For Immediate Release
September 18, 2007

Contact: Kristin Wenger
Phone: 973-327-2090   

New Jersey Arts Education Partnership Launched

Statewide Arts Education Advocacy Organization Formed as a Force for Arts Education

TRENTON - In coordination with the release of the New Jersey Arts Education Census Project Report WITHIN OUR POWER: The Progress, Plight and Promise of Arts Education for Every Child, a new central resource for information, policy and advocacy on issues dealing with arts education and the report recommendation has been unveiled. This new resource is called the New Jersey Arts Education Partnership (NJAEP).

The New Jersey Arts Education Partnership has been established as the 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. The NJAEP plans to accomplish this by creating a clearinghouse for information and best practices, providing opportunities for people to come together on topics of interest and initiating advocacy opportunities to effect public information and policy on arts education issues.

The NJAEP’s major focus is to move forward the recommendations of the New Jersey Arts Education Census Report, WITHIN OUR POWER making it a dynamic document to create change in arts education for New Jersey’s schools in the years to come.

The announcement of this new project follows years of planning and work to identify the needs of the arts education community and create the necessary model to address those needs.

“ It is clear there is a high level of interest in the findings from the New Jersey Arts Education Census Project (NJAECP),” stated Robert Morrison of Music for All and the Director of the New Jersey Arts Education Census Project. “ One of our main goals over the course of the coming year is to provide context and meaning to the NJAECP results. Helping schools, arts organizations, policy makers and concerned citizens understand how to interpret the findings and use this wealth of information as a tool to improve arts education for all children, whether this be driven by program, policy or priority, will be at the center of our activities for the next year and beyond.”

In conjunction with this announcement, NJAEP has launched a new website, www.artsednj.org, as a central clearinghouse for all information regarding news, information, tools and materials to support arts education across the state.

The New Jersey State Council on the Arts is pleased to join with the many organizations that have come together to form the Partnership,” noted Carol A. Herbert, Chair of the Council. “Through the collective efforts of the Partnership we will work together to ensure that every child’s education includes the arts as an essential component.”

The NJAEP will be under the direction of Kristin Wenger, who from 1986-2005, served as the Executive Director of Young Audiences of New Jersey. “The NJAEP is a wonderful opportunity for me and for all citizens of our state to join together to improve access to an education in the arts,” Wenger commented. “Arts education is an empowering force that is a fundamental right of every citizen. With the launch of the NJAEP the collective voice of diverse stakeholders will create an effective means for advancing the arts in education,” Wenger concluded.

The Partnership’s efforts are led by representatives from a diverse group of organizations including: Art Administrators of New Jersey, Art Educators of New Jersey, Arts Horizons, ArtPride NJ, Association of New Jersey County Cultural and Historic Agencies, Dance New Jersey, Logan Township Elementary Schools, Music for All, Newark Public Schools, New Jersey Music Educators Association, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, New Jersey PTA, New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, New Jersey Arts Education Collective, New Jersey State Department of Education, New Jersey Theatre Alliance, Perkins Center for the Arts, Playwrights Theatre of New Jersey, Pushcart Players, Rowan University, Speech and Theatre Association of New Jersey, Teen Arts, Trenton Education Dance Institute, VSA Arts NJ, and Young Audiences of New Jersey.

The New Jersey Arts Education Partnership is made possible in part by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts and funding from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation. The project is managed by Music for All. Other partners include the New Jersey Department of Education and ArtPride NJ.