Volume 1, Issue 1, Pages 1-3
Received 01 December 2015
Accepted 01 December 2015
This is an open access article.
It was one year ago when the new journal idea came into my mind and giving birth to it has been an exciting journey. I was thinking of a unique academic international journal in English combining arts education and arts therapy with a China focus, the first of its kind to bridge East and West, art and science. I started to invite people one by one onto the editorial board. After more than a half year of preparation, our editorial board has been set up and consists of nearly 50 influential researchers and scholars active in different fields in China and abroad. This group reflects the multidisciplinary commitment of CAET and our vision to enhance serious inquiry into the function and value of the arts in the current social context of East and West.
As the founder of the journal, I also see this as an interesting and rewarding personal journey. My Chinese and biomedical background and many years of living in both China and Europe have given me many perspectives on China and the scientific community, but it was only when I was drawn into the art world through modern dance and later through dance movement therapy that my perspective about myself and the world become more multidimensional and comprehensive. The challenges and bottlenecks I encountered in scientific research suggested that the insights I sought could not be provided by hard science alone which is more mind oriented. When we engage the arts and embodied experience, we are creating more possibilities for understanding ourselves and the world, and for answering many questions, including scientific ones. So I see the value of the arts not only in performances by arts professionals but also as an essential element of life for every human being as well an indispensable counterpart to science -- just like the Yin and Yang we need to make a good balance. This is my fundamental motivation for establishing the journal. Looking back, it was 10 years ago when I brought the knowledge from the West to China with dance/movement therapy colleagues from Europe and the United States. Now, I find myself facilitating the reverse process with the journal where a mutual flow and dialogue will help us complete a circle of learning.
I feel extremely happy and lucky to have Professor Shaun McNiff on board to be one of the chief editors of CAET. Shaun has a profound understanding of the value of art and keeps inspiring our community with his passion for integrating artistic and scientific inquiry. In addition to the many other leaders in the arts in education and therapy fields who have joined our editorial board, I also feel it is important to have young talented researchers participating to bring new ideas and innovation to our journal. The expertise and dedication of Shaun and other editorial board members, and the support from both art and science will play a significant role in determining CAET’s success.
Getting the first issue to take off has taken considerable time and effort from all of us who are engaged in this process. While there are challenges for many Chinese authors who are writing in the English language, we do hope our readers and colleagues can enjoy reading the different perspectives in the articles in the first issue which we hope will facilitate more dialogue between the East and West. We would like to thank all our authors whose articles have or have not been accepted for publication in this issue for the enthusiasm and support for the CAET journal, and for the time and effort you have spent to prepare the manuscripts, especially those authors whose mother tongue is not English. We also thank each of the reviewers who read the manuscripts and offered constructive feedback. We are very pleased to have people with committed to the mission of the journal join us for this exciting and meaningful journey.
I do hope CAET will be your partner in your research and practice. We look forward to working closely with our art and science communities in the future.
創立這本新期刊的想法應該是在一年之前進入我腦海中的。它的誕生如同一段令人激動的旅程。那時候我考慮的是一本特別的國際英文學術期刊，它包含藝術教育和藝術治療並以中國為其中一個焦點。而且它是世界上第一份架接東西方，藝術與科學領域的期刊。我開始一個個邀請同行進入編委會。經過半年多時間的準備，由中國和國外近50位各個領域有影響力的學者專家組成的編委會搭建了起來。這個團隊體現了CAET致力於多學科合作的特色，以及我們對於當今東西方社會背景下藝術的功能與價值進行嚴肅認真探討的眼光與目標。
作為這個期刊的創刊人，我也把這看作是一段充滿樂趣和價值的個人征途。華人和生物醫學的背景，以及在中國和歐洲工作生活多年的經歷賦予了我對於中國和科學界許多的視角。但僅僅在我被現代舞和舞動治療帶入藝術世界後，我對於自己和世界的認識才變得更加的多維和全面。我在科學研究中遇到的挑戰與瓶頸提示我：自己一直在探尋的深度洞察不能僅僅單靠基於理性思維的‘硬科學’提供。當我們將藝術和具身體驗加入其中的時候，我們便創造出了更多的可能性去理解我們自己和世界，並回答很多的問題，包括科學問題。所以我看到得藝術的價值不僅僅存在于專業人士的表演中，而且在於它是對於每一位人類個體生命中的基本要素，同時也是與科學相匹配的不可缺少的一部分，就如同我們需要陰陽去獲取平衡一樣。這成為了我創立這本期刊的原動力。回顧過去，十年前我和歐洲與美國的同行通過舞動治療將知識從西方帶到中國。十年後，我發現自己在通過這個期刊促進逆向的進程，而最終這種雙向的流動與對話説明我們完成一個學習的輪回。
為了準備和出版這份期刊的第一期，我們所有參與這個過程的人都付出了很多的時間和努力。雖然眾多中國作者用英語寫作有挑戰，但我們希望我們的讀者和同行們仍然能夠從第一期的這些文章中讀到並欣賞不同的觀點和視角，我們也期待第一期能夠進一步促進東西方之間的對話和交流。我們要感謝所有的作者，不管文章被這期所接受發表與否，為您們給予CAET期刊的熱情和支持，以及準備稿件中所花費的時間和心血，特別是那些母語不是英語的作者。我們還要感謝每一位評審專家，認真仔細地閱讀稿件並提供了建設性的回饋和建議。我們非常榮幸能夠有致力於期刊使命的同行加入到我們這一令人激動和有意義的征途之中。
我感到很高興和榮幸將Shaun McNiff教授請到我們編委會擔任CAET期刊的主編。McNiff教授對藝術有著深刻的理解，他不斷地用其整合藝術和科學探索的熱情激勵著我們領域的同仁們。除了藝術教育和治療的卓越領導外，我覺得將年輕有為的中青年才俊請到我們的團隊中是非常重要的。他們的加入將為我們的期刊帶來活力和創新。Shaun和其他編委的專業知識和奉獻，以及來自藝術和科學的支撐將決定CAET將來的成功。
我真心希望CAET能成為您科研和實踐工作中的夥伴。我們期待著與藝術和科學界同仁們將來緊密的合作。
