Magic Penny Award

Aaron Nigel Smith

We are pleased to announce The Children's Music Network's 2022 Magic Penny Award recipient, Aaron Nigel Smith. His accomplishments in the world of children's music are many, far-reaching. and impactful.

Aaron’s simple mission is to promote peace by connecting and empowering youth, families and communities through music and the arts. He is an educator with 20 years of experience creating music curricula. In 2002, he founded FUNdamentals of Music & Movement, a fun approach to music education for preschool children. The Right Brain Initiative and Arts for Learning added Smith to their teaching artist roster in 2011, and in 2013 he was named the Sunburst Teaching Artist of the Year.

Aaron and his wife Diedre, formed the non-profit 1 World Chorus with the mission of promoting peace and empowering youth internationally through the arts. More than 10,000 youth in Portland, Los Angeles, New York, Kenya & Jamaica have participated in 1 World chorus programs. In the summer of 2013, Aaron launched the Rox in Sox Children’s Music & Book Festival. This one day free charity event features some of the nation's leading talent from the worlds of family music and literature. The festival has been produced in Portland, Las Vegas and Jamaica, and has distributed thousands of socks, shoes and books to youth in the USA, Kenya and Jamaica. Since 2014, Aaron has partnered with Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream, The Bob Marley Foundation and Partners for Youth Empowerment to create the One Love Youth Camp in Jamaica. During this week-long residential camp, students explore creativity as a tool for empowerment.

Aaron was recently invited to serve as a Black Music Collective Ambassador (BMC). BMC is a division of The Recording Academy committed to amplifying artists of color in the music industry. He is a founding member of Family Music Forward and 1 Tribe Collective, both organizations that uplift and amplify BIPOC voices in the family music space.

In addition to his commitment to youth, Aaron Nigel Smith Smith is also an award winning recording artist with 11 albums in his catalog. His 2021 release, All One Tribe was nominated for a Grammy.

LEARN MORE about Aaron Nigel Smith, and join us for our award ceremony steamed live for our conference attendees.