Town meeting for Arts Plan NJ

RED BANK — The New Jersey State Council on the Arts (NJSCA) will convene a town meeting to provide a public forum to discuss the draft of Arts Plan NJ, a statewide plan for a better New Jersey through the arts. The meeting will run from 7-9 p.m. on Oct. 17 at the Two River Theater on Bridge Avenue in Red Bank.

Three sessions will be held across the state to provide opportunities for public discussion and input to the plan before it is finalized later this year.

Over the last two years, the NJSCA has led a comprehensive process, involving leaders from diverse fields to refresh and update the original Arts Plan NJ adopted in 1998. According to NJSCA Executive Director David Miller, “The plan focuses on six major goals that stress the importance of access, arts education, support for individual artists, resource development, the role of the arts in economic/community development and the use of technology. This plan provides strategies for partnerships between the arts and other community efforts that will help create a better New Jersey.”

Anyone with ideas on how to improve the plan is welcome to participate. Persons interested in speaking must call or e-mail NJSCA to reserve a three-minute spot. Call (609) 292-4474 or e-mail [email protected]. Times will be filled on a first-reserved basis.

The plan can be accessed and downloaded by visiting the Arts Plan NJ Implementation Web site at www.ArtsPlanNJ.org.