Arts Ed Newark Celebrates 10 Year Anniversary

Arts Ed Newark, formerly known as Newark Arts Education Roundtable, is celebrating 10 years of supporting arts education equity for all Newark youth. This year's celebration will be held virtually on Wednesday, September 16th, 2020 from 4 to 6 p.m. and is open and free to all. The theme is Resilience, highlighting the role of arts education to motivate, inspire, and provide a positive creative outlet for youth during these tumultuous times. Arts Ed Newark will host the celebration via Zoom, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Celebrating Resilience will feature Newark student performances/testimonials, awards for arts education ambassadors, remarks from Newark Superintendent Roger Leon, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, and NEA Arts Education Director Ayanna Hudson, as well as a look back on the phenomenal progress of Arts Ed Newark and its partners over the past 10 years.

Operating in the largest city in New Jersey, Arts Ed Newark strives to ensure that the youth of this city connect to its vibrant arts and cultural history. In 2009, recognizing the arts education equity gaps between Newark and other suburban cities in New Jersey, a collective impact mission and alliance was formed. Ten years later, allied with a partnership 100+ strong, of funders, arts and community organizations large and small, teaching artists, parents, schools and more, Newark can boast a free summer school program enriched with arts opportunities stretching from mosaic-making to Brazilian capoeira having served 12,000+ students, strengthened the practice of arts education for youth in Newark by presenting free professional development in evaluation, worth nearly $500,000.

Arts Ed Newark provides resources for quality, comprehensive arts education, while advocating for its benefits. Marking 10 years means Arts Ed Newark has supported a generation of Newark's youth, bringing them more opportunities, advocating for programs, ensuring funding, and educating professionals. The Mayor's "city of the arts" includes its young people, more engaged, civic-minded, creative and enriched, because of the efforts of Arts Ed Newark. Celebrating Resilience will demonstrate how the arts have remained a beacon for virtual teaching: ideas of being flexible, creative, expressive, in turbulent or changing circumstances. By highlighting the pivotal role of the arts in the lives of Newark youth, this celebration will commemorate the strength of our young people at this moment in time.

Arts Ed Newark has collectively represented over 100+ arts, arts ed, and community organizations and has advocated on behalf of all Newark children for over ten years to gain access and increase participation in arts education both in and out of school. Arts Ed Newark is a stalwart partner of the Newark Board of Ed and has attracted nearly $4M in national funding to the City of Newark to grow and develop arts education in the city. Though the celebration is a culmination of 10 years, it is just the beginning. Arts Ed Newark's 10th Anniversary Virtual Celebration will highlight the hurdles leapt and the hills climbed to prioritize quality arts education in and out of schools for Newark's youth with a call to action for community members to help sustain momentum.

Arts Ed Newark is a strategic alliance of art education stakeholders committed to collaborating in effort to ensure comprehensive, high-quality arts education for Newark youth in grades K-12, both in and out of school. Arts Ed Newark is made possible, in part, by the generosity of the Prudential Foundation, Victoria Foundation, Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, The Turrell Fund, and the National Endowment for the Arts. For more information on the Arts Ed Newark Virtual 10th Anniversary Celebration, visit https://www.artsednewark.org/. If you, or someone you know, would like to be a part of what makes Arts Ed Newark possible, visit https://www.artsednewark.org/donate.