This article presents a keynote speech given by Arnold Aprill at the ArtsSmarts/GenieArts Canadian national annual meeting of arts education partnerships, addressing the development of practice-based arts education policies. ArtsSmarts/GenieArts is a Canadian initiative, launched in 1998 and supported by the J.W. McConnell Family Foundation, that promotes the active participation of young people in the arts through long-term arts education partnerships. It is designed to increase and enhance arts-related activities in the classroom by promoting art as a vehicle for teaching all subjects across the curriculum.