The first State Teen Arts Festival was held at McCarter Theatre in 1969. It was a collaborative planning effort by New Jersey arts educators, the State Department of Education, the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, the New Jersey State Museum and McCarter Theatre. Mercer County hosted its first Teen Arts Festival that same year at Mercer County Community College. 

Friends Of Teen Arts (FOTA) was responsible for developing the New Jersey State Teen Arts educational and artistic philosophy and program development. Teen Arts Festivals are a forum where students who have created outstanding works in other arts initiatives throughout the year can premiere their works to an audience of peers. Outstanding performing and exhibiting teen artists from county-level Teen Arts Festivals are selected to move on to the three-day New Jersey Teen Arts Festival held at Middlesex Community College. For more information on the state show, visit https://www.njteenarts.com/.