The 1st World Conference on Arts Education, "Building Creative Capacities for the 21st Century," co-organized by UNESCO and the Government of Portugal, was successfully held in March 2006 in Lisbon as the first world-wide gathering solely devoted to arts education.

This global gathering resulted in a stronger coalition among stake-holders to establish a common understanding on arts education. Another concrete outcome was the formulation of the Road Map for Arts Education to provide a solid framework of reference for Member States in making future decisions related to arts education.