The Arts Council Gala will bring the community together at 7 p.m. to kick off the organization’s 10th anniversary and honor founders Sue Leson and Marty Hayden.
By: Lacey Korevec
Dancing, champagne and a silent auction will make The Crowne Plaza Hotel in Monroe the place for Cranbury residents to be on Saturday night, Cranbury Arts Council President Joanne Hansan said.
The Arts Council Gala will bring the community together at 7 p.m. to kick off the organization’s 10th anniversary and honor founders Sue Leson and Marty Hayden.
The Cranbury Arts Council is a nonprofit organization that provides programs, activities and services to promote art and art education in and around Cranbury.
Ten years after its inception, the Cranbury Arts Council holds community events throughout the year, including the Candlelight Concert and monthly art exhibits at the Gourgaud Gallery in Town Hall. It also offers summer day camps to over 130 local children interested in music, theater, technology, art and design and runs art, dance, writing and theater classes at the Middlesex County Youth Shelter.
The gala will begin with a cocktail hour and a silent auction, where guests can bid on different items, including gift baskets from local stores and gift certificates to nearby restaurants. A buffet dinner and dancing will follow, culminating with a tribute to Ms. Hayden and Ms. Leson later in the evening.
Dinner music will be provided by The Hollywood Band, a group of New Jersey musicians that performs at weddings and banquets along the East Coast. Some of the group’s members are in The Robert Murdock Band and have performed for Cranbury audiences before at the Arts Council’s Candlelight Concert events, Ms. Hanson said.
"It’s going to be a very fun, festive atmosphere," she said. "We have a fabulous band. It’s the band that performed at the Candlelight Concert in the fall, but it’s their expanded version a seven-piece band. So, definitely put on your dancing shoes."
The event has been in the works since last summer when members began coordinating it. Ms. Hanson said she’s looking forward to showing the community how much the organization has grown since it was founded in 1997.
"It’s going to be a very exciting night for Marty and Sue," Ms. Hanson said. "A lot of their family and friends are coming who haven’t been to an Arts Council event in a while. All their children are coming home from college and coming to the event."

