Arts Day on May 2 – Sustaining Jersey Arts!

April 8, 2013

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Eventbrite - New Jersey Arts Day 2013

New Jersey Arts Day will unite creative minds to cook up new and exciting ways to sustain the arts in communities throughout New Jersey.  Offerings extend throughout the day at The War Memorial in Trenton, but the menu is diverse enough to accommodate busy schedules—and entice appetites hungry to imagine a New Jersey where the arts are no longer considered “discretional.”  Starting with a Sustainable Jersey training session, municipal leaders will focus on how to measure cultural assets and build “creative teams” to earn points toward Sustainable Jersey certification. This puts arts and culture front and center for New Jersey municipalities that want to go green, save money and take steps to sustain their quality of life over the long term.

ArtPride NJ will hold its annual membership meeting and announce election of trustees during a working lunch with “dessert” entertainment from Paper Mill Playhouse’s newly formed Broadway Show Choir.  With the guidance of Creative New Jersey, a call to collaboration is next, where those convened will consider this big question, “How can the arts in New Jersey take new and creative approaches to strengthen its position within the fabric of community life?”  Participants drive the agenda and the conversation in an open space format that has successfully assembled individuals from a variety of public and private sectors for dynamic conversations in Monmouth County, Morristown and Orange.  We welcome all to this free opportunity to share innovative ideas on how the arts can be perceived as indispensable to New Jersey’s quality of life.

A Movers & Shakers social tops off the afternoon with networking and refreshment and is followed by the 2013 Governor’s Awards in Arts Education where young artists, performers and adult educators and arts leaders are recognized for their achievements.  The Governor’s Awards are coordinated and presented by the NJ Arts Education Partnership in collaboration with the NJ Deptartment of Education, the NJ Department of State, the NJ State Council on the Arts and ArtPride NJ.  This year ArtPride will have the honor to present the David Grant Student Arts Activist Award to Kelsea Schimmel of Monroe Township High School for her volunteer work organizing performance opportunities for young musicians in her community.  The Arts Advocate Award will be presented to Brunswick Acres School art teacher Suzanne Tiedemann. Suzanne raised over $25,000 for Hurricane Sandy relief efforts through a Shells for NJ Shores project that encouraged over 50 schools throughout NJ and the nation to create shell themed art for sale.  Suzanne also won $5,000 for her school through the innovative use of social media in the third annual “Art of Education” competition, sponsored by Kris Wine and Americans for the Arts securing 16,000 of 90,000 votes entered nationally in the contest. Through Suzanne’s creative fundraising she was able to purchase 30 ipads exclusively for art room use at her elementary school.  To say her students are lucky is an understatement, and ArtPride is thrilled to honor these distinguished arts advocates at this year’s Governor’s Awards in Arts Education.

The bottom line is—don’t miss Arts Day this year. Register today! You will find food for your soul, feed your creative appetite and leave feeling satisfied knowing that the arts in New Jersey provide the tantalizing flavors that make our state a great place to live, work, visit and raise a family!

Images courtesy of ArtPride

Ann Marie Miller is the Executive Director of ArtPride, the premier arts advocacy organization in New Jersey, and a regular contributor to the Dodge blog.