DONATING TODAY IS EASY

You can support Newark School of the Arts by making a financial contribution in your name or in memory of a loved one, in honor of a birthday, anniversary or other special occasion. Contributions are tax-deductible and allow the School to provide high-quality arts education in music, dance, drama and visual arts, as well as performance opportunities for the community. Your contribution will allow access to these programs for many more individuals through subsidy (the difference between overall tuition and running our programs), financial aid for students with verified proof of need, and scholarship support for students with demonstrated talent. NSA programs are dependent on the generous support of individuals, foundations, corporations, and government agencies. Even a small contribution will help. Please send your check to the attention of: Development Director at NSA, 89 Lincoln Park, Newark, NJ 07102, or click below:

Matching Gifts

Many companies match an employee donation to a non-profit organization with a corporate donation of twice and sometimes three times the same amount. If your gift is eligible for a match, you may request a matching gift form from your employer's Human Resources Department. You will need to complete your portion of the Matching Gift form, sign it and send it with a gift. Click here to see a list of companies with matching gift programs.

Bequests and Planned Giving

You can name Newark School of the Arts as a beneficiary of your will, revocable trust, retirement plan, or other estate plan.

Donating Stock is tax deductible to the full extent provided by law and is another way to support NSA.

If you have any questions, or would like additional information about matching gifts, honor and memorial gifts, please contact the development office at (973) 642-0133, ext. 21, or email carmen@newarkschoolofthearts.org.

Thank you for your generous support.

In-kind donations are another way to support NSA. Musical instruments, sheet music, equipment and art supplies as well as other equipment are needed and frees up general operating funds so that they can be used to support the School's programs. NOTE: We are not accepting any books, music, or costume donations at this time. If you have a piano, please call us and we will evaluate donations on an individual basis

Named Scholarships

Your contribution can be restricted to any one of the scholarship funds described below, or you can name a scholarship with a contribution of $2,500 or more. Named scholarships are awarded to students who demonstrate talent and motivation to advance to higher levels of achievement.

*Saunders Albert Davis Scholarship (Music, Dance, Drama, Visual Arts) 

The Saunders Davis Scholarship was named in memory of Saunders Albert Davis.  Mr. Davis was employed by the Newark Board of Education for 35 years, first as a music teacher and later as a school guidance counselor at Weequahic High School.  Having worked with and witnessed the poverty, dreams and talent of inner-city children who had no direction or venue to develop their talents, he along with Stella Lass would create a community center that offered high-quality, affordable arts education. Together with friends and hard work, they co-founded The Newark Community Center of the Arts, now known as the Newark School of the Arts.

*Stella and David Lass Piano Scholarship (Piano)

The Lass Piano Endowment was named in memory of NSA’s Co-Founder Stella Lass and her husband David Lass.   At the time of the Newark riots, Stella Lass worked at ten elementary schools, teaching four kindergartens music and dance, playing for the assembly and teaching and conducting piano.  One of the teachers she worked with was Saunders Davis.  Between classes, they bemoaned the fact that so many gifted children did not have the opportunity to take private instrumental lessons, the only way to learn an instrument.  Together they set out to open a music school.  The school opened in 1968.   Some of the children were able to pay the full price of $2.00 per lesson, some only $.10 cents, but just like today, all had to pay something.   Shortly after opening, other art disciplines were offered.  Each year the scholarship is awarded to a talented and deserving piano student.

The Ursuleen A. Scott Scholarship (Piano, Cello, French Horn, Vocal)

Ursuleen A. Scott passed away in June 2012. Her family established a scholarship at the Newark School of the Arts in her honor. "She loved all music, from classical to hip-hop," NSA Board Member Lori Scott-Pickens, said. "My mom even appreciated the music of Tupac Shakur."

"Growing up among 11 other siblings, there was plenty of organized chaos in the Newark home. But, mom was able to keep some organization by the collective love of music.

Out of the 12 of us, only 5 could play musical instruments," Scott-Pickens says. After teaching her own children, Lori's mother would give voice and piano lessons for extra income.

"If you think Simon Cowell is a tough judge of talent, you haven't met my mother," Scott-Pickens recalls. "She would tell us what she liked and what she didn't. She played five instruments; she knew what she was talking about."

