In furtherance of UNESCO’s long-standing objective to mainstream Arts Education within formal educational systems, in 1999 the Director General issued the "International Appeal for the Promotion of Arts Education and Creativity".
 
 "At a time when family and social structures are changing, with often adverse effects on children and adolescents, the school of the twenty first century must be able to anticipate the new needs by according a special place to the teaching of artistic values and subjects in order to encourage creativity, which is a distinctive attribute of the human species. Creativity is our hope."
 International Appeal by the Director-General of UNESCO, for the Promotion of Arts Education and Creativity in Schools (1999).
 
 The International Appeal called for changes in education systems which will give children of the 21st century the skills they need to succeed in a rapidly changing world. Specifically, the Appeal promoted compulsory teaching of the Arts in schools and encouragement of the Arts in non-formal education settings. 
 
 In response to the International Appeal, the UNESCO Division of Arts and Creativity initiated and supported six meetings worldwide on Arts Education. The aim of these pedagogical conferences was to strengthen Arts Education curricula and to create the conditions for the integration of Arts Education programmes into national education systems. 
 
 The International Appeal also prompted the establishment of an international network of experts and practitioners – Links to Education and Art (LEA) International. The web-based portal (http://www.unesco.org/culture/lea) exists to facilitate networking and contact between art education specialists worldwide. All of the main outcomes of the meetings and follow-up activities can be accessed on this site.
 
 The six meetings on arts education were held between 2000 and 2004 in six regions: Africa, Latin America & the Caribbean, the Arab States, Europe, the Pacific and Asia. 
 
 The meeting for the Pacific region was held in Fiji in 2002, and focused on the promotion of arts in education as a means of safeguarding culture and heritage while enabling creative adaptation to new global realities. The final report is available, along with reports from the other regional meetings, on the LEA website and in the Resources section of this website.
 
 In January 2004 the Office of the UNESCO Regional Advisor for Culture in Asia and the Pacific convened the Asia regional symposium "Measuring the Impact of Arts Education", in Hong Kong. This meeting focused on the instrumental use of arts in education. 
 
 Seeking to supplement the traditional “arts for the arts sake” approach, the Asia meeting promoted the Arts-in-Education (AiE) approach – which gives the arts a much expanded role in education. 
 
 The Hong Kong meeting focused on the promotion of the instrumental role of the arts in education by exploring the potential of the arts to:
 • Contribute to children’s development and learning achievement.
 • Improve the quality of education by tapping into locally-available (cultural) resources to introduce local issues and realities into the educational system.
 • Increase creativity and innovation, and contribute to the safeguarding of cultural diversity. 
 
 One of the main recommendations of the Hong Kong meeting was that UNESCO act as an advocate for the reform of existing educational systems by establishing a region-wide network of clearinghouses, or “Observatories,” at selected institutions throughout the region. 
 
 Following this recommendation, the Office of the UNESCO Regional Advisor for Culture in Asia and the Pacific prepared a document titled "Asia-Pacific Action Plan" (PDF, 421KB). This document describes the strategy for establishing a number of Arts Education Observatories in the Asia-Pacific region. The Observatories are intended to carry out research and information dissemination which will support advocacy processes and influence policy making on Arts Education.
 
 The "Transmissions and Transformations: Learning through the Arts in Asia" symposium (New Delhi, 21-24 March, 2005) took forward the agenda of the Hong Kong meeting. The meeting explored ways in which arts can be better integrated within formal and informal educational systems in Asia and discussed the activities, principles and procedures of the proposed Arts in Asian Education Observatories. 
 
 The culmination of the many meetings held around the world, was the World Conference on Arts Education, held in Lisbon, Portugal, in March 2006. This conference produced a document titled the "Road Map for Arts Education" which suggests a course of future action for governments and other stakeholders.