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The Artistic Literacy Consortium of Alabama and Creative Generation Collaborate to Increase Access to Arts Education for Alabama’s Students

October 1, 2020

The Artistic Literacy Consortium of Alabama and Creative Generation are pleased to announce their new partnership to conduct strategic planning for the statewide collective impact initiative with the goal of increasing student access to arts education across Alabama. This project will focus on team and culture building, leadership development, and visionary planning, including 3-5 year goals, strategies, measurable outcomes, SWOT analysis, and a possible revised mission.


As a result of the National Endowment for the Arts’ Education Leadership Institute, Alabama embarked on a journey to establish a statewide plan for arts education. In September 2013, a task force was appointed by the Alabama State Council on the Arts and the State Superintendent of Schools. Members in diverse stakeholder groups including arts, education, students, business, and community leaders worked for two years to create the Alabama Plan for Arts Education, which was unanimously endorsed by the Council Board and the State Board of Education in 2016. Work began immediately with support from a National Endowment for the Arts Collective Impact grant.

In 2018, new funding was secured from the State Legislature to establish three pilot Arts Education Collaboratives in Huntsville, Tuscaloosa, and Birmingham. Together, the Collaboratives and state partners – the Alabama State Council on the Arts, the Alabama Arts Alliance, the Alabama Institute for Education in the Arts, and the Alabama State Department of Education – form the Artistic Literacy Consortium, a state-wide collective impact initiative striving for access to arts education for all students across Alabama.  The ALC received its second NEA Collective Impact Grant in 2020 and will use these funds to begin the next phase of this plan.

“The Artistic Literacy Consortium has had a tremendous impact on Alabama’s students during its tenure,” said Jeff M. Poulin, managing director of Creative Generation. “We, at Creative Generation, are thrilled to be working with the initiative’s leaders to democratize their efforts and continue to increase access to arts education for learners – particularly in rural communities and for students of color.”

“The Artistic Literacy Consortium is the result of aligning the efforts of many persistent arts education advocates over the years”, said Diana Green, one of the founding facilitators of this effort. “We are all so excited to have the opportunity to partner with Creative Generation and look forward to the doors that will spring open for our students due to this innovative and creative problem-solving team.”

Creative Generation was founded in April 2019 as a research initiative and has grown its work throughout the United States and around the World. Through pioneering research in the arts and cultural education field – and the relentless support of arts and cultural educators in their work to cultivate the creative capabilities of young people – the organization regularly leads strategic projects through its Incubator for Creative Impact.


About Creative Generation

Contributing to the development of thriving communities and a more just world, Creative Generation works to inspire, connect, and amplify the work of young creatives who catalyze social transformation and those who are committed to cultivating their creative capabilities. Founded in 2019, Creative Generation operates four signature programs: The Campaign for a Creative Generation, the Institute for Creative Social Transformation, The Academy for Creative Leadership, and an Incubator for Creative Impact.

 About the Artistic Literacy Consortium

The mission of the Artistic Literacy Consortium (ALC) is to provide fully funded, high quality, arts education that enlightens, inspires, and develops in every Alabama student the creative and innovative thinking necessary to ensure college and career readiness.