CONTACT: Dan Swern, Producing Director, 551-486-3253, dan@colab-arts.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 24, 2020
COLAB ARTS ANNOUNCES NEW ARTIST RESIDENCIES FOR 2021
Artist Residencies with Reformed Church of Highland Park-Affordable Housing Corporation and Elijah’s Promise
NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ – coLAB Arts, with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, is continuing its annual New Brunswick Artist Residencies with two new available positions with the Reformed Church of Highland Park-Affordable Housing Corporation (RCHP-AHC) and Elijah’s Promise.
These two part-time positions will each run for nine months and be compensated at $20,000 for their full term. Resident artists will be responsible for producing new creative work in response to oral histories and outreach and engagement with their partner organization’s respective constituencies. Applications are available through Friday, August 7 at www.colab-arts.org, with work set to commence in September observing social distancing guidelines as set forth by the State of New Jersey.
“coLAB Arts is deeply thankful to the National Endowment for the Arts for continuing to support this impactful creative work in our community” said Dan Swern, Producing Director for coLAB Arts. “coLAB Arts’ Artist Residencies and partnerships continue to advance innovative opportunities for employing artists and integrating their practice into local social advocacy and community development. Now more than ever, with the pandemic laying bare the vulnerabilities of a creative gig economy, we need to focus on developing new roles for artists that can lead to paycheck security and a living wage.”
coLAB Arts and RCHP-AHC are presently collaborating through the SHELTER emergency housing project coordinated by New Brunswick Theological Seminary, and have previously collaborated through other Reformed Church of Highland Park efforts including a choreographer residency with Churches Improving Communities and a comic book artist residency through a National Endowment for the Arts grant with NeighborCorps Re-Entry Services.
“The work we do, to provide housing, support services and complete and total affirmation for those who are refugees, immigrants and victims of trafficking is for the sake of an equitable opportunity for beauty--we want life to be beautiful for all”, said Pastor Seth Kaper-Dale, Executive Director of RCHP-AHC. “The whole point of the work is that those we serve might be able to get a good night’s sleep, so as to regain the possibility of entering each new day beautifully, ready to add their artistic contributions. I cannot wait to see what a professional artist, through coLAB Arts and the NEA, might do to unveil the beauty of the artists we serve.”
coLAB Arts and Elijah’s Promise have over the last five years collaborated on creative interventions in New Brunswick, NJ in service to the city’s resident community, including public art, storytelling, and civic engagement. Currently they are collaborating on the Neilson Street Project, producing new creative work based on the oral histories of guests of Elijah’s Promise’s soup kitchen. With New Brunswick Tomorrow, the partners manage the Mercado Esperanza, an outdoor market and cultural hub in New Brunswick, NJ. The Mercado is a combined effort to support local food entrepreneurship and community development through a shared initiative towards food access and creative placemaking.
“We are excited to continue our partnership with coLAB Arts through their resident artist program” said Anthony Capece, Associate Director of Elijah’s Promise. “The artistic lens and creativity that our resident will bring is sure to provide an invigorating perspective on our work and allow us to explore new therapeutic programs for our guests and clients. By working directly with the people we serve, our resident artist will work directly with our social service programming and find new ways we can engage our community and capture the diverse stories that make it unique. We also see this as an excellent opportunity to engage our stakeholders about our work in food security and gracefully communicate the root causes of hunger and poverty. We are grateful for this opportunity and cannot wait to get to work!”
coLAB Arts has previously facilitated other residencies with support from the National Endowment for the Arts including: (a) theater artist Tanaquil Marquez with New Brunswick Tomorrow’s Esperanza Project, facilitating the development of a new Spanish-language theater company called Teatro Esperanza, (b) comic book artist Sam Romero with NeighborCorps Re-Entry Services, producing a new comic book in response to the stories of its clients, (c) photographer Christopher Sztybel with the City of New Brunswick, whose Civic Voices project documents the stories of the city’s employees through photo essays, and (d) visual artist Jamie Bruno with Lower Raritan Watershed Partnership, whose work was in support of developing new outreach techniques for the environmental stewardship organization.
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.”
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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, and Instagram
Elijah’s Promise harnesses the power of food to break the cycle of poverty, alleviate hunger, and change lives. We fight to end hunger through serving good food for all at our community soup kitchen, providing education and jobs in the food industry through our Promise Culinary School, a community garden, community advocacy, and creating social enterprise food businesses that further social good. We envision a community where no one goes hungry for lack of food or funds; where a good meal is a nutritious meal; where our community learns to steward natural and financial resources wisely; and where we make opportunity available to those who seek it. www.elijahspromise.org | @elijahspromise on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Reformed Church of Highland Park-Affordable Housing Corporation (RCHP-AHC) provides affordable housing, supportive services, and connection to meaningful community to low-income individuals and families in central New Jersey. RCHP-AHC owns 20 properties in seven different municipalities in central NJ that house diverse low-income tenants, including veterans, women aging out of foster care, developmentally disabled adults, homeless youth, chronically homeless individuals, and others with significant life challenges. We also rent an additional 30 units and serve as a temporary intermediary for families – including refugees and asylum seekers – who would otherwise be unable to secure an apartment rental due to poor (or no) credit history, temporary unemployment, or other factors. https://rchp-ahc.org/ | @reformedchurchofhighlandpark on Facebook
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