International Week of Arts Education 2026
EDART | What Does It Mean to Be Human?
UC3M joins the 2026 International Arts Education Week (EDART), an initiative promoted as part of the call for proposals by UNESCO that calls for raising awareness of the transformative role of art and culture at all stages of education and in all fields of knowledge.
This first edition in Spain is the result of a joint initiative by faculty members from the Schools of Education at the Complutense University, the Autonomous University, and the University of Alcalá, together with the Madrid Association of Art Teachers, and is supported by cultural and educational organizations throughout the country.
Under the question “What does it mean to be human?”, the 2026 edition aims to create a space for collective reflection through arts and cultural education, addressing fundamental issues such as our relationship with nature, community, technology, and sustainability.
Participation in EDART aligns with UC3M’s vision of placing culture at the center of academic and community life, fostering collaborative networks with museums, cultural institutions, educational centers, and social actors.
UC3M Activities
- On a night like this
- Final Performance of the “Theater and Education” Course
- El amor brujo – Manuel de Falla
- FILTER – The Wandering Drama
UC3M Auditorium · Leganés Campus
On a night like this, text by Luisa Josefina Hernández (Mexico), is a play that explores the impact of everyday life, personal memory, and human tensions through a poetic and deeply human theatrical language. Performed by the UC3M Theater Group and directed by Abel Gonzalez Melo, the play offers a sensory and reflective journey that raises questions about identity, presence, and community.
Auditorium at Carlos III University of Madrid
The course is organized by UC3M Culture and Cross Border Project, in collaboration with the CTIF (Regional Center for Innovation and Teacher Training of the Community of Madrid), and is aimed at teachers at public schools in the Community of Madrid. The final performance serves as a platform to showcase the work developed by the participating teachers, highlighting theater and dance as pedagogical tools within educational practice.
UC3M Auditorium · Leganés Campus
The Carlos III University of Madrid Orchestra, conducted by Manuel Coves Merino, performs *El amor brujo* by Manuel de Falla, one of the most iconic works in the 20th-century Spanish repertoire. The performance will feature solo dancers from the Spanish National Ballet and a live flamenco singer, blending music, dance, and song into a stage production of great expressive intensity.
UC3M Auditorium · Leganés Campus
The play addresses the events at the Hospital Filtro (Montevideo, 1994), one of the most serious episodes of repression in Uruguayan democracy. Through the language of theater, María Goiricelaya’s play revisits this event through the lens of memory, ethics, and collective responsibility, confronting the audience with questions that also resonate in the present. Its inclusion in EDART engages directly with the question at the heart of this edition—What does it mean to be human?— by raising essential questions about dignity, institutional violence, justice, community, and the role of citizens in the face of political conflicts.
Learn about the project
- What is EDART?
- What does it mean to be human?
- Manifesto
- “Diverse Voices” Campaign
- Participating Organizations
International Arts Education Week was proclaimed by UNESCO in 2011, with the support of InSEA (International Society for Education through Art), as a call to strengthen the presence of arts education in educational communities around the world.
Its goal is to raise awareness about the role of art as a universal language in holistic human development, intercultural dialogue, social cohesion, and peacebuilding.
The 2026 edition in Spain was launched as an open, diverse, and decentralized movement that seeks to build networks among schools, universities, museums, cultural institutions, and arts outreach groups.
Download the EDART 2026 Manifesto
The campaign combines text and image as a means of expression and aims to bring together a variety of perspectives that reflect the diversity of sensibilities, disciplines, and experiences. A group exhibition is planned for May that will feature the participants’ contributions.
The initiative involves schools at all levels, universities, museums, cultural institutions, and cultural action groups, forming a diverse and growing network that brings together education, artistic creation, and cultural mediation.
Among the confirmed organizations are the National Museum of Decorative Arts, the National Museum of Anthropology, the MUPAI (Children’s Educational Museum), Culture Capsule (OXO Museum), Under the Hat —with an event at La Casa Encendida—, the La Inversa Gallery (Donostia), Glocal Project (gallery in Collado Mediano), Barfutura, The Movie Theater in Canena (Jaén), The Gleaners (cultural management agency dedicated to the dissemination and promotion of film culture), Red Creativa Espacio (Cáceres) and I See Art Everywhere (communication and cultural management platform).
In the field of education, the following also participate: CES College of Image, Sound, and Technology, CES Design, the Madrid School of Design, the Nebrija University, the ESCUNI University and the University of Extremadura, along with Te Veo (School Theater) and more than forty schools in various autonomous communities, a figure that continues to rise.
The initiative also has the support of the Carasso Foundation and SEA – Society for Arts Education, as well as promotional support from MAV (Women in the Visual Arts) and the magazine Poliédrica.
The complete list of participating organizations will be updated gradually as new additions are confirmed.
UC3M is pleased to be part of this emerging network that places arts education at the heart of the contemporary educational and cultural debate.
For inquiries or proposals to participate, please contact:
comision.semana.ed.ar@gmail.com