Art and Design Education for Sustainability in the North and the Arctic

Sustainable development in all its forms is a key global challenge in the early years of the twenty-first century. What contribution can art and design education make? How can contemporary art and design methods and innovative approaches to art education meld to promote education for sustainable development? What kind of theoretical foundations might such an approach be built on and what might such approaches look like in practice? These are just some of the questions that we hope to address in sharing our experiences. In the chapter, we outline our thinking about art, art education and their potential for sustainable development in the Northern and Arctic context. We do this by presenting the chapter in three broad sections; first, we discuss the rapid changes taking place in the region and the idea of the Arctic as a ‘laboratory’ for sustainable development through art education. Second, we report on our theoretical frameworks of art education for sustainable development. Third, we present an example of a project, an example of joint course undertaken by Arctic Sustainable Art and Design network (ASAD) partners and an overview of a degree programme that foregrounds art education for sustainability. We conclude with a reflection on progress to date and offer some thoughts for future research in the areas of art education for sustainable development.