Heartbeat of the City 2026

Use this link to access the Artist Residency application below.

coLAB Arts, in partnership with arts, university, government, nonprofit, and corporate institutions in New Brunswick, NJ, has received funding from the New Jersey Economic Development Authority A.R.T. Phase 2 program to create Heartbeat of the City, a unique new arts corridor and festival for the Central Jersey region. This festival will create new economic and cultural connections between our small city’s professional and financial Downtown community and the Latine-majority Esperanza Neighborhood.

Heartbeat of the City has the potential to become the largest and most impactful public art festival in the region, leaning on its anchor partnerships to drive local investment, artistic and cultural collaboration, placekeeping, and the creation of a new local economy for fine art that has largely been absent from New Brunswick’s performance-focused cultural development. The festival corridor is almost three-quarters of a mile long, featuring open air galleries and installations, creative and cultural music and programming, and local food entrepreneurs and businesses. The festival will be a day-long celebration in Fall 2026.

Heartbeat of the City takes its name from the coLAB Arts mural created by Trenton-based mural artist, Leon Rainbow, called Latido del corazón de la ciudad, located on Kim’s Bike Shop, right where the Downtown neighborhood shifts into the Esperanza Neighborhood. The mural’s images refer to how the French Street commercial district is one that is always home to the city’s majority residential (largely immigrant) communities. Previously, the street was home to Hungarian businesses, whereas now the storefronts are predominantly in Spanish and the community hails from Oaxaca, Mexico, and other Central and South American nations. The festival corridor on the Downtown Neighborhood side consists of the NJ Transit New Brunswick Train Station, RWJBarnabas University Hospital, Johnson & Johnson World Headquarters, and the future site of Nokia Bell Labs Corporate Headquarters.

Call for Artists - Available Through February 13

2026 Heartbeat of the City / Public Art Artist Residency (8 Slots Available)

SUMMARY 

coLAB Arts is requesting applications for eight (8) available artist residencies in New Brunswick, NJ from artists in the New Jersey/New York/Pennsylvania region. Artists and artist teams will be responsible for creating a temporary public art installation, to be installed at various locations along a three-quarters of a mile route in New Brunswick as part of the city’s inaugural Heartbeat of the City Arts Festival, September and October, 2026.

The Public Art Artist Residency will be for 10 months, from March - December, 2026, and will include a free, private studio space with 24 hour access in New Brunswick, and a $10,000 commission to create a new public art piece.

coLAB Arts is seeking out artists who have a history of creating public art, including but not limited to murals, sculptures, monuments, and landscape design and architecture that speaks to cultural history, placekeeping, memorialization, and commemoration.

BACKGROUND

coLAB Arts, in partnership with the City of New Brunswick and other local and state organizations, will be producing the inaugural Heartbeat of the City Festival in Fall 2026. The one day festival will shut down three-quarters of a mile of Route 27 (Albany and French Streets), which connects New Brunswick’s Downtown and Latine-majority Esperanza Neighborhoods. The festival’s focus will be on supporting the development of a Central Jersey visual art market between artists, galleries, and collectors, as well as soften the boundaries between these two neighborhoods. The festival is made possible through a grant from the New Jersey Economic Development Authority A.R.T. Phase 2 program.

Preliminary research about the festival route was conducted by coLAB Arts in collaboration with the Voorhees Transportation Center at Rutgers University-Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy. Please use this link to access the final report, which includes information about potential site locations for public art.

coLAB Arts’ mission is to engage artists, social advocates, and communities to create transformative new work. www.colab-arts.org

RESIDENCY INCLUSIONS

Artists who are awarded a residency will be provided free access to a private studio space for 10 months, March - December. Resident artists are required to utilize that studio space for at least 3 days per week, and to participate in a monthly First Friday open studio and gallery evening event every month through the end of the residency term with the first event on Friday, March 6, and the last on Friday, December 4.

Selected artists will also receive a $10,000 stipend to use towards the creation of a new public art piece that will be temporarily installed in New Brunswick, September and October 2026.

If awarded a residency, selected artists must carry general liability insurance and be able to provide a certificate of insurance naming coLAB Arts as additionally insured.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) DISCLOSURE

coLAB Arts seeks original work created by the artist. It can be digital but not developed through or with artificial intelligence (AI).

APPLICATION SUBMISSION

Applying artist and artist teams should submit a biography, CV (curriculum vitae) that includes a list of previous public art and/or installation work examples, three (3) references, any available press links, links to website and social media pages if available, and images of past public art and non-public art.

Submissions are reviewed on a rolling basis. Early submission is encouraged. Applications close on February 13, 2026.