Voices From the Field

Arts Advocate is never a title I thought I would hear when someone described me. Growing up, I always enjoyed being in plays and watching a few musicals, but never once did I think I would be getting on a train to D.C. 1-2 times a year and talk to members of U.S. Congress about the importance of the arts. Hello! My name is Zach Bates. I am an alumnus of the Gloucester County Institute of...

Each year, the New Jersey Office of Legislative Services offers the public an opportunity to bring budget concerns to the Assembly Appropriations Committee and the Senate Budget & Appropriations Committee. ArtPride trustee Jeremy Johnson testified before the Assembly Committee, and ArtPride staff member Ann Marie Miller testified before both committees. This was an opportunity to remind elected...

New Jersey’s group of 28 delegates joined hundreds of art advocates to visit members of U.S. Congress on March 4 and 5 for the National Arts Action Summit hosted by Americans for the Arts. A full day of training was capped off by the inspiring remarks of Rita Moreno, who delivered the Nancy Hanks Lecture on Arts & Public Policy at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Early on March 5, the...

What happens when you get five business leaders in a room filled with hungry learners who want to know the secrets to making their downtowns come alive? This was the scene at the recent New Jersey League of Municipalities Conference where ArtPride and the Housing & Community Development Network of New Jersey collaborated to showcase success stories in progress in Hackensack, Atlantic City, Trenton...

What does your mind conjure when asked to visualize Trenton’s art scene? Public sculpture concentrated near the State House? Street-style art on abandoned buildings? While both examples can be found across the spectrum of art in Trenton, the reality is much more vibrant and diverse. Creative and performing arts have always played an important role in Trenton over the course of its history, but...

Last week, we had the extreme pleasure of welcoming the New Jersey Secretary of State, Tahesha Way, to McCarter Theatre Center. Our partners at New Jersey State Council on the Arts invited Ms. Way to visit one of the fantastic cultural organizations hosting voter registration tables as part of the Support the Arts – VOTE campaign. It was a wonderful opportunity to show her how art organizations...

Elections are determined by those who make their voices heard, and with 13 seats up for election in New Jersey’s midterms, there’s a lot to be said. Moreover, there’s a lot at stake in the November 6 election. For example, influential arts supporter and chair of the Appropriations Committee, Congressman Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ11), is retiring. Rep. Frelinghuysen’s moderate conservative voice...

It’s back to school time and that means this week is National Arts in Education Week. It is such a critical time to show your support for arts education in New Jersey. Arts education creates not only artists but well-rounded humans that thrive in creative workplace environments. Now, if you aren’t familiar with this national celebration, here is a little background provided by our friends at...

Five years ago, I put a personal and institutional moratorium on making theatre. coLAB Arts had a massive question that had been hanging in the air for the five years since the organization first started: Why do we exist? Why does there need to be another loosely held together group of emerging interdisciplinary artists in New Jersey making work for themselves? And why New Brunswick? We had...

Nearly 300 arts professionals from across New Jersey gathered at Princeton University’s Lewis Arts complex and McCarter Theatre Center on June 7 for the Thrive Arts Conference to explore that very question. Thrive is presented every other year through a partnership among ArtPride New Jersey, the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, and the Lewis Center or the Arts at Princeton. The fourth edition...