New 42 Launches Free Online Arts Education Resources

New 42 has announced the launch of the New Victory Arts Education Resource Library, a free digital library which offers Pre-K-12 educators a comprehensive, user-friendly collection of performing arts-based materials designed to bring creativity and imagination into the classroom. Developed with funding provided through Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Digital Accelerator Program, the free digital library offers over a hundred arts education materials and tools that are widely available for the first time, and have been redesigned, tagged and cataloged to be easy to navigate. The library provides educators across the nation and beyond with ready-to-use performing arts activities, handouts, resource guides, and dynamic instructional videos that align with National Arts Standards. Previously, select resources were only available to New York City school partners with paid access. The New Victory Arts Education Resource Library was created to empower educators to seamlessly integrate music, theater, puppetry, artivism, dance, and more into their curricula.

“We are incredibly appreciative of the support provided by Bloomberg Philanthropies to create this new online resource library, which will make the New Victory’s arts education resources widely available to educators outside of New York City,” said Russell Granet, President & CEO of New 42. “Arts education is chronically underfunded nationwide, and free tools such as these are crucial for teachers to continue to prioritize the arts in their classrooms.”

“We hear firsthand the impact our resources have from teachers who have been using them right here in our City, and this partnership has allowed us to listen to their needs to make these tools stronger, easier to use, and to expand free access to all teachers across the country,” said Courtney J. Boddie, Vice President, Education & School Engagement.

The New Victory Arts Education Resource Library launched following two years of research, planning, and development, which incorporated feedback from educators across the country from its earliest stages to ensure that the library would meet their needs. Based on 29 years of international programming, these resources are designed to be utilized by all educators from arts teachers to general education teachers to enable students to develop critical thinking, collaboration and communication skills. New content will be uploaded to the digital library each month to create an ever-growing database of performing arts tools and assets that will be widely available to educators for no cost.

New 42’s artistic and educational mission is to ensure that performing arts are accessible to all from an early age. As the largest provider of performing arts performances for students in New York City, New Victory provides children with access to performing arts through affordable performances at its historic theater located in Times Square as well as extensive in-school student workshops and professional learning opportunities for teachers.

This project was developed with the support of Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Digital Accelerator for Arts and Culture. Launched in 2021, the program was designed to help arts organizations stabilize and thrive in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic through strategic improvements to technology infrastructure. The program supports leadership development and infrastructure investment that builds audiences, increases fundraising, drives revenue, delivers dynamic programming, and helps develop best practices to share across a network of nonprofit cultural organizations.