Newark Arts Festival will attract thousands of collectors, aficionados and attendees to the four-day celebration of arts and culture, happening October 10-13th across all five wards of Newark. Voted New Jersey’s Favorite Visual Arts Festival by JerseyArts.com, Newark Arts Festival boasts exciting new features in 2019. Led by local and national curators, the festival, formerly known as Open Doors, will include a multi-building lighting program and a new downtown headquarters, bustling with art installations, performance and poetry experiences, panel discussions and more.
“There’ll be more art, more artists, and more art-buying visitors,” said Jeremy Johnson, Executive Director of Newark Arts. “Newarkers and tourists alike will be moved and amazed by the culturally rich, up-to-the-minute artistry of the area’s most notable creatives,” Johnson added.
Kicking off the festival is a Headquarters Opening and Street Fair on Thursday, October 10 at Raymond Blvd. and Commerce Ct, replete with performances and vendors. Guests will be able to tour the art-filled pop-up headquarters space, donated by Newark Downtown District and Eleven80 Raymond. At this official hub, visitors will find NAF info, merchandise, and friendly volunteers to help attendees craft their festival experience day to night. A thoughtfully-designed festival map will identify nearby galleries, a pop-up exhibits, restaurants, performances and parking. A daily-updated website will provide further details on more than a 100 happenings across town.
New this year is Illuminate 2019, a citywide pink-lighting activation involving corporations, galleries, businesses and municipal buildings. Participating venues such as NJPAC, Newark City Hall, TRYP Hotel, NJIT, Newark Public Library, and more will light their exteriors in pink, starting at 6pm each night of NAF to shine a proverbial spotlight on Newark’s arts and culture scene. The pink illumination will also double as a nod to breast cancer awareness, as American Cancer Society’s Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk coincides with NAF.
Newark Arts has forged partnerships with real estate developers to convert six vacant downtown spaces into pop-up exhibits. Under the direction of lead curator Adrienne Wheeler, the spaces will feature art pieces and site-specific installations curated by Terry Boddie, Cheryl Mack, Kween Moore, Atim Annette Odon, Armisey Smith, Onnie Strother and Mary Valverde. Spaces were generously donated by Hanini Group (91 Halsey Street), Dranoff Properties (One Theater Square), L+M Development Partners (Hahne & Co. and Walker House), 744 Broad St, and Eleven80 Raymond/Newark Downtown District. Site preparation and lighting were made possible through the generosity of Women@NJPAC, MZM Construction Co. Inc., KLAD, Inc., Novartis, and a corps of dedicated volunteers.
The performing arts will be well represented with music, poetry, theater and film screenings. One of the most highly anticipated shows is “Hear Her Roar,” a multi-genre performance art collective, directed by NJPAC’s Daryl L. Stewart at Newark Symphony Hall. Also debuting at the festival is New Archive, a film installation by HBO-featured, Newark-born director LeRon Lee at Express Newark.
Admirers of public art will enjoy “A Call To Peace,” in Newark’s Military Park, presented by The New Arts Justice Initiative at Rutgers University – Newark. The project consists of outdoor art installations by renowned artists Manuel Acevedo, Chakaia Booker, Sonya Clark, and Jamel Shabazz. Each artist will creatively respond to the park’s historic Wars of America monument by answering the question: What is a timely monument for the city of Newark?
Career and business development opportunities for creatives will be offered, via panel discussions in partnership with Rutgers CUEED and festival sponsor Prudential focused on the Art of Business. Prudential will also screen an inspiring film on entrepreneurship, Legacy Lives On followed by a talkback of industry professionals at 3rd Space.
There’s so much more in store! For a complete listing of festival events, please visit newarkartsfestival.com.
To volunteer at the Newark Arts Festival, please visit https://newarkarts.org/volunteer/.
