Wiki invitation email:

Dear Friends -

The NAEA convention in Chicago feels like ages ago already. I

apologize for my tardiness in writing to connect us all. I realize

the power, privilege, and burden of being the carrier of "the list," so to speak.

To refresh your memory, last spring Amy Gerber (then a graduate

student in Art Education at The School of the Art Institute of

Chicago) and I asked you help us form a new network for

"progressive" art educators. (This name/title is negotiable but

seemed to be acceptable to those who gathered in Chicago last

spring.) Our collaboration began at the Visual Culture Gathering @ The University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (2006).

Our dream is to build a site similar to MySpace where

users might identify and connect with others in their communities

of interest (i.e. environment, identity, culture jamming) and affinity

groups (i.e. Jewish, Latina, LGBT), share work with students in

those communities, and get advice and ideas from others who

consciously confront the politics of the work we do as art

educators.

For now, I have started a wiki which you can access at http://progarteds.pbwiki.com. The password is "evolve" I

have started a few potential threads of conversation. These

include:

1 - Directory

A new invitation to join the "directory" section with our original network directory

template. Mine submission to that effort can be found on the page Jodi Kushins PLEASE ADD YOURS!

2- Democracy and Art Education

Relates to my work as an NAEANews columnist for the

Caucus on Social Theory and Art Education- . Please check out and comment on that page which may be channeled into our November 2006 column!

3- Our future

If we can use the wiki interface to build the kind of

community we need and want, so be it. Otherwise, perhaps

someone will offer to help move us to another platform. As I

suggested earlier, I have no interest in maintaining "control" of our

group. Step up and help us grow!

4- Resources - Add links, organization contact info, etc.

Peace (out),

Jodi Kushins

Doctoral Candidate

Department of Art Education

The Ohio State University

"The search is the discovery." -Pablo Picasso