The Congress will gather 100 representative leaders – teachers and administrators, artists, arts education providers, government and political leaders, leaders from higher education, business leaders, parent advocates, arts advocates, creative industries spokespeople, elected officials, and liaisons from key statewide associations – for the one day meeting.

Broad public input gathered in October via online surveys will ground the Congress discussions. In addition, American History and Civics students around the state will be invited to participate in The Preamble Project. Each participating student, group or classroom will have the opportunity to draft and submit a brief “preamble” to Congress members, expressing why students consider it important to include the arts as an integral part of their education. They will follow the format of the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution in their submissions.

One of the results of the Congress will be a first draft of a “Bill of Creative Rights” for Oregon’s K-12 students. The OAC, with broadly aligned partnerships and public support, also plans to develop a multi-year, long-range plan for improving access to arts education statewide, by June 2009.