Melbourne is set to host the 34th World Congress of the International Society for Education through Art (InSEA 2014) to be held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground from 7 - 11 July 2014.

The Victorian Minister for Education, the Hon. Martin Dixon, and the Minister for the Arts, the Hon. Heidi Victoria, along with Serena aged 9 from Brighton Primary School, recently met at Parliament House to officially launch "InSEA 2014".

Left: Victorian Minister for Education, the Hon. Martin Dixon, the Victorian Minister for the Arts,
 the Hon. Heidi Victoria, Marian Strong, President of Art Education Australia and Serena aged 9 from Brighton Primary School,
 officially announce the 34th World Congress of  the International Society for Education through Art (InSEA 2014) in Melbourne. 

Speaking at the announcement, Marian Strong, President of Art Education Australia, welcomed the support of the Victorian Government in assisting to stage the Congress, saying over 500 participants with an interest in art, art education and education professions at all levels, will start arriving in Melbourne next week.

At the same time, Art Education Australia has commenced a project - the Art Rooms of Victoria with Federation Square, that is placing the work of students and teachers into a digital time capsule to create a permanent record of children's art to be used as a research resource.

InSEA World Congress 2014 Creating Connections - artwork by students from Independent schools in Victoria. 

 Click here to view the online Exhibition at Federation Story   

Ms Strong said the 2014 Congress is organised to ensure its relevance for public and private educators and representatives from state, national and private galleries, art collectors and philanthropists to the Arts, along with the wider public audience.

"Recent decades have seen the greatest transition in visual culture in history: the art object to the idea, the static to the ephemeral, Euro/American aesthetic ideals to exciting affirmations of nationally based visual cultures and especially the renewed appreciation of Indigenous art forms.

"The global movements of refugees and migration have changed the cultural mix in societies providing the visual arts and visual arts education with both challenges and opportunities."

Ms. Strong said, "The world famous Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), Melbourne's sporting and cultural icon, has been purposefully selected as the venue for the triennial world art congress to provide a stimulating backdrop for exploring and examining the theme: Diversity through Art - Change, Continuity, Context."

Leading art education speakers include: Dennis Atkinson, currently Director of the Research Centre for The Arts and Learning in the Department of Educational Studies at Goldsmiths University of London; Ian Brown, an Associate Professor and Dean in the Faculty of Education at the University of Wollongong; Maree Clarke, a Mutti Mutti, Yorta Yorta, BoonWrung woman from northwest Victoria, and Alison Carroll, Immediate past Director of Asialink at The University of Melbourne

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