Tony Petito, Executive and Artistic Director for the Arts and Education Center and long time Arts Ed NJ steering committee member passed away on July 26, 2018 following a brief illness.
Tony has served as Executive & Artistic Director since 2002 and led the expansion of our Arts High School and Middle School programs into Monmouth and Ocean Counties.
Three years ago, through the Arts and Education Center, he led the return of the New Jersey State Teen Arts Festival. It has since grown in attendance exponentially under the his leadership together in partnership with the Jay and Linda Grunin Foundation, the New Jersey Education Association, and the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation. Tony truly loved this work and what inspired him most was the thousands of young and aspiring artists who participated in our programs every year.
Tony was also an American playwright and founding Artistic Director of the Singapore
Repertory Theatre (SRT) which was established in 1993. He envisioned an organization
where struggling Singaporean theatre talent would be able to earn a living wage through
their passion and talents for the arts. Today the SRT has a 380-seat theatre and
complements its largely Singaporean talent with its international network of contacts and
performers.
He is survived by his daughters Nora and Gianna, their mother Donne and many
extended family members.
I will always remember his passion for the Teen Arts Festival and his decade’s long
effort to see the state festival return to glory.
Thank you Tony for your incredible contribution to arts education in our state. All of us
with Arts Ed NJ will truly miss you.
-Bob Morrison
