(EWING, NJ) -- Over 100 students and arts educators will receive the state’s most prestigious award in the arts education, at the 43rd Annual New Jersey Governor’s Awards in Arts Education celebration during Arts Ed NJ Day on June 2 at the College of New Jersey. This event, which begins at 5:00pm, will honor those who have demonstrated excellence in and dedication to arts education.
The New Jersey Governor’s Awards in Arts Education has an amazing 40+ year tradition of highlighting world-class talent in New Jersey. Over the past four decades New Jersey’s most talented youth, representing artistic disciplines as varied as dance, music, poetry, visual arts, speech, debate, and theater, have walked across the awards stage to receive their medal.
“Winning this award truly changed my perspective on who I believed I could become. The award itself was amazing, but honestly the community that came with it is what I cherished most. To see myself alongside some of the brightest art students in New Jersey, friends who have now gone on to Ivy League Schools or booked as lead characters on their own Netflix shows….it reminds me that we’re all amazing and that our dreams are right in front of us! We’re not just the future, we’re right now!” stated Jasmine Camille Livingston, Class of 2020.
This year, the annual awards ceremony will be held as the culminating event of the inaugural Arts Ed NJ Day on June 2, 2023 and will be live streamed via YouTube, Facebook and at www.njgaae.org.
This is a free event that is open to the public. Click here to register.
Arts Ed NJ Day will feature the first ever Gathering Ground Arts Education Call to Collaboration (C2C), networking opportunities, award-winning performances on various stages, interactive photo booth, alumni guest speakers, pop up advocacy activities, Live Red Carpet Countdown to the Awards, and a statewide student visual arts exhibit.
The C2C will bring together over 250 educators, nonprofits leaders, artists, teaching artists, school board members, parents, students, business people, legislators… Everyone who has a stake in ensuring every child in NJ receives an arts education that cultivates identity, agency, and belonging. Facilitated by Gathering Ground, this internationally-renowned meeting format features a powerful, self-organizing approach that engages diverse groups of people in open and authentic conversations on issues of great importance to them. The format is democratic and egalitarian, and puts people at the center of both agenda creation, leading conversations, and envisioning the change they want to see.
The central question for the Call to Collaboration: How do we work together to ensure an equitable arts education sector that celebrates diverse lived-experiences, increases demand and resources, and builds a more just and creative NJ.
“Dr. Penelope Lattimer will be receiving the prestigious Outstanding Lifetime Contribution to Arts Education award, nominated by the Board of Arts Ed NJ. Dr. Lattimer is a trailblazer, nationally known author, speaker, thought leader, and trailblazer in arts education,” stated Ann Marie Miller the Chair of the Arts Ed NJ Board.
Join us in celebrating Dr. Lattimer along with the creative leaders of tomorrow. Click here to view the NJ Governor's Awards in Arts Education Class of 2023.
The day is sponsored by the Grunin Foundation, The College of New Jersey, NJEA, ArtPride New Jersey, NJP Associates/Kingsview Asset Management, University of Arts, Rider University, and OceanFirst Foundation, and Nina Mitchell Wells.
This program is made possible in part by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a founding agency of Arts Ed NJ.
The event is a partnership of the Arts Ed NJ, the Department of Education, the Department of State and the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.
Additional support is provided by the New Jersey Governor's Awards in Arts Education Planning Council: Art Pride New Jersey Foundation, the Afro-Academic, Cultural, Technological and Scientific Olympics Program, Art Educators of New Jersey, Art Administrators of New Jersey, Dance New Jersey, New Jersey Council of Teachers of English, New Jersey Speech and Debate League, New Jersey Music Educators Association, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Speech and Theatre Association of New Jersey, Young Audiences New Jersey & Eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey Thespians, and Appel Farm Music & Arts Campus.
Arts Ed NJ is the unified voice for arts education in New Jersey. Formerly the New Jersey Arts Education Partnership, Arts Ed NJ was founded in 2007 by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, New Jersey Department of Education and Music for All Foundation, with additional support from the ArtPride New Jersey Foundation. The mission of Arts Ed NJ is to provide a unified voice for a diverse group of constituents who agree on the educational benefits and impact of the arts, specifically the contribution they make to student achievement and a civilized, sustainable society. A major component of our work is the Arts Ed Now campaign which offers customizable grassroot tools to increase participation in arts education at a local level and garner public support to ensure every NJ child receives the quality arts education mandated by the state. Arts Ed NJ’s Arts Education and Social Emotional Learning Center supports the advancement of practices that are healing centered, culturally responsive, and grounded in the best practices offered by our social emotional learning framework. The MacMillan Foundation provided funding for the launch of the On-Demand Learning Hub and this first course.
