Prudential Financial, Inc.
Newark, New Jersey
 
Bestowed 2002

Prudential Financial, Inc., for more than four decades, has consistently supported and developed innovative arts and arts education programs that spur economic development, improve educational opportunities and access – with a special emphasis on the underserved – and enrich the quality of life of communities large and small throughout the United States. Prudential's leadership and support of the arts throughout the country helps the arts flourish and reinforces Prudential's goal of helping individuals live better, more rewarding lives.

Prudential has benefited the arts, business and the community by:

• Playing a prominent role in the urban redevelopment of Newark, New Jersey, through its leadership and support – in excess of $12 million – to the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC), which has been a catalyst in urban recovery by attracting people as well as restaurants, retail shops and housing to Newark.
• Supporting – through grants and employee volunteerism – an array of local and national arts organizations and projects throughout the country such as the Newark Arts Council, Newark, New Jersey; Chicago Children's Choir, Chicago, Illinois; Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre Company, Inc., New York, New York; The Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, Baltimore, Maryland; New Jersey Network, Trenton, New Jersey; and the Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation, Inc., New York, New York.
• Supporting a variety of arts education programs including a mentoring program, artist residencies, an after-school art enrichment program, and initiatives that bring arts training and visual, literary and performing arts to low-income inner-city youth and promote cross-cultural understanding.
• Establishing a $150,000 endowment to the Newark School of the Arts for its year-round comprehensive arts education program and summer workshops.