You thought this blog post was about basketball, right? Think again.
March is brimming with an insane abundance of arts activities. Did you know that March is Youth Art Month, Music in Our Schools Month, National Craft Month, Stages Festival Month, the month of National Arts Advocacy Day (March 8), the month of National Wear Your Show Shirt Day (March 11) celebrating Theatre in Our School, the month the Poetry Out Loud statewide finals take place (March 17), when county Teen Arts Festivals begin, the month People’s Choice Award winners are announced (March 4), the month the Creative Placemaking Leadership Summit takes place in Newark (March 18).
And don’t forget it’s Women’s History Month and you know there are an endless number of women artists throughout history to honor. Are you exhausted yet?
At ArtPride NJ we’re actually invigorated by all of this activity and have declared it #March4ArtNJ month. With so much inspiration, this is the perfect opportunity to show just how simple it is to be an arts advocate every single day. We invite you to follow ArtPride NJ throughout March on social media (twitter and facebook) for everyday prompts that make it incredibly easy for you to exercise your advocacy muscles as supporters of the arts.
So far this month (and today is only Day 14) Haddonfield High School students of #TeamShakespeare told us that “Art is everything!” and reminded us that “Life imitates art far more than art imitates life” (Oscar Wilde), when asked “What does art mean to you?”
Zimmerli Art Museum helped us discover women artists at Rutgers University’s online site for the Center for Women in the Arts and Humanities. We’ve signed up new advocates at ArtPride NJ’s Arts Action Center so they can receive Voter Voice alerts on arts related legislation. When we asked about support for public art, the NJ State Library’s Funding Information Center, a FIN partner of the Foundation Center, reminded us that the state library has the artist’s model of Clyde Lynds exquisite public art work, Confluence, at the State Capitol Complex. The NJ State Library is also the place where you can learn about NJ Maker’s Day on March 18 and join in on the fun.
March isn’t quite halfway over, so if you missed out on the adventure so far, you still have plenty of time to keep an eye on ArtPride’s facebook page and twitter feed for new prompts every day. You may just find that arts advocacy is becoming routine, a good and easy habit that can continue well past March into April and every day throughout the year.
Let us know how you are supporting the arts in your home, in your school, and in your community. Use the hashtag #March4ArtNJ on your social media feeds and ArtPride will report back on the madness and the many ways creative New Jerseyans find the arts bring joy to our lives every single day.
Ann Marie Miller is the Director of Advocacy and Public Policy at ArtPride New Jersey and a regular contributor to the Dodge Blog. Email her at amiller@artpridenj.com. Click here to visit ArtPride’s website.