On Friday, March 1st, 2013 Carbondale Community Arts, in conjunction with the Illinois art Education Association, and Southern Illinois University

Carbondale, brought 93 registered participants together for a day dedicated to of professional development of art teachers. As school budgets continue to shrink it is beautiful to see so many art educators standing united in one place. Conferences such as this give art educators the tools and motivation necessary to continue to serve our future in such a challenging occupation.

This year we were blessed to have an outstanding group of the most talented artists and art teachers in the state of Illinois as presenters. Jay Ryan, a talented screen print artist from Chicago, offered a screen printing demonstration, and gave the keynote address speaking of his own artistic journey in Illinois. Dr. Sangsook Park, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Art Education Professor offered teachers a multicultural lesson pertaining to East Asian Calligraphy. Chris Grodoski, Illinois Art Education Association Advocacy Liaison, presented on his teams work toward our goal of all children receiving the art education they deserve. Sandy Bacon, Golden Paint representative, offered two painting workshops, one for the education conference, and another full workshop bringing the community to participate. Highlighting local excellence, Professor Najjar Abdul-Musawwir, Southern Illinois University Carbondale painting instructor, presented ideas on bringing together art and community. These are just a few of the 15 wonderful presenters we had who helped make this event an astounding success!

In addition to having a great conference, upon receiving promised funds, we will be in the black insuring the continued success of this conference. Along with this report I am including a list of all the people who attended the conference, a compiled report of the evaluations, and a CD which has pictures of the event. Thank you for your support, and I look forward to our continued relationship.