Introduction: Art Education As A Radical Act

“The battle for the human spirit will be fought and won in art rooms of the nation's schools and in the artists' studios, but only if the creative arts become a major part of every child's education and if the artist asserts his significant and historical role as the people's advocate”. This challenge, in a 1951 address by architect Buckminster Fuller, found in the Victor D'Amico Papers, served as an epiphany for D'Amico, the Museum of Modern Art's (MoMA's) founding Director of Education. Founded in 1929 with a provisional charter as an educational institution, MoMA was confronted with two enterprises: critical discrimination to seek what is best in art and the provision of facilities for popular instruction per public need. Within this tension, D'Amico gave people ownership of the art experience through innovative educational initiatives, with twists and turns resulting in his resignation in 1969. Radically, this book places education at the center of the museum's history and situates art education at the heart of humanitarian crises, globalization, and a search for racial equity. The chapters unfold in essays by noted contributors, oral histories, photographs, and calls to action to root art and life in radical acts of learning.