Donna Seay- Positive Direction Performing Arts Scholarship

Donna Seay (first carrying the maiden name Donna Elaine Sanders) was a driven community activist, motivational speaker, advocate, vocalist, painter, dancer and above all else…an incredible, loving, committed, intelligent, charismatic, magnetic, witty visionary. That was my Mom-Divad L. Sanders, NSA trustee. Her love for music and artistic expression was further explored and honed during her teen years. Donna’s passion for creativity, equality and fights against injustices were foundational components to her life efforts, movements and achievements. Her work throughout the City of Newark, motivated a desire to do something, at the time-unprecedented. She would form the arts and performance-based project: Positive Direction, with musician/composer- Kevin Marshall and entrepreneur William Brooks. Positive Direction became an outlet for Newark youth and young adults to learn different artistic disciplines, as a preventative approach towards unfavorable behavior. Vocal, instrumental, drama, dance and music production allowed participants to develop by-way of professional coaching, training and coordinated stage performances; in addition to, personally through mentorships. My mother brought everyone together. She loved to sing. Loved happiness. Loved hard. She loved life. To read the complete story and see pictures, Click Here.

The Wynona Lipman Scholarship (Music)

The Lipman Scholarship is named in memory of the late New Jersey Senator Wynona Lipman. Senator Lipman actively participated in School activities up until her death on Mother's Day in 1999. Her son, William John, predeceased her at the age of 24, and she honored his love of the arts by endowing music scholarships at the Newark School of the Arts then known as the Newark Community School of the Arts and Seton Hall University, which he attended. Friends and colleagues continue to honor and celebrate her love of the arts by contributing to a scholarship in her name.

The Mary R. White Scholarship Fund

We appreciate the recent donations received in memory of Mary White who served for many years as Past President of the Friends of NSA Association and continued serving on their Committee as an Officer until her death.  All contributions received for The Mary R. White Scholarship will be used to help deserving students who study at the school.  Mary White worked for the Newark board of Education as a school nurse at Oliver and South Street schools from  1952 until her retirement in 1985.  She loved the arts and children and worked diligently on the Friends of NSA Association to raise needed scholarship funds for the Newark School of the Arts.   Her daughter Patricia Fullilove continues to serve on the Friends of NSA Association as Corresponding Secretary and her family actively supports the annual "Look Who's Cooking!" event which benefits the school.

Gladys L. Keyes Scholarship for Beginning Artists (Visual Arts)

Gladys was born in Newport News, Virginia. In 1960. Gladys along with her family moved to Newark, NJ to join other family members where she became a life-long resident.  Gladys attended Newark Public Schools and was a Graduate of Central High School. Gladys was a proud citizen of the city.  She was a creative woman, who spent her leisure time drawing and painting. Although a beginner, she intuitively knew and appreciated the importance of individual expression through fine arts. The scholarship especially named the Gladys L. Keyes Scholarship Fund for Beginning Artist is a gift to her beloved city.  Proceeds collected will be used to provide opportunities for Beginning Artists from the city of Newark who wish to learn to draw and cannot afford to pay. Lessons will be free of charge, made possible through the Gladys L. Keyes Scholarship Fund.

Dr. Julia Miller Scholarship Fund

Julia Miller graduated high school at the age of 16 and attended Brooklyn College, where she was mentored in student government activities by Shirley Chisholm, later the first Black woman elected to Congress. Julia Miller would later work on Chisholm’s history-making campaign as the first Black person to seek a major party nomination for president. In 1946, she met her to-be husband, Donald Miller, later creator of works including the Martin Luther King Freedom Mural in Washington, D.C. The original model for the mural was donated to the Montclair Public Library in 2017. In 1950, she joined the American Friends Service Committee and went to volunteer in Xochimilco, Mexico, for a year. In 1952, the Millers returned there together, on their honeymoon, volunteering to build a wastewater system. They were together until Donald Miller’s death in 1993.

Her life was defined in large part by continuing service to the community. She’d been a social worker at Settlement House NYC, and later at Mountainside hospital. In town, she was a member of the board of trustees of the then-Unitarian Church of Montclair, an Essex County committeewoman and a participant in various civil rights activities. She was appointed as a research associate to then-Gov. Richard Hughes’ Select Commission on Civil Disorders, which produced the Report for Action study of the 1967 riots in Newark. She worked as an ESL teacher at the Manpower Skills Center in Newark. Julia Miller was the founding associate director of the Black Studies Center at Seton Hall University, serving there from 1970 through 1984, when she retired as its director. She returned to Seton Hall as a consultant to design a universitywide student volunteer work center, now called D.O.V.E. — the Division of Volunteer Efforts. She earned a master of arts degree from Seton Hall and a doctorate in education from Rutgers University. She received Seton Hall’s highest honor, the Bishop Bernard J. McQuaid Medal for Distinguished Service, in 1987. And from 1990 to 1998, she was the state director of Communities in Schools, a nonprofit that provides students with support to stay in school.

*Newark School of the Arts Co-Founders

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