Multiple, sometimes competing, purposes for adult arts education are to develop the individual, maintain the dominant culture, or change the culture; develop appreciative audiences or creative practitioners; or liberate creativity or develop technical skills. Art may be the means or a goal in itself; that is, the arts may be used for instrumental purposes such as critical thinking, literacy, therapy, or other outcomes often used to justify arts education, or arts learning may have intrinsic value. These multiple purposes raise certain issues for providers. First, what counts as art and who decides? Based on varying definitions of the arts, a second issue is what are the goals of adult arts education? A third issue is how learning in the arts should be assessed. Community arts is an approach that illustrates these issues. Community arts are focused on the production of art as the expression of community culture, not as a commodity. Adults may find a rich source of meaningful learning opportunities in and through the arts. Education in the arts includes activities whose primary purpose is to encourage people to engage with the arts as creators, participants, or appreciators. Education through the arts involves activities that use the arts to achieve ends that are tangential to the arts, developing new ways of seeing, knowing, and experiencing. (Contains 19 references.) (YLB)