are providers of high quality arts education? How can our concepts and projects provide access to quality arts education for all young people in Europe? How can popularity of arts education help to sustainable finance extracurricular arts education? How do we deal with our differences?
arts4all meeting goal in 2012 is to come closer, to learn more about art school practice and politics within Europe and in a second step to discuss our common strategic interests. The three day meeting is not only linked to 'TURNING POINT' - The Programme of the European Capital of Culture at Maribor and to the FESTIVAL LENT, but deeply integrated in the 'ART KAMP' - the festival part of arts education programme run by our hosts of Centre of Arts Education (Kulturno izobraževalno sredi - KIS) at Narodni dom Maribor.
TEXT DOWNLOAD
Programme Arts4all Meeting 2012: 4th-7th July 2012, Maribor, Slovenia
Perspectives of Riga 2014
by Alina Plorina, Mara Muizniece Riga School of Art
Coming closer: art schools in Europe and best practice examples: Flanders
by Joost Goethals, Stedelijke Academie voor Schone Kunsten Brugge
Discussing UNESCO Development Goals: Political approaches on quality,
access and culture as social tool
by Christian Cession, Féderation Pluraliste des Centres d'Expression et de
Créativité
Arts Education - a topic in European networks ?! What is going on in the fields of youth-, education- and culture-policy?
by Rolf Witte, International Relations Officer of BKJ, the German Federation for Arts Education and Cultural Learning, and Vice-President of Culture Action Europe, the European Political Platform for Arts and Culture
PHOTO GALLERY
ESTONIA 2011
THE VALUE OF ARTS EDUCATION
Why do youngsters like art schools?
arts4all meeting: 26th-28th April 2011, Tallinn, Estonia
Two videos made by arts4all members from Belgium (M. Wieczerniak, OVSG) and The Netherlands (M. Hermsen/Scholen in de Kunst) present strong arguments for cultural activities in art schools - coming from the youngsters themselves:
Linked to the Cultural Capital of Europe 2011 the recent arts4all meeting took place in Tallinn. Host of the meeting was the local artschool - Sally Stuudio - with its European Youth Art Triennal Eksperimenta! wich was opened during the meeting. About 30 participants from 11 European countries met and discussed the "value of arts edcuation" by giving examples of how they tackle social, financial and political challenges of the present. One of the concrete results: Plans for a common digital art project based on the idea of the German LKD NRW-association called "face to face - faces of Europe". Art schools in Europe shall exchange by pictures or impressions of their region taken by youngsters of their art schools. All participants agreed upon the important meaning of the network to support their local, regional and national work and to develop quality and access to cultural education in Europe referring the UNESCO development goals on arts education.