The Star Ledger published the following article on May 2, 2013. To read the full article, click here.

N.J. Arts Day 2013: How to grow and sustain the arts in your community

By Peggy McGlone/The Star-Ledger 
on May 02, 2013 at 4:52 PM, updated May 02, 2013 at 4:54 PM

TRENTON — Woodbridge had no art gallery, no concert hall, and no symphony orchestra, but town officials knew that the town had an artistic core. And when they conducted a survey of their creative assets, their gut reaction was proven true.

“Turns out the place was lousy with arts,” Woodbridge grants officer Larry McCullough said yesterday to laughs from the community, civic and arts leaders gathered at the War Memorial in Trenton.

The town-wide survey uncovered artists, teachers and community events that had been previously invisible, McCullough said. And it led to a explosion of artistic activity.

“Now we have an art gallery, a youth theater, a community cultural center,” McCullough said. “And the artists are collaborating and scheming as they are wont to do.”

Woodbridge’s efforts highlighted the opening session of ArtPride New Jersey’s fourth annual New Jersey Arts Day. Working with Sustainable Jersey, Creative New Jersey and the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, ArtPride offered its members the chance to discover new partners and new ways to boost the presence of arts across the state.

The morning session focused on the three steps required for creative placemaking, latest buzz word for arts-driven community revitalization. Leonardo Vazquez, executive director of the National Consortium for Creative Placemaking in Montclair, sketched out the three stages: establish a creative team, undertake a creative assets inventory, and craft a creative placemaking plan that can be adopted into a town’s master plan.

“These are people who want to make the arts a bigger part of their communities, and we are we are providing a pathway for them to better integrate their work,” Vazquez said. “This isn’t a wish list of arts projects. This is engaging the arts in ways that address community problems.”

A panel of representatives from ValleyArts in Orange, Morris Arts, a nonprofit in Morristown and Monmouth County government shared real life examples of Vazquez theories.

“The role of arts people is connecting the dots,” Kadie Dempsey of Morris Arts said. “I’m the connector.”

The afternoon featured an “open space” discussion that sought to uncover “new and creative approaches” to making the arts more central to community life.

The event included music — the Paper Mill Playhouse Broadway Show Choir performed three songs, including a medley from “Thoroughly Modern Millie” — and ArtPride presented two 2013 Distinguished Arts Advocate awards to Artisin founder Susan Koblin Schear for her efforts after Hurricane Sandy to mobilize the arts community and encourage the sharing of resources, and to painter Mel Leipzig.

New Jersey Arts Day ended with the Governor’s Awards for Arts Education, an annual celebration recognizing the achievements of young artists and performers, adult educators and arts leaders.