CONTACT: Dan Swern, Producing Director, 551-486-3253, dan@colab-arts.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 16, 2020
COLAB ARTS RECEIVES $112,000 in NEW PROJECT FUNDING
National Endowment for the Arts, Henry Luce Foundation, Rutgers Community Health Foundation, and Rutgers University
NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ – coLAB Arts, in collaboration with local community organizations and academic institutions, has received a series of new project grants to support local artist residencies and arts education opportunities in response to the organization’s mission to engage artists, social advocates, and communities to create transformative new work.
The five projects that will be served by this new funding include: two new staff artist residencies with Elijah’s Promise and Reformed Church of Highland Park-Affordable Housing Corporation, coLAB Arts’ participation in New Brunswick Theological Seminary’s SHELTER emergency housing collaborative project, virtual programming with coLAB Arts’ Summer Institute, and a bilingual Spanish/English oral history graphic novel with Rutgers University-New Brunswick and Unity Square.
“coLAB Arts is committed to creating new work and providing artistic opportunities for the greater New Brunswick community”, says coLAB Arts’ Producing Director Dan Swern. “COVID-19 may be forcing us to adapt in our practice, but it will certainly not deter us from our mission or work as storytellers. We’re deeply thankful to our funders and our deep local partnerships who continue to challenge us and push for innovation.”
All of the awarded projects are beginning now in earnest, and will be culminating by June 2021. coLAB Arts’ Summer Institute will be going virtual and changing its summer dates to August 10 – August 28.
National Endowment for the Arts Our Town Grant:
National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Mary Anne Carter has approved more than $84 million in grants as part of the Arts Endowment’s second major funding announcement for fiscal year 2020. Included in this announcement is an Our Town award of $75,000 to coLAB Arts for its New Brunswick Artist Residencies. This is one of 51 grants nationwide that the agency has approved in this category.
“These awards demonstrate the resilience of the arts in America, showcasing not only the creativity of their arts projects but the organizations’ agility in the face of a national health crisis,” said Mary Anne Carter, chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. “We celebrate organizations like coLAB Arts for providing opportunities for learning and engagement through the arts in these times.”
coLAB Arts will be overseeing two new local nine-month part-time artist residencies with Elijah’s Promise and Reformed Church of Highland Park – Affordable Housing Corporation, and providing artist residency development consulting with New Jersey Community Capital (NJCC). In addition, NJCC will be providing development and planning support towards a new coLAB Arts studio and performance space in New Brunswick.
Henry Luce Foundation Emergency Response Funding:
Through its Theology Program, the Luce Foundation has awarded $150,000 to New Brunswick Theological Seminary (NBTS) for the immediate launch of the SHELTER project. Seventy-five percent of the awarded funds will be directed to Reformed Church of Highland Park-Affordable Housing Corporation to rapidly secure housing and provide ongoing wrap-around services for families and individuals whose housing and other basic needs, such as the purchasing of food and medicine, have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. These individuals and families are variously experiencing challenges related to undocumented or immigration status, recent release from parole or incarceration, HIV and other medical needs, and other social services needs that make them especially vulnerable during the COVID-19 crisis.
The remaining twenty-five percent of the grant funds will be directed to public humanities and public arts projects. Recognizing the ongoing challenges with respect to the broader social, economic, and political conditions that leave people without housing, deny opportunities after incarceration, detain those seeking refuge and safety, and provide inadequate services for those who are ill, this portion of the project aims to consider these conditions affecting our neighbors and promote understanding. Led by Nathan Jérémie-Brink, Feakes Assistant Professor of the History of Global Christianity at NBTS; Colin Jager, Director of the Center for Cultural Analysis and Professor of English at Rutgers University; Kristin O’Brassill-Kulfan, Coordinator & Instructor of Public History at Rutgers University, and Producing Director Dan Swern of coLAB Arts, this portion of the project will involve masters-level students at New Brunswick Theological Seminary, undergraduates at Rutgers University, and local artistic communities. Project leadership hopes that engagement in this task of finding homes for vulnerable people encourages our institutions and community more broadly to address underlying social refusals of shelter, sanctuary, and dwelling.
Rutgers Community Health Foundation (RCHF):
Through RCHF’s Child & Youth Summer Enrichment Program in New Brunswick, coLAB Arts has received grant funding for its third consecutive year in support of the Summer Institute, providing free programming in arts and civic engagement for middle and high school students through August. This year’s programming has been specifically funded to provide the program virtually in response to the need to retain social distancing through the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Rutgers Community Health Foundation makes grants to non-profit organizations to engage in activities to improve the health and health care of residents of the greater New Brunswick, New Jersey area. The Foundation focuses on addressing the unmet needs of groups that are disadvantaged by economic, social, medical, or environmental circumstances.
Led by Director of Education John Keller, coLAB Arts’ Summer Institute is a 2020 JerseyArts.com People’s Choice Award nominee for best performing arts summer program in New Jersey.
Rutgers University Research Council:
By means of small grants, the Research Council supports studies leading to significant outside funding and publication in all fields of learning represented in the University as well as for creative work in the arts.
coLAB Arts, with Mary Nucci of School for Environmental and Biological Sciences, and Unity Square of Catholic Diocese of Metuchen, the partners will be collaborating in the collection of oral histories of the gardeners from the Landers Community Garden in New Brunswick. These oral histories will be used to create a digital public humanities project as well as a bilingual Spanish/English graphic novel illustrating the gardeners’ lives and experiences through their production and maintenance of their shared urban garden.
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coLAB Arts engages artists, social advocates, and communities to create transformative new work. coLAB Arts facilitates creative conversation through innovative programs and artist infrastructure, connects artists with community partners and mentors, and executes productions that challenge perceptions and inspire action. www.colab-arts.org | @colabarts on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
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