Message by Klaus Schilling, National Coordinator of ASPnet Germany

​​​Learning Never Stops – and our creativity helps us in this most stressful and harmful time of the global crisis due to Covid-19.

I am sure that arts education is very relevant in empowering our students! It helps them and all of us to develop and express our desires and thoughts. Doing Arts allows us to connect with ourselves and with each other and it confronts us with the challenges of our world. Doing arts in UNESCO Associated Schools means contributing to ESD, to GCED and to cultural diversity! It means finding new ways of thinking and encountering each other.

All of this is essential in a time when schools are closed and we all are separated.

We are glad to learn from our schools in Germany and see how creative they are. One example, that touched me most, was when I heard that music teachers asked their students to play little songs and send them as a podcast to their grandparents. I can only imagine how much joy they brought to their grandparents' lives.

All these simple examples show us how important it is to stay connected and to spread the seeds of understanding and joy. Doing Arts helps us to gain new forms of expression and transform the experiences of our current situation.

I am sure that there will be even more possibilities to celebrate World Art Day for our network and our schools in this time, for example by creating digital designs and reading out poems or plays together – even when we are separated.

Doing arts is a source of hope and resilience! It is a powerful source against isolation and fear!