World alliance for arts education: A reflection upon seven years of advocacy

The World Alliance for Arts Education (WAAE) is a peak arts organization that aims to foster diverse and sustainable arts education. This article traces the journey and emergence of the WAAE from an idea in 2006 to an internationally respected alliance today. The journey of WAAE has included 1000s of arts educators across the globe. This account of the WAAE takes an insider perspective, providing a kind of travelogue, an auto-narrative noting key events, places and persons in respective organizations and vital partnerships. The article reflects upon dominant emergent issues raised over seven years and issues that inform the development of non-government organizations and alliances. The journey of this narrative begins by quickly highlighting a key destination we arrived at in Paris in 2012. Noting this endpoint upfront, contextualizes the journey of the article but also the journey of the WAAE.