Focus In: Connected Arts Networks

Connected Arts Networks (CAN) is a project developed by the National Art Education Association (NAEA), the Educational Theatre Association, the National Association for Music Education, the National Dance Education Organization, and New York City Public Schools’ Arts Office. CAN is funded by a U.S. Department of Education’s Assistance for Arts Education program grant. In this article, we share some of CANʼs accomplishments over the last three years and how practicing art educators can use the resources we have developed.

Our Beginning
CAN grew out of a desire to connect arts educators via Zoom to implement virtual learning communities nationwide. CAN is modeled after a successful professional learning program developed and streamlined over the last decade in NYC public schools. The national network is a multiyear federally funded project designed to create nationwide virtual professional learning communities (PLCs) with arts educators in visual/media arts, theatre, music, and dance. CAN strengthens teacher leadership skills while building art educators’ capacity to address equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) and social-emotional Learning (SEL) in the standards-based art room.

Where Are We Now?
CAN has brought together educators from across the country to collaborate, share resources, and learn from each other through action research focused on the fundamentals of EDI and SEL. Arts-based PLCs are places where educators assess their own teaching practice and collaborate with peers on improving student learning. PLCs are spaces of affirmation, compassion, and patience as well as supportive environments for risk-taking, vulnerability, and honesty.

The CAN model cultivates individual teachers and communities of learners in the arts locally, statewide, and nationally to re-imagine the future of professional learning in the arts to impact student success. Since 2021, we have seen how CAN teacher leaders (TLs) have cultivated facilitation skills and taken on leadership roles in their schools. One teacher leader, Rachael Harrison, was asked by her principal to guide her bilingual school in revising curriculum based on Dr. Gholdy Muhammad’s Culturally and Historically Responsive framework. This is just one example of teacher leadership from the CAN program.

Connect with CAN Resources
We encourage you to engage with the resources developed by CAN TLs across art forms. You can find tip sheets and podcast episodes for the following topics on our website (see Resource):

Teacher Leadership
Arts-Based Professional Learning Communities
Facilitation Skills and Equitable Protocols
PLC Leadership
Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
Culturally Responsive Education
Uplifting Stories to Impact Instruction
Getting Student Feedback
The Power of Storytelling

Where Are We Going?
We invite you to connect with us at the 2025 NAEA Convention in Louisville, Kentucky. Here are a few of the sessions we will be presenting:

Putting the ACTION in Action Research: The CAN Approach
Artful Learning Communities: Leaders Share their Journey from Isolation to Inspiration

We’re also planning a business meeting for CAN teacher leaders and participants.

We are in the process of creating a CAN Online Toolbox with free resources for arts educators and administrators across the country. This resource will include a Partnership Guide for school and arts nonprofit administrators. We will share our PLC and action research models so that others can adapt them for their communities, and we’ll provide examples of equitable and inclusive curricula across the arts.

We are contemplating what the future of CAN looks like beyond the grant end date in 2026 and are seeking sustainable pathways to keep this work going. At the local level, we anticipate teachers will continue to take on leadership roles at their schools and impact students through their learning in this project. At the national level, CAN partner associations are brainstorming how to embed the PLC model in current organizational structures. Moving forward, we know that CAN will have a lasting impact on teachers and students, serving as a catalyst for change in how we develop relevant and engaging arts lessons.