Arts educators gather for inaugural Arts Learning and Leadership AZ Summit

Today, we have an exclusive report on the recent Arts Learning and Leadership AZ Summit from Tucson-based journalist Tara Mitchell!

On Sept. 11, 2026, ArtsEd West held the inaugural Arts Learning and Leadership (ALL) AZ Summit at the Phoenix Conservatory of Music. The summit was focused on arts education in the state of Arizona.

About 17% of students in Arizona lack access to arts. The event sought to raise awareness of the lack of arts classes in schools and how this can be fixed. Teachers, art coordinators, and creative advisors all attended with about 46 attendees there in total.

“I think it’s really important that the arts community works together. We are more powerful and more effective when we collaborate,” said an attendee who is a Scottsdale Arts Coordinator, when asked why she attended the event. “So I’m really glad that this was an opportunity for us all to get together and exchange ideas, and work together on a unified future for arts education,” she stated.

Another attendee spoke about going to the event with a group of fellow teachers from her arts high school in Tempe. “I always like being with peers or people that also do the same thing that I do. I just bounce off of them and just see where they’re at in life, and where I can, how I can grow,” she spoke with a smile.

ArtsEd West was founded in January of last year. The organization’s goal is to ‘strengthen systems that ensure every student has access to the transformative power of the arts’. Their mission not only is for students to have access to arts education but to create a ‘collaborative community where youth, educators, and artists are empowered to shape public policy and cultivate artistic literacy’. The organization’s focus on educational policy and arts education access is what brought them to hosting the ALL Arizona Summit according to Dustin Loehr, co-founder and executive director.

“One of the things we wanted to do early on was bring everybody together in a convening of some kind, a statewide convening, (and) get as many different voices in the space as we could,” said Loehr. He then spoke about how many presenters reached out in response to this event and the targeted invite to those whose perspectives needed to be heard. “We knew that this was a perspective that we needed to hear from today and so we asked them to consider presenting,” he said.

The summit had two keynote speakers as well as five other speakers. The two keynote speakers were Dr. Shelly C. Lowe of the Institute of American Indian Arts and Dr. Maria Rosario Jackson of Arizona State University. The two women have a knowledgeable background in arts and humanities and believe firmly in arts education for all. “I think an environment where all people in Arizona have access to high quality arts education… regardless of zip code, regardless of socioeconomic status, and all people, children, will have access to these experiences that are so significant and transformational,” said Rosario

Dr. Lowe highlighted making a change in the arts ecosystem of Arizona by reaching out to government officials. “You have to tell your story, but you have to tell your story beyond the parents, the community. You literally have to send something to your elected officials,” said Lowe. Without reaching out you cannot make change.

Another speaker, Amanda Karhuse, who is a member of ArtsEd West, spoke more on the policy and legal side of arts education in today’s world. “This is what the role is in federal education; it is to ensure that educational equity and access is something that all students receive and do have access to,” said Karhuse in her presentation. She highlighted how much federal contribution does for arts education and how it can help not just students, but teachers as well. If teachers are provided with preparation programs, professional development and more support, they will stay in a classroom beyond three years.

“I think teachers are burnt out. Teachers are tired,” Loehr said about the drop in teacher attendance for educational conferences. “Schools are less likely to pay for teacher PD (professional development). That’s a challenge for educators who are already not getting compensated what they’re worth.” Arts budget cuts in Arizona have affected arts educators heavily.

Yemisi Agbebi, an arts teacher, was the first speaker of the day. When asked why she wanted to attend the summit she spoke about being in a sense of community with like-minded art folks. “First of all, to be in the company of people that are advocating for arts in schools, people that are committed, that have demonstrated over the years, the commitment to seeing arts funding, especially in school and rural areas,” said Agbebi.

In her presentation she spoke about connecting art and culture. “I realized there’s a need for culture, (a) culture-responsive approach,” said Agbebi. Not all kids learn the same, something that Agbebi learned when working with native kids. “But native kids learn differently… if you connect kids to their culture, they respond,” said Agbebi.

Other speakers included Angela Meleca of Meleca Creative Advisors who spoke on art interpretation and how to get more student participation. The Arizona Commission on the Arts presented on their youth-led arts council. The agency’s Arts Learning Coordinator, Chaz Salazar, was joined by former Youth Arts Council-member, now Youth Arts Coordinator, Elaine Huang, and Paula Ortega from RE:Frame Youth Arts Center. The trio spoke about youth leadership in the arts and their experiences with brand-making and public funding for the arts. The last speakers of the event were Lariche Lamar and Sydney Kramer who spoke on empowering artistic access and inclusion including disabilities in a creative setting.

Loehr spoke about his hopes and plans for the future of ArtsEd West and the next ALL Summit, one of those being more inclusion of different groups of people. “That’s something that I really want to try to be intentional about, this time, is leveraging this community, because we didn’t have that before,” said Loehr. “I mean we haven’t had a statewide gathering of this nature yet until this point,”.

ArtsEd West wrote on their website after the event, “this convening proved that it takes all of us to shape the future of arts education across the state. The ALL AZ Summit is for ALL arts. ALL communities. ALL AZ.”

Tara Mitchell is a student at the University of Arizona who will be graduating in May 2027. She has a minor in Criminology and Middle Eastern Northern African Studies and hopes to go into investigative journalism or photojournalism.

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