(NEWARK, NJ) -- Arts Ed Newark has been approved for a $80,000 Grants for Arts Projects award from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to support Cultivating a Creative Newark Through Collective Impact using a Trauma Informed Healing Centered Lens. This continued project will further deepen six ongoing years of helping to develop a Trauma Informed/Healing Centered City through arts education. Arts Ed Newark’s project is among 1,130 projects across the country, totaling more than $31 million, that were selected during this second round of Grants for Arts Projects fiscal year 2023 funding.

“The National Endowment for the Arts is pleased to support a wide range of projects, including Cultivating a Creative Newark Through Collective Impact, demonstrating the many ways the arts enrich our lives and contribute to healthy and thriving communities,” said NEA Chair Maria Rosario Jackson, PhD. “These organizations play an important role in advancing the creative vitality of our nation and helping to ensure that all people can benefit from arts, culture, and design.”

“We began in 2017 by laying the groundwork, introducing concepts and common language around Trauma-Informed Care. And now we can begin to move into Healing-Centered Engagement, bringing fresh attention to parents and caregivers, demonstrating both how the arts can play a role to address trauma and how Arts Ed Newark’s resources can be immediately leveraged,” said Lauren Meehan, Director of Arts Ed Newark. “It’s a natural connection that only we can help bridge.”

Since 2017, Arts Ed Newark’s Trauma-Informed Care/Healing Centered Engagement (TIC/HCE) professional development has focused on important elements of trauma-informed learning environments i.e.: creating spaces where students feel culturally, emotionally, and physically safe; forging trust; student choice and control over participation; creating shared power and relationships through collaboration; empowering youth by leveraging their strengths; and building cultural humility and responsiveness.

For more information on other projects included in the NEA grant announcement, visit arts.gov/news.

For more on Arts Ed Newark and Healing-Centered-Engagement, click here.

Through the fiscal sponsorship of Newark Arts, Arts Ed Newark is an alliance supporting collaboration in the community, enabling its partners to reach more children– over 40,000 – with high-quality arts programming. They are sector-builders and connectors, elevating the field as a whole by helping youth-serving organizations collectively bring access to arts education in Newark, New Jersey, to scale. Their network builds organizations’ capacity, helps them to navigate systems, and capture their impact so that they can focus on what they do best – engage our children in the wonder of the arts.

The mission of Newark Arts is to power the arts to transform lives. Established in 1981 as the Newark Arts Council, the organization’s vision is to become a nationally recognized catalyst for the collaborative power of the arts in the City of Newark and urban America. Newark Arts is the producer of Newark Creates, a community-led citywide cultural plan, created in partnership with the City of Newark. Newark Arts’ key initiatives include Arts Education Newark, the ArtStart community grant-making program, and the Newark Arts Festival. 

Newark Arts is generously supported by Prudential Financial, the City of Newark, Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, Victoria Foundation, Turrell Fund, Bank of America, New Jersey State Council on the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, Mellon Foundation, Hanini Group, TD Bank, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Panasonic, M&T Bank, Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, PSEG, and individuals, businesses and institutions.