The role of art education in cultivating community and leadership through creative collaboration

The arts have a long and rich history of connecting and transforming communities through creative collaboration. This article highlights the community-based art education curriculum and practices of a holistic pre-service/in-service art education programme as a possible best practices model for developing creative leaders for careers in and beyond the P-12 classroom. Community-based art education, service learning and transformative learning theory are discussed as effective frameworks for planning and implementing creative, transformative community collaborations and opportunities for leadership development with participants across the lifespan.