CONGRATULATIONS, AARON JONES!
What does it look like when an artist uses their creativity not just to entertain, but to teach, connect, and make community more accessible?
Meet our 2026 Artist of the Year, Aaron Jones…better known to families across New Hampshire as Mr. Aaron! ✨
Aaron has built his career around original, interactive, and story-driven music for kids and families. His songs get kids moving and laughing, but they're also intentionally built around storytelling, curiosity, learning, and the world around them.
Every summer, Aaron writes new music inspired by the theme of New Hampshire's statewide summer reading program. But his impact extends beyond the songs themselves.
This September, Aaron will host the third annual Mr. Aaron's Kid Fest in Concord — an entirely free music festival for young families. Aaron has intentionally built the event around the belief that cost shouldn't prevent a family from experiencing great live music together.
New Hampshire is lucky to have a small but mighty community of children's artists doing incredible work around learning, accessibility, quality time, and connection. Aaron is an important part of that creative ecosystem, and our jury saw an artist taking those values and building something uniquely his own around them.
That's art making a place better. Congratulations to our 2026 Artist of the Year, Mr. Aaron!
2026 WINNER
The Artist of the Year Award recognizes a talented young artist who is using their creativity to enrich and inspire their community. Whether through visual arts, music, theater, writing, or other creative mediums, this individual is making New Hampshire a more vibrant and dynamic place to live. Their work not only showcases artistic excellence but also fosters cultural engagement and connection.
past winners
2025 Artist of the Year, Maggie O’Neill is a conductor, actor, educator, and lifelong singer with a passion for fostering joy, connection, and power through singing with others. She was born and educated in New Jersey and earned a Bachelor of Music in Music Education and Master of Arts in Teaching at Westminster Choir College of Rider University. During that time, she performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Berliner Philharmoniker, and the New York Philharmonic. Since moving to the Seacoast nine years ago, she’s appeared on the stages of the Rochester Opera House, the Players’ Ring, Prescott Park Arts Festival, the Seacoast Repertory Theatre, and Hackmatack Playhouse, among others. Maggie is proud to be the Soprano Choral Scholar at St. John's Episcopal Church in Portsmouth, and also works with their youth music program as a conductor. Last year, with Emily Jones as manager, she founded the Seacoast Queer Choir. Their debut performance, in partnership with the Dover Public Library, was attended by over 220 audience members in June. With extensive training and experience in vocal and choral arts, she uses multifaceted pedagogic practices to teach vocal technique, solfège, and music literacy within the choral rehearsal. Don’t let the serious talk fool you though; Maggie loves to incorporate play, humor, physicality, emotional exploration, and curiosity into singing and making communal music. When she isn't leading the choir in song, she spends her days teaching 3-6 year olds music, botany, and peace.
A gifted artist and refugee from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Jozimar Matimano is recognized as the Artist of the Year for his evocative work that captures the human spirit. Since arriving in Manchester in 2016, through the International Institute of New England, Jozimar has channeled his lived experiences as a refugee into his art, creating powerful, large-scale pieces that tell poignant stories of migration, identity, and resilience. With a glowing reputation that continues to rise, Jozimar is truly a "rising star" in the New Hampshire art scene, poised to make a lasting impact both locally and beyond.
Gemma Soldati is a performing and teaching artist and Artist in Residence at Kimball Jenkins and focuses on clown-inspired work, created in front of live audiences. Gemma is supported in part by a grant from the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts & the National Endowment for the Arts and was a recipient of a Community Grant by the New Hampshire Humanities, as well as an Artist Entrepreneurial Grant from New Hampshire State Council on the Arts. She is a member of the NH State Council on the Arts in Education Roster.
Manny Ramirez is Co-Founder and Artist in Residence at Positive Street Art and creates art under the name Phelany. He has completed about 24 murals throughout NH, and works to connect the BIPOC and ALAANA (African, Latinx, Asian, Arab, Native American) communities together by working to preserve the culture and artistic traditions of these communities. Manny brings color and vibrancy to the communities he works with and brings people together through his art.