It is an unprecedented challenging and stressful time right now for educators and their students. Culturally responsive practices help build relationships and connect with students (and their families) that cultivates a sense of belonging and helps support students’ rigorous cognitive development through arts education.  As new arts curricula are being written we, as an arts education community, have an opportunity to centralize the values of cultural responsiveness, diversity, inclusion, and equity and create arts learning practices that serve the entirety of New Jersey’s diverse student population.  It is an opportunity to join a community of people committed to learning, self-discovery, and identifying ways to make systemic change via personal growth, professional learning, and shift curriculum and instruction in meaningful ways.