“We always have a choice of how we respond to the crisis. That’s what arts does: it gives students a voice.” Since the onset of the pandemic and throughout the past year, the landscape of arts education has changed dramatically. At schools throughout the state of New Jersey, students were forced to communicate and create from home, or through major restrictions. However, in spite of this blow...

Mid-October 2020, during the last phase of a difficult political time in general, Susanna Baker, Executive Director of Studio Montclair, reached out and asked me if I would be interested in proposing a show honoring Women’s History Month. I started with two words: women with a ‘y’ and werq. I looked them up online. From the Urban Dictionary: Womyn This is a term used by those who feel that having...

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...

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...

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...

What is “48 Blocks Atlantic City? Atlantic City is fairly small as cities go. It stretches only 48 blocks from the inlet to neighboring Ventnor City. Tucked within those 48 blocks, in the shadows of towering casino-hotels, is a community of wonderfully diverse and creative residents. “48 Blocks Atlantic City” is a weekend-long celebration of Atlantic City’s arts, history, culture, and community...

The New Jersey State Teen Arts Festival will celebrate the third year of its revival on May 30th, 31st and June 1st at Ocean County College in Toms River. Thousands of students and teachers from all 21 counties, along with professional artists and leaders in arts advocacy will celebrate the important role the arts play in enriching all of New Jersey at this three-day, state-wide arts festival. All...

I recently had the opportunity to plan and co-host a Council of New Jersey Grantmakers (CNJG) funder briefing in collaboration with New Jersey State Council on the Arts. The session featured nationally recognized philanthropy thought-leaders Holly Sidford and Edwin Torres. They spoke about inequities in philanthropic giving to arts and culture organizations, and although the session focused on the...