Paper Mill Playhouse Wins 2009 People’s Choice Award

From December 1, 2009 through January 19, 2010 JerseyArts.com invited the public to vote for their favorite nonprofit arts groups in its second annual People's Choice Awards. The categories ranged from theater and performing arts center, to museum and gallery, to symphony and dance company (along with many more - there were 15 in all). Many organizations rallied their audiences to vote and in total over 6000 people cast their ballot in this year's awards. Paper Mill Playhouse won the 2009 award for Favorite Professional Theater.

The winners were announced today online at JerseyArts.com and via email to all the voters. Recipients will formally receive their awards in a ceremony at The Governor's Conference on Tourism, held April 14-16, 2010 in Atlantic City, NJ.

Following are the winners in each category:

Favorite Performing Arts Center: New Jersey Performing Arts Center - NJPAC (Newark, NJ)
Favorite Professional Theater (Equity): Paper Mill Playhouse (Millburn, NJ)
Favorite Community Theater (non-Equity): Chatham Community Players (Chatham, NJ)
Favorite Art Museum: The Newark Museum (Newark, NJ)
Favorite Art Gallery : Grounds For Sculpture Galleries (Hamilton, NJ)
Favorite Symphony/Orchestra: New Jersey Symphony Orchestra - NJSO (Newark, NJ)
Favorite Choral Group: Westminster Choir (Princeton, NJ)
Favorite Opera Company : New Jersey State Opera (Newark, NJ)
Favorite Dance Company: New Jersey Ballet (Livingston, NJ)
Favorite Music Festival: Red Bank Jazz & Blues Festival (Red Bank, NJ)
Favorite Film Festival: Cape May Film Festival (Cape May, NJ)
Favorite Place to Take a Class in the Arts (adults): Visual Arts Center of New Jersey (Summit, NJ)
Favorite Place to Take a Class in the Arts (kids): Count Basie Theatre's Cool School (Red Bank, NJ)
Favorite Arts/Theater Camp: George Street Playhouse Academy (New Brunswick, NJ)
Favorite Downtown Arts District: Red Bank, New Jersey

Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn is thrilled to have won in the category of Favorite Professional Theater (Equity). "What makes this award so meaningful is that it comes directly from the community that we serve," says Mark S. Hoebee, Artistic Director of Paper Mill Playhouse. "We are so gratified that all of the efforts that our professional actors, directors, stagehands, musicians, designers and creative teams have put into our original productions are recognized in this way."

Mary Sue Sweeney Price, Director of the Newark Museum, winner of Favorite Art Museum for the second year in a row, said, " This People's Choice Award validates the vision of founder John Cotton Dana, who stated 'A good museum attracts, entertains, arouses curiosity, leads to questioning and thus promotes learning.' This award means everything to our staff, Trustees and volunteers of the Newark Museum."

The online poll is not considered scientific nor does it intend to make any evaluations as to artistic achievement or excellence; instead, it is designed to give the public a voice in determining the most popular arts institutions in New Jersey. Jim Atkinson, Program Manager of Discover Jersey Arts is looking forward to next year's awards, saying "We were blown away by voter turnout this year -- almost twice the number of ballots as 2008's awards. We look forward to hopefully surpassing this outpouring of support for the 2010 awards." Public voting took place following an online nomination process in which members of the state's cultural community nominated their peers in each category.

In addition, five lucky voters were selected at random from those who submitted ballots to receive a prize of their choosing from the JerseyArts.com store. These winners include Joanna Barron of New Brunswick, Joan Green of Cape May, Dorothy Hecht of Morristown, Roy Meyer of Red Bank, and Mike O'Keeffe of Point Pleasant.

For more detailed results please visit JerseyArts.com. JerseyArts.com is the official website of Discover Jersey Arts, a cosponsored project of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and ArtPride New Jersey Foundation. The site provides a comprehensive cultural event calendar, online arts directory, podcast, membership program, and a variety of other resources aimed at increasing the awareness of and participation in the arts in New Jersey.