Report To The Community 2021

edefining the
future
The Colton Institute
for Training and
Research in the
Arts at NJPAC
will create new
pathways for
arts education
NJPAC’s dedication to arts
education began more than 25
years ago, prior to the opening
of the Arts Center’s campus in
1997. In a typical year, NJPAC
offers hundreds of arts education
classes, residencies and
workshops, reaching more than
100,000 students and families.
Now, the Arts Center’s staff and
teaching artists are embarking
on the next step: Redefining how
the performing arts are taught.
In 2021, NJPAC announced
the establishment of the
Colton Institute for Training
and Research in the Arts at
NJPAC, an initiative made
possible by a generous $10
million donation from Judy
and Stewart Colton. Longtime
supporters of the Arts Center,
the Coltons made their gift as
part of NJPAC’s ongoing $225
million Capital Campaign. The
fundraising push will expand
NJPAC’s artistic, educational
and community-based
programs, advancing the
Arts Center’s role as Newark’s
anchor cultural institution.
The Colton Institute will support
the expansion of arts training
at NJPAC through its Saturday
classes and summer camps, and
enable the addition of socialemotional
learning, mentorship
and college and career coaching
to the teaching of performance
skills. It will also advance NJPAC’s
professional development
offerings for school teachers,
and for its own teaching artists.
Most excitingly, it will allow
NJPAC to research the most
effective and useful ways to
teach the performing arts —
and share that information
with other arts organizations.
“This gift is especially personal
for us,” the Coltons said
when their extraordinary
contribution was announced
in early December.
The Colton Institute is helping NJPAC
integrate social-emotional learning,
mentorship and college and career
coaching into its arts education efforts.
“One of our grandchildren
participated in NJPAC’s arts
education programs, and
we have seen firsthand how
transformational that experience
can be. As Arts Center patrons
over many seasons, and
volunteer leaders engaged in
NJPAC’s evolving education
work, we wholeheartedly
believe in the vision and the
objectives of the Institute.”
The Institute’s work began in
earnest in 2021, as new team
members were added to the
Arts Education staff, and new
programs were launched.
“We’re thinking about this
holistic approach to developing
student artists. What does
it mean to serve the whole
person? How are we prioritizing
deep impact?” says Meggan
Gomez, Assistant Vice President
of Faculty and Creative
Practice, one new member of
the Arts Education team.
“We’re nurturing the creative
thinkers of the future, so these
programs have exponential
reach. What we do now,
we will see the impact of
25 years from now.”
In addition to Gomez,
E. Bradshaw joined the team
as Director of Theater Arts
Education. A Newark native,
Bradshaw acted and taught
across the country before
returning to their hometown to
begin the work of expanding
NJPAC’s theater program
into a series of trainings in
every element of theater.
“This is my town, and to bring
everything I spent a lifetime
learning back to my kids —
and in Newark, they are all my
kids — is very exciting,” E. says.
Some Colton Institute programs,
particularly those that add
career and life skills to NJPAC’s
offerings, were launched in 2021.
A Creative Coaching project
offered about 20 students the
opportunity to meet throughout
each semester, virtually,
one-on-one with teaching artists
who are also working arts
professionals “whenever they
needed help with a particular
project, or to take their work
a step further,” says Danielle
Vauters, Senior Manager of
Programming and Performances.
The program has already
had some remarkable results:
One student worked with his
mentor to record his own EP
during the course of a semester.
The Creators Room, another
virtual project targeting emerging
artists, put older students
together with professionals in
all kinds of arts careers, including
many who work behind the
scenes, from theater producers
to talent managers.
“It’s for alumni and for our
students who are almost at the
point where they’ve done all
they can at NJPAC,” Vauters
explains. “They’re interested
in learning more about certain
careers, or multiple ways
to be part of the arts and
entertainment industry. You can
be successful in many ways,
it’s not all about being a star.”
A pre-professional program
through which NJPAC helps
students get paid performance
opportunities during their high
school years was expanded
to include not just jazz
students, but aspiring MCs,
deejays and actors as well.
“We’re
nurturing
the creative
thinkers of
the future.
What we do
now, we will see
the impact
of 25 years
from now.”
– Meggan Gomez
Supporting classroom teachers
is another core aspect of
the Colton Institute’s work.
NJPAC’s professional
development offerings
expanded to include
the Social Justice Learning
Series, virtual workshops
designed to allow arts teachers
to incorporate social justice
issues, from racial inequity
to environmental activism,
into their classroom work.
Other programs focused on
arts integration — the practice
of teaching the arts alongside
academic subject matter, an
approach that not only keeps
the arts in school curricula, but
makes academic lessons more
effective. In recent years, NJPAC
has participated in statewide
arts integration initiatives
and, with the addition of Arts
Integration Faulty Lead Natalie
Dreyer to the department’s
staff, the Arts Center will be
able to build on its previous
work and begin developing
a more comprehensive Arts
Integration division.
“What we’re asking is: How do
you have a curriculum that is
about both math and music,
history and theater, at the same
time — not teaching theater in
order to learn history, but valuing
both equally. We’re offering tools
and building an ecosystem of
creative teaching,” says Gomez.
Next steps will include
developing more expansive,
ongoing training for NJPAC’s
own teaching artists.
And, as all these programs
launch, adding a staff of
research specialists able to set
research agendas and evaluate,
quantitatively and qualitatively,
how effective each program
is, will be the next step in the
Institute’s development.
“The arts play an undeniable
role in the development of
children, creating cultural
citizens who have knowledge,
compassion, and tangible skills
to better understand themselves
and others,” says Jennifer
Tsukayama, Vice President of
Arts Education. “With Judy
and Stewart Colton’s
meaningful gift, [we have]
the opportunity to assess the
impact and effectiveness of
NJPAC’s teaching, learning
philosophies and programs
while finding ways to deepen
our understanding of the
arts and arts education.” •
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