The essays in this volume describe how ArtsConnection, a New York City-based arts-education organization, has made an extraordinary commitment to seek answers to the question Carol has posed. And ArtsConnection has good company in that quest as it works with its various company in that quest as it works with its various partners—teaching artists, teachers, and administrators in the city schools—who share a commitment to this inquiry.

Though these essays do not comprise a traditional narrative, they tell a powerful story of ArtsConnection’s long-term and continuing effort to learn, grow, and change in relation to the needs of students in New York’s public schools, specifically, their needs for experiences in the arts that the school system cannot provide on its own. In a sense, these essays reflect the lessons of the more than 25 years of ArtsConnection’s life as an organization. They focus, however, on more recent insights and experiences, drawn particularly from the past several years’ efforts at intensive reflection and collaborative inquiry.

The value of asking “What is left behind?” is that it serves so well not only as a beginning, but also as a touchstone along the way. It is an excellent provocation for regularly “re-launching” investigations into the nature of learning and teaching in the arts. [Introduction, p. 1]

Partnering Arts Education: A Working Model from ArtsConnection details the importance of classroom teachers and artists forming partnerships as they build successful residencies in schools. Partnering Arts Education provides insight and concrete steps in using the ArtsConnection model.