Adding Voices creates conferences and workshops that are intentionally committed to equity, social justice, and inclusion in teaching, learning, and building community for art educators who are Black, Brown, Indigenous, or part of the Global Majority. The purpose of these conferences is to provide a safe space for leadership, rejuvenation, and professional development for art educators, teaching artists, and arts professionals.
Adding Voices aims to equip art educators at every level--from pre-service teachers to higher ed, administrators to board members--with knowledge and skills in liberatory practices, centering anti-bias and anti-racist frameworks in art education.
While affinity spaces within larger art education conferences exist, Adding Voices is the only national event that explicitly centers the experiences and expertise of art educators who identify as Black, Brown, Indigenous, or part of the Global Majority, while prioritizing the need for anti-racist and culturally responsive practices at every level of education.
Thank you to our 2024 Conference Sponsors
“Been searching my whole teaching career for this PD specifically geared to BIPoC art educators & allies. Felt seen & excited about the guidance/resources the speakers provided.”
— Tara Harrison, Art Educator, CT
The Adding Voices conference felt like I attended a family reunion of long lost relatives. Being surrounded by the power of queer, BIPoC creatives passionate about this work was incredibly fulfilling and a stark contrast to the educational spaces I typically work within. The conference deepened my commitment to creating spaces in which our communities’ values, cultures, and traditions are honored and respected. "
-Sara Trail, Founder of Social Justice Quilting Academy
“Adding Voices Conference 2022 was truly magical. Flavia worked hard to be intentional in framing critical dialogue with attendees and creating an atmosphere of collective well being, responsibility, and comunal belonging that is extremely rare in professional learning spaces. I’ve never attended a conference where I can be my whole self, be seen, celebrated, and listened to by colleagues who are doing radical work across the nation. You are embraced with the energy of our ancestors and reminded the work we do is practicing the worlds we want to build with and for each other.
— William Estrada, Art Educator & Multidisciplinary Artist
Adding Voices Founder
Flavia Zuñiga-West (she/her) is the founder of Adding Voices. She is an artist, art educator and consultant who works full time as Middle School Visual Arts Teacher at Harvard-Westlake Middle School on Tongva land (what is known as Los Angeles).
She holds her MA in Museum Studies from New York University and her BFA in Fiber and Material Studies from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She currently serves on the CAEA ED+I Commissioner for the California Art Education Association.
Flavia is the recipient of the 2022 National Art Education Association’s Committee of Multiethnic Affairs In Service Teacher Award and the 2022 National Art Education Association’s Independent School Art Teacher of the Year Award. You can find more information about Flavia on Instagram @flaviazw_hwart.
Recent publication:
wilson, g. j., & Zuñiga-West, F. (2023). Intersectionality for Art Education: A Manifesto for Engaging Homeplace Through Hip-Hop Feminist Arts Praxis, Art Education, 76:1, 14-22, DOI: 10.1080/00043125.2022.2132792
