Last month, the New Jersey Governor’s Awards in Arts Education celebrated its 40th year. Established in 1980, the program was created to promote awareness and appreciation for the arts by honoring individual students, and to honor education leaders who have demonstrated excellence in, and dedication to, arts education. Usually held in May at the historic Patriots Theater at the War Memorial in Trenton, this year’s awards ceremony, like so many other arts events, moved online – and took place in late June.

We recently spoke with Priscilla Hopkins-Smith, Director of the NJ Governor’s Awards in Arts Education, and Bob Morrison, Director of Arts Ed NJ, and the Founder and CEO of Quadrant Research, the nation’s leading arts education research organization, about what the awards mean to the arts education community, and why the arts matter when it comes to providing students with the best education possible. We were also joined by two NJ Governor’s Awards in Arts Education winners - Jocelyn Jeffries and Jasmine Livingston - both students from Northern Burlington County Regional High School.

To watch this year’s NJ Governor’s Awards in Arts Education, go to: njgaae.org/virtualawards2020