FAAE Leadership Awards Nomination Period Open

The Florida Alliance for Arts Education welcomes nominations for the FAAE Leadership Awards.  These awards are designed to recognize leadership among individuals and organizations who work in various capacities to ensure that high-quality arts education is available to all Florida students.  Leadership in the areas of education, administration, and community are recognized.  Nominators must be current individual members of FAAE or employed by an organization member of FAAE. Click here to join or renew your membership. Award recipients will be recognized in an awards ceremony held during the FAAE Annual Leadership Summit, Westin Cape Coral, Friday, June 26, 2020

Arts Education Professional
Provides recognition for leadership in advocacy and/or public awareness related to ensuring the role of arts education in basic education. An individual who works within an educational institution or within the education program of a community-based arts organization or agency will be honored with this award.

• Individual must work within a school district’s or community-based arts organization’s education program.
• Provides leadership through advocacy on issues which support the inclusion of arts education in the basic curriculum (e.g., equal time and access for all children, maintaining high-quality preK-20 arts programs)
• Provides public relations and/ or public awareness which lead to making the arts basic to education
• Demonstrates use of, or strong support for, “best practices” in educational processes

Business Leader

Honors a business or an individual businessperson for leadership in, and support of, arts education.  Outstanding partnership efforts; local and/or statewide advocacy for arts education; local Network Partner support; and/or financial support of arts education will be recognized through this award.

• Partners with schools in leadership and support of arts education
• Provides local or statewide support of an arts education program
• Provides financial support of arts education

Community Volunteer
Honors an individual who has provided significant support to arts education in Florida schools and communities.  Work with schools, non-profit arts education programs, and/or Network Partner is recognized through this award.

• Supports arts education in Florida schools and communities
• Works with a local non-profit arts organization’s/agency’s education programs
• Provides leadership in a Network Partnership coalition

Elected Official
Provides recognition for elected officials related to ensuring the role of arts education as part of a basic education  for all children in Florida’s schools and communities. The individual honored with this award must be an elected official.

• Individual must be an elected official.
• Provides leadership in school and/or community arts education issues to ensure inclusion of the arts   in the basic curriculum (e.g., equal time and access for all children, maintaining high-quality preK-20  arts education programs)

School Administrator 

Provides recognition for leadership in advocacy and/or public awareness related to ensuring the role of arts education in basic education. The individual honored with this award must hold an administrative position with a Florida school.

• Individual must hold an administrative position in a school district.
• Provides leadership in school or district decision-making to ensure the inclusion of arts education in the basic curriculum (e.g., equal time and access for all children, maintaining high-quality preK-12 arts programs)
• Demonstrates strong support for use of “best practices” in educational processes

Superintendent's award
Recognizes the impact that strong leadership from a superintendent can have in developing and  maintaining strong arts education programs in a school district.  As chief administrative officer of a school district, the superintendent is responsible for the effective implementation of School Board policy throughout the district.  The criteria for the superintendent's award  encompass the superintendent's involvement in advancing arts education throughout the district.

School Board Award
Florida Alliance for Arts Education (FAAE) honors, at the state level, a Florida school board for its exemplary support of high-quality arts education in its district. The Alliance then nominates the honored School Board for the Kennedy Center Alliance for Arts Education Network (KCAAEN) and National School Boards Association (NSBA) national award, providing it meets all requirements for national recognition as set forth by the KCAAEN and NSBA.

ACE of Hearts
The President's Choice Award honors an individual whose contributions to arts education in Florida have made a lasting impact on the quality of life in Florida.

Doris Leeper Award
This award, created in memory of artist, educator, and visionary, Doris Leeper (1929-2000) in 2001, honors an artist as educator for outstanding contributions to K-12 arts education in Florida via work which advances arts education through advocacy and arts education development efforts with students, teachers, and interested others. The award is presented to a Florida artist who has had a significant and unique impact on arts education in K-12 educational settings in Florida. Candidates for this award include such practitioners as artists-in-residence, lecturers, and professional artist-educators who have worked in, or contributed significantly to, K-12 arts education for at least five (5) years. Artists eligible for this award are those working to advance arts education-related programs, performances, and exhibitions; advocacy; promotion; or outreach to schools, youth centers, juvenile justice programs, or arts education in a K-12 school setting.

The Dr. Mary Palmer Legacy Trailblazer Award 
The Dr. Mary Palmer Legacy Trailblazer Award is an award given to honor individuals who have elevated arts education as their core mission. This award is named after Dr. Mary Palmer, Ph.D. who is Professor Emeritus of the UCF College of Education and whose tireless work on behalf of arts education – and specifically arts integration – has gained her a national reputation as not only an advocate for arts education, but also as an individual who recognizes the transformative power of the arts.

Nomination Forms for awards listed above here.