The 16th NAREA Summer Conference

Thank you for joining NAREA’s 16^th summer conference: The Complexity of Trying: Time to think, search, create, understand, and construct meaning. Over the years, NAREA and Reggio Children have collaborated to offer in-person and virtual professional development experiences to more than 200,000 dedicated educators, advocates, parents, policymakers, and community members throughout North America and beyond.

This year, we celebrate and honor Loris Malaguzzi on the 100^th anniversary of his birth. To honor his contributions to education, we will revisit his vision of education, his bold commitment, his thinking, and his view that children, first and foremost, innovate our future. Malaguzzi continues to provoke us to think deeper about the kinds of systems that are needed to support innovative education. The city of Reggio Emilia chose education from birth as a lever for affirming democracy, achieving quality of life, and building a society based on equity and solidarity. We join with Reggio Emilia in permanent debate and action for education. The recent offerings, “At Home with the Reggio Approach” from Reggio Children and “Online Activities” from Reggio Children Foundation, give tangible proof of their bold commitment to children, families, educators, and communities.

It is with great pleasure and gratitude that we welcome our colleagues, Filippo Chieli and Daniela Lanzi, as well as interpreter Jane McCall, from Reggio Emilia, Italy. It is through their sharing and exchange that we will continue to construct strong interpretations of the values, principles, and experiences of the municipal infant-toddler centers and preschools of Reggio Emilia. It is with deep appreciation that we recognize the team in Reggio that worked to make this virtual event a reality. We know we speak for all us in thanking the community of Reggio Emilia, including Reggio Children and Istituzione, for all they are doing to carry on during this period of challenging local conditions.

Finally, we thank you—not only for joining together with others in professional development but for your understanding and flexibility as we have navigated necessary changes in the face of this heart-breaking pandemic. We honor and celebrate you as you continue to invest in an ongoing approach that includes permanent study, research, collaboration, innovation, transparency, disequilibrium, and exchange. Please enjoy this time of research, comparison of ideas, and co-participation. Welcome!