Connected Arts Networks Project

"CAN didn’t just help me grow as a teacher—it reconnected me to my purpose.”
—NAfME CAN Teacher Leader

Through the Connected Arts Networks (CAN) project hundreds of music and arts educators nationwide took part in virtual professional learning communities (PLCs) and action research projects during 2022–2025.

CAN has been a multi-year collaboration of NAfME, the National Art Education Association (NAEA), the Educational Theater Association (edTA), the National Dance Education Organization (NDEO), and the New York City Department of Education’s Arts Office. Funding for the project was provided by the U.S. Department of Education (NAEA was the grant project lead for the partners) from October 2021–September 2025. Metis Associates was an additional partner as the grant evaluator.

The purpose of CAN has been to build a sustainable model of professional learning for arts educators to strengthen their pedagogy, instruction, and leadership skills in order to better serve all students.

Key activities over the course of the grant included virtual quarterly workshops, summer institutes, and monthly PLCs for teacher leaders following an arc of learning through an approach modeled by New York City CAN and further developed by the CAN grant national association content managers. These programs provided a variety of leadership, community building, facilitation, and action research tools and resources for arts educators. Teacher leaders in CAN had opportunities to learn from many thought leaders in the field in areas such as social emotional learning, action research, standards-based teacher leadership through the arts, facilitation, and Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Access, and Belonging.

These workshops and PLCs provided many opportunities for the CAN teacher leaders to learn from each other and grow their leadership, facilitation, and action research skills. The teacher leaders in turn led monthly virtual PLCs for teacher participants. All the PLCs provided a structured process of supporting teachers in action research, community building, and providing opportunities for discussion on a wide variety of issues of concern to arts educators.

Here is a recap of some of the activities over the course of the CAN grant program:

• 116 NYC facilitators and 78 national teacher leaders engaged in the CAN grant initiative, and as many as 813 teacher participants (including through the national partners and NYC CAN).
• 160 monthly PLC meetings (total for the national associations) were held for teacher leaders within each music and arts discipline.
• 86 monthly discipline-specific PLC meetings were held for teacher participants led by teacher leaders through the national association partners.
• 48 states were represented by teacher leaders and/or teacher participants in the CAN grant. In 2024, NAfME’s teacher leaders and participants came from 35 states, including representing every NAfME region.
• 16 quarterly workshops and four summer institutes (each one involved four half-day trainings) were held for teacher leaders across the arts disciplines.
• 94 presentations by CAN grant staff or teacher leaders were given at state, regional, or national conferences across the national grant partners, 19 of those through NAfME.

The CAN project demonstrated the viability of virtual professional learning communities involving arts educators across and within their disciplines working collaboratively, engaging in peer-to-peer learning through action research projects and guided discussions, and building community with other teachers nationwide. Here are some additional testimonials from NAfME teacher leaders sharing more about the profound impact on teachers who participated in the CAN project.

“CAN and the PLCs have been a great aid for how I approach lessons in the classroom. They have created an awareness of the lens that I teach through. My reflections and experiences have opened up a window of opportunity to consider all the experiences that the student brings to the class. That is valuable for meeting students where they are and being mindful that students need to see themselves in the lessons.

 CAN has supported the arts area with informative speakers and authors in the field of arts education and with professional development that is directly usable. It has also continually provided a safe space to share, learn, and ask questions freely. I have gained confidence in general as a leader having had the opportunity to lead a PLC and facilitate multiple times in CAN. I had not done anything similar to this before. It has been invaluable developing relationships and getting support from colleagues around the country and receiving direct information and ideas on teaching the art form, keeping in mind the needs of all students.”—NAfME CAN Teacher Leader

 “My students have gotten to enjoy the shift in my approach. Before CAN, I was very focused on my standards and how best to implement assessments. Since joining CAN, I have found my number one goal for my students is joy in music. I teach the standards through a lens of relationship, connection, and expectation that I created through my work in CAN. I have completely changed my mindset and approach to teaching music. I’ve gained so much more confidence in myself as an educator and my relationships with my students. I plan my lessons through multiple lenses and have developed so many mindful tendencies that reflect in my classroom management.”—NAfME Teacher Participant

“CAN has made me reflect on my teaching much more than before being involved. I feel like I am a better teacher for my students because I am more focused on the why instead of just on the what of what I'm teaching. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to grow as a professional!”—NAfME CAN Teacher Leader

Visit NAEA to learn more about the Connected Arts Networks project.

If you have questions about the CAN project, please contact:

John Donaldson
Assistant Executive Director for Professional Development and Publications
johnd@nafme.org