The art of educating humanity
UNESCO Chair Centre for Arts and Learning
introduction
UCAL is an international research and learning centre. Grounded in the transformative power of the arts, UCAL fosters education and research that promotes social justice, intercultural dialogue and conflict prevention.
UCAL brings together artists, educators, researchers, communities and policy makers around one central belief: that the arts can reshape how we learn, relate and live together. As part of UNESCO’s global UNITWIN network, UCAL works through local and international collaborations to create new ways of knowing, rooted in lived experience, critical reflection and collective imagination.
What
IBAE: our foundation
Issues Based Arts Education (IBAE) is the foundation of UCAL’s work. It is an educational methodology that begins not with content, but with context. It’s asking:
- Who are the people we are working with?
- What is the place we find ourselves in?
- What time are we living through?
People, Place and Times: these three entry points shape every project. IBAE uses artistic practice to uncover meaning, amplify hidden narratives, and create shared spaces of inquiry. It moves education away from individual performance and towards collective transformation.
IBAE is both process-led (how we work) and issue-driven (why we work). It addresses real-world themes such as migration, identity, inequality, peacebuilding and resilience. It values vulnerability, empathy and co-creation: the very skills needed to educate humanity in divided times.
WHY
Why UCAL matters now
We are living in times of fragmentation, polarisation and deep uncertainty. Education systems often struggle to respond meaningfully. UCAL offers a different paradigm. One that sees learners not as passive recipients of knowledge, but as co-creators of understanding.
Through art, UCAL creates spaces where dialogue can emerge, where complexity is embraced, and where new forms of solidarity can grow. Why? We do not only study the world we live in. We also act within it, together with those who are most affected.
What we do
- Lead artistic and educational research in formal, informal and non-formal settings
- Connect international hubs in Northern Ireland, Morocco and the Netherlands
- Train a new generation of artist-researcher-educators
- Produce publications, toolkits and curricula
- Host public programmes, exhibitions and conferences
- Contribute to UNESCO’s 2030 Agenda (SDGs 4, 5, 10, 16, 17)
About
About the UNESCO Chair
Professor John Johnston is the inaugural UNESCO Chair in Issues Based Arts Education. With a background in socially engaged art, theatre education and intercultural practice, he has spent over two decades developing innovative learning environments that bridge art, research and community engagement.
Johnston leads UCAL from within the ArtEZ University of Arts with a clear mission: to place empathy, criticality and creative inquiry at the heart of education, and to explore how the arts can cultivate more just and connected societies.
Join
Join our community
UCAL is a meeting place for artist-educators, students, communities, civil society and policy makers committed to the idea that the arts can educate not just the mind, but the whole human being. And we’ve just started. In the coming months, we will launch our program, sharing case studies, publications, educational resources and ways to get involved.