Mission &
Vision
Photo: Ember Photography
“There is no power for change greater than a community discovering what it cares about.”
- Margaret Wheatley
OUR MISSION
We bring people of all ages together in projects that activate their creativity to imagine and build more just and thriving communities.
WHAT WE BELIEVE
To support a full creative life for all, Community Engagement Lab commits to championing policies and practices of racial and cultural equity that build more just, inclusive, equitable and thriving communities.
​
Acknowledging and challenging our inequities and working in partnership is how we will make change happen.
Everyone deserves equitable access to a full, vibrant creative life, which is essential to a healthy and democratic society.
​
We believe in the transformative power of creativity, innate in all people, and in its flexibility to be guided into activities that create lasting change.
Art and culture can build empathy, create a sense of belonging, and activate the social imagination and civic agency needed to make real change.
We believe teaching artists can help people come to know each other, to build trust and respect, to foster creative problem solving, and to change our collective story.
​
​
our vision
We envision a Vermont that fully embraces the power of our collective creativity to imagine and co-create solutions that drive real change toward more just and thriving communities.
​
To address today’s challenges and opportunities, our strategy will build capacity and connective tissue among committed teaching artists, young people, educators, cultural organizers, businesses, policy-makers and community leaders.
We will develop the nation’s foremost regional teaching artist network, and strengthen the skills and capacities of New England teaching artists to be community leaders and catalysts for civic change.