Report of the Aesthetic Education Center (American Educational Theatre Association Convention, Chicago, Illinois, August, 1971).

Overview & Synopsis

This report is a transcription of the proceedings of the Aesthetic Education Center meeting of 1971, sponsored by AETA and CEMREL, Inc. Following an opening statement, the report summarizes a panel discussion on "What Is Aesthetic Education?" which centered on finding approaches to relating the arts programs in schools more closely and in new ways to students and the public at-large. The second presentation dealt with three current aesthetic education projects: the Rhode Island Arts in Education project, the JDR 3rd Fund's Arts in Education program, and the Aesthetic Education program of CEMREL, Inc. This was followed by a discussion session devoted to an attempt to perceive a process of evaluation and its relationship to aesthetic education in general and to theater in particular. The fourth session was based on the implications of aesthetic education for the education of teachers, and the meeting concluded with a summary statement on aesthetic education and its importance, particularly to the "underprivileged, the undereducated, and the underperceptive" child. (RN)