The National Art Education Association has named Herkimer Jr./Sr. High School art teacher Heather McCutcheon as the recipient of the 2024 New York Art Educator award.
The award is determined through a peer review of nominations and honors an outstanding member from each state or province association whose service and contribution to art education merits recognition and acclaim. The award will be presented during the NAEA 2024 National Convention this week in Minneapolis.
“This award is being given to recognize excellence in professional accomplishment and service by a dedicated art educator,” NAEA President Wanda B. Knight said. “Heather McCutcheon exemplifies the highly qualified art educators active in education today: leaders, teachers, students, scholars and advocates who give their best to their students and the profession.”
McCutcheon, who also is the Herkimer-Fulton-Hamilton-Otsego BOCES Arts in Education coordinator and the co-chair of New York State Youth Art Month, is also being honored by the Council for Art Education with the Award of Merit for her efforts with Youth Art Month in the state.
Last year, McCutcheon won the New York State Art Teachers Association’s New York State Art Educator of the Year Award and helped New York State Youth Art Month win the top national Youth Art Month award: the Council for Art Education’s Youth Art Month Claire Flanagan Grand Award. She was also named an Apple Distinguished Education and traveled to Texas to deliver a showcase speech during the ADE Institute 2023 Americas event in Dallas.
Founded in 1947, the National Art Education Association a professional membership organization exclusively for visual arts educators. Members include elementary, middle and high school visual arts educators; college and university professors; university students preparing to become art educators; researchers and scholars; teaching artists; administrators and supervisors; and art museum educators—as well as more than 54,000 students who are members of the National Art Honor Society. The association represents members in all 50 states plus the District of Columbia, U.S. Possessions, most Canadian Provinces, U.S. military bases around the world and many foreign countries.
NAEA’s mission champions creative growth and innovation by equitably advancing the tools and resources for a high-quality visual arts, design and media arts education throughout diverse populations and communities of practice.
Herkimer Jr./Sr. High School art teacher Heather McCutcheon has been named as the winner of the National Art Education Association’s 2024 New York Art Educator award and is being honored by the Council for Art Education with the Award of Merit for her efforts with New York State Youth Art Month. Pictured here, McCutcheon poses with a New York State Art Teachers Association’s New York State Art Educator of the Year Award that she won in 2023.