The primary goals of the Commonwealth Council for Arts and Culture (CCAC) Arts in Education (AIE) Program are to further the understanding and availability of a basic arts curriculum in CNMI elementary schools, to continue to educate the Public School System administration about the importance of the arts in education and the maintenance and expansion of their current AIE programs, and to make supplementary programs (i.e., visiting artists, student exhibits, theater, concerts) readily available to the schools and teachers to enhance students' arts experiences and involvement, and to provide instruction to teachers on how to integrate the arts into all subject matters.

Lengthy dialogue has taken place about the general direction of the CCAC and the direction our artists would like to see it take. Additionally, the CCAC receives written and verbal communication on a regular basis about its current programs and activities and potential future projects.

About the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands

Courtesy of The University of Texas Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin.

Under U.S. administration as part of the U.N. Trust Territory of the Pacific, the people of the CMNI decided in the 1970s not to seek independence but instead to forge closer links with the U.S. Negotiations for territorial status began in 1972. A covenant to establish a commonwealth in political union with the U.S. was approved in 1975. A new government and constitution went into effect in 1978.