This 3-year intra-provincial project brings, for the first time, research-creation into early childhood through the work of the atelierista. The project engages young children as co-researchers to understand and highlight the impact of research-creation as a daily practice of knowledge co-creation. Our project builds on the complementary strengths of the research team to offer a new paradigm that retheorizes the arts beyond personal creativity, developmental progression, and a supplement to education. It establishes opportunities for atelieristas to work in early childhood art studios entwining the social, material, cultural and political dimensions of learning experiences. Through its commitment to research-creation, the project offers multiple levels of investigation into what constitutes inclusive, equity-minded artful pedagogies in Canadian early childhood education.
