The special Tony Award for educators goes to Baltimore community artist CJay Philip

NEW YORK (AP) — The special Tony Award that honors educators is going to a Baltimore-based actor, educator, choreographer and Broadway veteran who has created arts opportunities for everyone from kindergartners to senior citizens.

CJay Philip, founder and artistic director of the multidisciplinary ensemble Dance & Bmore, will receive the 2024 Excellence in Theatre Education Award on June 16 at the Tony Awards in New York City.

“There’s this power in the arts to reconnect us to one another and to our humanity,” she told The Associated Press ahead of the announcement. “There’s a civic duty that I have as a creative to contribute.”

Dance & Bmore has free programs for practically everyone, from preschoolers and their families to teens and adults of all ages, with its participants representing 20 of the 49 zip codes in Baltimore.

It’s AMP Camp introduces children in grades three to six to onstage and offstage production skills, like lighting design and stage management, letting them know “all of the opportunities that could be waiting them in theater and theater making from behind the scenes.”