Arts councils and centers fulfill the community need for creativity.
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By: Hilary Parker
In the words of one of our most famous Princetonians the one with wild hair who spouted E = mc²: "True art is characterized by an irresistible urge in the creative artist."
Unfortunately for Einstein, Anne Reeves didn’t found the Arts Council of Princeton until 1967, 12 years after Einstein’s death, so he didn’t have the chance to nurture his own "irresistible urge" with the organization. Present-day Princetonians, however, are blessed with the opportunity to satisfy their own urges with a wide variety of Arts Council programs designed to nurture creativity in whatever form it takes.
"The creative urge is an essential human desire," says Jeff Nathanson, executive director of the Arts Council of Princeton. "Our responsibility as an arts organization is to provide the venue and the programming to really address that very essential human need."
While the Arts Council was originally founded to serve as an advisory council to Princeton Borough, it became more of an arts center, providing programming, with the acquisition of the Paul Robeson Building in the 1980s. Currently, both the building and the mission are growing and changing to meet the times, and Mr. Nathanson eagerly awaits the opening of the new Paul Robeson Center for the Arts, designed by architect Michael Graves, in the fall of 2007. His vision is for the Arts Council to serve both as an organization for advising and incubating arts initiatives, and for providing arts programming.
One way to encourage the arts in any community, says Mr. Nathanson, is to partner with and support other organizations. In its current conTEMPORARY Arts Center at the Princeton Shopping Center, the Arts Council has partnered with the shopping center for an upcoming Cinqo de Mayo celebration and the summer music series, and a long-standing collaboration exists with the Princeton Public Library.
In addition to supporting local organizations, the Arts Council supports local artists, whatever their level, with opportunities to hone their skills through classes and workshops as well as opportunities to display and promote their work, such as this year’s Small Works show, a juried exhibition open to all Arts Council members.
The fledgling West Windsor Arts Council, founded in 2002, is already functioning much like its older Princeton sibling, making sure to support resident artists and the surrounding community. Their Web site hosts an events calendar listing arts events by West Windsor artists, and as the WWAC works to secure a permanent space (the ultimate goal is to occupy the Princeton Junction firehouse), they are simultaneously seeking temporary space to provide arts programming.
"I think it gives an opportunity to the artists," says Eduardo Garcia, executive director of the WWAC, and "it gives the community a sense of ‘my hometown has artists that are doing things.’ "
Like Mr. Nathanson (a member of the WWAC board), Mr. Garcia is eager to establish collaborations with other area arts organizations. A partnership already exists with New Jersey Opera Theater, and the two organizations will offer a performance of opera selections June 24 at Nassau Park Pavilion. The WWAC offers other events at the venue throughout the year, including a Summer Solstice Poetry reading (to be held June 17) and an Autumn Art Afternoon.
This year will also herald increased collaboration with the West Windsor Community Farmer’s Market, and the upcoming outdoor market will feature formalized performances, art stands and boutiques organized by the arts council. In addition, the WWAC has teamed with the West Windsor Public Library for film screenings, poetry readings and music programs.
"You have to be open to doing a lot of things," Mr. Garcia says.
Frances Chaves, the director of the Montgomery Center for the Arts, has a similarly open mind, seeking out partnerships with numerous area organizations, including a chamber series with Princeton Symphony Orchestra, an annual exhibition with the Garden State Watercolor Society and providing a space for area arts groups such as the Princeton Photography Club and the Princeton Artists’ Alliance to meet.
"All of these arts organizations together provide a cultural network that is invaluable for our communities, and I think that the value that we add to peoples’ lives can’t be overestimated," Ms. Chaves says.
The MCA is currently conducting a cultural survey to determine the programming that would best meet the needs of the community, and the organization is spearheading an ad hoc committee to develop a cultural plan for the North Princeton Developmental Center site. A "New Jersey Voices" series puts the spotlight on local artists, and exhibitions like this year’s "New Jersey Artists of Indo-Pakistani Origin" specifically address the immediate community.
The Trenton Downtown Association, under the leadership of director Matt Bergheiser, is also tapping into its community’s resident artists, providing space not only for them to exhibit their work in the non-profit Gallery 125 on South Warren Street but to create it as well, in an 8,000-square-foot building housing studios the TDA has been running for nearly four years.
"This community was always here," says Mr. Bergheiser of Trenton’s artists. "What has happened is we’ve created some more formal venues for the arts to bubble to the surface."
The TDA organizes Trenton2Nite, held on the second Friday of each month, to coordinate arts openings and music performances with extended retail hours. This, along with the annual Patriots Week celebration, are helping to enhance the arts, and revitalize the economy, of downtown Trenton.
Of course, no one could talk about community arts organizations in downtown Trenton without mentioning Artworks, which has been operating on Everett Alley for 18 years. While programming at Artworks is now provided through Mercer County Community College, the classes are, for the time being, still held at the Trenton locale. "The building itself is absolutely fabulous for this particular purpose," says Tricia Fagan, the coordinator of MCCC at Artworks programs.
Artworks faces a dubious future, however, as HHG Development Associates may develop the building into nine condominiums and an arts classroom. Regardless of the outcome, the show of support by interested community members at events, such as Artworks Advocacy Day on April 8, goes to show the deep impact community arts organizations have on the people they serve.
And so, be it in Trenton or West Windsor, Montgomery or Princeton, community arts organizations share a common mission: they fulfill a common need.
"It’s designed to bring out the artist in everyone," says Mr. Nathanson, his smile widening. "Everyone has an inner child, an artist inside that wants to make a mess."
On the Web: www.artscouncilofprinceton.org, www.westwindsorarts.org, www.montgomerycenterforthearts.com, www.trenton-downtown.com
Hilary Parker

