Has not yet mastered headstands and other accidents in learning

ABSTRACT Language is powerful. How we choose to describe what we do, who we engage with, and how we undertake our practice defines both the scope and scale of what we do and what we can achieve. As we look to define our vision around arts engagement in a new decade it is timely to reflect on the language we have used to date to articulate arts and cultural engagement with children, young people and their communities, and examine its continued serviceability. At such a time of change we may need to look to alternative frames such as social impact, creative placemaking and storymaking to speak more forcefully about the value of arts encounters to governments, funding bodies and ourselves.