Transforming education in and through the arts.

The Arts-Based Collaborative was founded in 1987 through a unique public, private and institutional collaboration among the Getty Center for Education in the Arts, Chattanooga-based foundations, The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, the State of Tennessee, and area school districts. Arts-Based Collaborative is one of six Getty funded regional institutes established to research and promote discipline-based visual art education. UTC and the Chattanooga community had the foresight to expand the concept to embrace music, theatre, and dance education. Their work in discipline-based arts education, now known as comprehensive arts education, serves as the foundation of all of their professional learning programs in arts education and concept-based arts integration.

Since its inception, Arts-Based Collaborative has set high standards for teaching and learning in and through the arts. Our instructional model has been tested and developed through site-based professional development projects across schools in the southeast. Key components of the framework include competency-based arts learning experiences, rich and meaningful interdisciplinary connections, and an asset-based approach that promotes collaboration and sustainability.