New Hampshire State Council on the Arts Update
The New Hampshire State Council on the Arts had a very busy fall! In addition to closing out the grant year and all of our ongoing work in arts education, arts in health, creative communities and traditional arts, we organized and hosted two large events: the Governor’s Arts Awards and Culturally Responsive Leadership: Race, Equity and the Arts in Education and Community, our biennial Arts Education Partnership Conference.
Governor’s Arts Awards
The 2019 Governor’s Arts Awards were held October 21 at the Bank of NH Stage, Capitol Center for the Arts’ new venue in Concord. Eight awards were presented in seven categories, recognizing the work of recipients in promoting the excellence, growth and availability of the arts in the Granite State. Governor Chris Sununu spoke at the ceremony and presented the awards, which were sponsored by businesses and individuals (this program is 100% supported with private funds).
The event featured significant NH artist involvement. The iconic award statue, in use since 2011, was designed and fabricated by Berlin, NH artist André Belanger, and four Arts Councilors provided music at two receptions prior to the ceremony. The Chris Klaxton Quartet kicked off the ceremony, at which the two NH Youth Poets Laureate – Rachel Sturges and Falon Smith – each read an original poem. Ceremony graphics and video were created by designer, filmmaker and media arts educator Mike Place, and two Arts Councilors donated artworks that were raffled off during the evening, with the proceeds designated for future events.
This biennial event provides an important opportunity to celebrate the arts in NH and communicate their importance to a wide audience. Governor Sununu and DNCR Commissioner Sarah Stewart spoke eloquently about the state’s creative economy, the arts as a tool to build community, and the individual, intrinsic value of the arts to close to 300 attendees – the largest audience for this event in a decade! Click here for the ceremony program and here for photographs.
Arts Education Partnership Conference
The 2019 Arts Education Partnership Conference, Culturally Responsive Leadership, was held in several venues in Dover, NH, November 14 – 15. The focus of the conference grew out of our commitment to diversity, equity, access and inclusion, recognizing that artists, organizations, cultural stakeholders – and our youth – may face barriers due to systemic unequal power, privilege and access.
The Conference, a collaborative project with the NH Arts Learning Network, brought together close to 200 attendees and presenters from New Hampshire and around the country who are committed to learning how we can be culturally responsive to the intersectionality of the audiences and youth we serve. Facilitators, speakers, and youth leaders guided attendees in understanding how race, socio-economic status, trauma, and mental health uniquely inform the ways in which students learn and engage with community. Keynote presentations and panel discussions focused on topics such as culturally responsive creative youth development; Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and the arts; inclusive community building; centering youth voice and supporting youth leadership; and Amanda Whitworth and C. Robin Marcotte’s “Shadows”, a dance performance (with talk back) about addiction.
Workshops explored after school arts for at-risk youth; connecting culturally-responsive teaching with competencies; creative and critical communities of practice; the Inside Out global participatory art project; music, therapy and UDL; creating spaces for LGBTQ+ youth; voices in film, and more. Click here for the full Conference program.
Follow-up to the Conference included an evaluation and additional resources from our office and presenters. Participants were eligible for up to 14.5 professional development CEUs for attending the Conference.
Questions about the work we do? Please contact me at virginia.lupi@dncr.nh.gov!