Building the Future of Arkansas Art Educators: 2025 Leadership Retreat Recap

This past weekend, new and returning members of the Arkansas Art Educators Board and Council came together for an inspiring and energizing Leadership Retreat. It was a powerful few days of connection, collaboration, and vision-setting for the future of our organization. We kicked off the weekend Friday evening with a casual dinner where members had the chance to meet, catch up, and build relationships. After dinner, we worked together on a collaborative art piece — a perfect way to break the ice and set the creative tone for the weekend.
​Saturday was all about diving deep into the heart of Arkansas Art Educators (AAE). We spent the day at the beautiful Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, where we reviewed everything that makes AAE strong and what we can do to make it even stronger. We had open discussions about how to grow our organization, better serve our members, and ensure that we are providing meaningful resources, opportunities, and benefits to art educators across the state. After a day full of big conversations and goal-setting, we wound down with a trip to Arkadia Retrocade, where we tapped into some nostalgia and had a blast playing old-school arcade games. It was the perfect reminder that fun, play, and creativity go hand-in-hand — just like in our classrooms and communities. On Sunday morning, we regrouped to focus on the future. We reviewed the goals we had set and made action plans for how to start implementing them. It was exciting to see so much momentum and energy in the room as we committed to strengthening our organization and supporting Arkansas art educators even more powerfully in the year ahead. This retreat was a reminder of why AAE exists — to create a strong, connected community of art educators who inspire each other, advocate for the arts, and help shape the next generation of creative thinkers. We’re excited for what's ahead and can't wait to continue building with you!