Corey Alderdice to be honored at the Governor’s Arts Award luncheon in Little Rock on March 13.
The Arkansas Arts Council, an agency of the Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism, will honor the 2026 Governor’s Arts Awards recipients during a luncheon ceremony on Friday, March 13, at the Robinson Center, 426 W. Markham St., Little Rock. Doors will open at 11:00 a.m., and the ceremony will take place from 12 - 1:30 p.m. Lunch will be provided for all attendees.
The Governor’s Arts Awards program recognizes individuals, organizations, and businesses for their outstanding contributions to the arts in Arkansas. Recipients are nominated by the public and selected by an independent panel of arts professionals from across the state.
Corey Alderdice of Hot Springs received the Arts in Education Award. The University of Arkansas System Board of Trustees appointed Alderdice as executive director of the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts (ASMSA) in 2012. He is now the school’s longest-serving director.
During his tenure, Alderdice worked to elevate the state’s only public residential high school for talented students and developed new programs in computer science, global learning, and the arts, which strengthened ASMSA’s early-college model.
Newsweek, The Daily Beast, The Washington Post, Niche, and the Jay Matthews Challenge Index recognized ASMSA among the nation’s top and public, elite high schools.
Over the past decade, Alderdice oversaw a $42.5 million transformation of the campus and expanded outreach programs that served more than 7,000 Arkansas students, educators, and families each year.
He received recognition from the National Consortium of STEM Schools, Bezos Family Foundation, Arkansas Business, the Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA), and Arkansas Money and Politics magazine for his leadership in education and civic engagement.
For those unable to attend in person, Arkansas TV will livestream the ceremony.
The following individuals and organizations will be honored:
Michael Fothergill, Little Rock – Arts Community Development
Corey Alderdice, Hot Springs – Arts in Education
The Northwest Arkansas Mall, Fayetteville – Corporate Sponsorship of the Arts
Kay Thomas, Mountain View – Folklife
Sheila Holland Cotton, Little Rock – Individual Artist
Al “Papa Rap” Lopez, Rogers – Judges Recognition
The Charles A. Frueauff Foundation, Little Rock – Patron
