"It is burning./ It is dreaming./ It is waking up."—Poetry & Environmental Justice 

The Sacrifice Zone: A Film Screening Followed by Poetry & Conversation about Environmental Justice  July 22, 7 p.m. EST  With poets Camille T. Dungy and Marina Carreira, environmental activists Maria Lopez-Nuñez and Dr. Jalonne L. White-Newsome; moderated by filmmaker Julie Winokur. “It is burning./ It is dreaming./ It is waking up.” —from the poem “Map” by Linda Hogan This free virtual event is one of a series of programs presented nationally by member organizations of the Poetry Coalition. This event will be closed captioned.   Photo by Raymond Spencer Covanta Essex is the largest incinerator on the East Coast, burning 2,800 tons of municipal garbage from New York City and Essex County each day. The incinerator is located close to several public housing complexes and an elementary school. The Ironbound district of Newark, New Jersey (home of the Dodge Poetry Festival), is one of the most toxic neighborhoods in the country. Maria Lopez-Nuñez, a Honduran-American resident there, is waging a war for environmental justice. She is part of the Ironbound Community Corporation, one of the most effective environmental justice organizations in the country.  The Sacrifice Zone is a 35-minute documentary that follows Maria as she leads a group of environmental justice fighters determined to break the cycle of poor communities of color serving as dumping grounds for our consumer society.   Join us for a free screening of The Sacrifice Zone, followed by poetry and discussion about environmental justice featuring poets Camille T. Dungy and Marina Carreira, environmental activists Maria Lopez-Nuñez and Dr. Jalonne L. White-Newsome, and filmmaker Julie Winokur.   Marina Carreira (she/her/hers) is a queer Luso-American poet/artist from Newark, NJ. She is the author of tantotanto (Cavankerry Press, forthcoming 2022), Save the Bathwater (Get Fresh Books, 2018) and I Sing to That Bird Knowing It Won’t Sing Back (Finishing Line Press, 2017). She has exhibited her art at Morris Museum, ArtFront Galleries, West Orange Arts Council, and Monmouth University Center for the Arts, among others. Her work investigates identity as it relates to gender, urban, queer, and bicultural first-generation spaces. Keep up with her at hellomarinacarreira.com.    Camille T. Dungy is the author of four collections of poetry, most recently Trophic Cascade (Wesleyan UP, 2017), winner of the Colorado Book Award, and the essay collection Guidebook to Relative Strangers: Journeys into Race, Motherhood and History (W.W. Norton, 2017), a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Dungy has also edited anthologies including Black Nature: Four Centuries of African American Nature Poetry and From the Fishouse: An Anthology of Poems that Sing, Rhyme, Resound, Syncopate, Alliterate, and Just Plain Sound Great. A 2019 Guggenheim Fellow, her honors include NEA Fellowships in poetry (2003) and prose (2018), an American Book Award, two NAACP Image Award nominations, and two Hurston/Wright Legacy Award nominations. Dungy’s poems have been published in Best American Poetry, The 100 Best African American Poems, the Pushcart Anthology, Best American Travel Writing, and over thirty other anthologies. She is University Distinguished Professor at Colorado State University.   Maria Lopez-Nuñez works for the Ironbound Community Corporation. She is an environmental justice organizer and plays a large role in activating and uplifting her community while also pushing for policies to address environmental injustice locally, regionally, and nationally. She is on the board of the Climate Justice Alliance and serves on the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council.   A life-long learner and advocate, Dr. Jalonne L. White-Newsome founded Empowering a Green Environment and Economy, LLC, a strategic consulting firm, with the mission of transforming communities through the development of people-centered solutions.  She serves a diverse set of clients with forward-thinking and intersectional approaches to tackle issues such as climate change, public health, environmental injustice, and advancing racial equity.  Jalonne has multi-sector experience having worked in environmental philanthropy, state government, non-profit, grassroots, academia and private industry.  Most notably, she created and implemented the transformational Climate Resilient and Equitable Water Systems (CREWS) Initiative at the Kresge Foundation as a Senior Program Officer; she was the first Director of WE ACT for Environmental Justice’s federal policy office in Washington, DC;  and, her doctoral research illuminated the impact of climate change & extreme heat on the low-income, elderly in Detroit, and is still referenced to drive public health interventions.  She is a Lecturer at The George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health, a lifetime member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., and the proud mom of Arielle and Jeannelyn.   Julie Winokur is the Director of The Sacrifice Zone and Executive Director of Talking Eyes Media, a nonprofit company that produces compelling media that advocates for positive social change. The Sacrifice Zone emerged from a multimedia storytelling project called Newest Americans that for the past six years has been examining immigration and identity in Newark, N.J. Winokur’s work has been featured in The New York Times, Time, National Geographic and The Atlantic.   Register for this event today! Visit the event page to sign up, and be sure to click the link in the confirmation e-mail you receive to complete your registration.   Register Here   If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us at poetryprogram@grdodge.org

New Jersey Theater Alliance Hosts Indigenous Theatre Makers in Conversation: A Virtual Panel Discussion

Indigenous Theatre Makers in Conversation: A Virtual Panel Discussion
WHEN: Monday, June 28, 2021, at 7:00 pm
WHERE: Virtual
ADMISSION: free
The discussion is free and open to the public but requires registration. Interested participants can register to attend here

New Jersey Theatre Alliance (“The Alliance”), one of the state’s largest arts service organizations, invites the public to join them virtually on  for a panel discussion, sponsored by the New Jersey Historical Commission. This event will be a candid and collegial conversation among Indigenous theatre makers based in our local area of Lenapehoking (colonially known as New Jersey and New York) and beyond. 

"New Jersey Theatre Alliance is thrilled to partner once again with the New Jersey Historical Commission to offer a panel discussion featuring exceptional Theatre makers in our region," said Erica Nagel, deputy Director of the Alliance. "The voices and leadership of Indigenous artists are critical to the future of theatre in our region and beyond. We are grateful to these visionary artists for gathering with us to share their expertise and insight."

The discussion will touch on the greatest challenges and joys of making theatre as an Indigenous artist, the panelists' visions for the future of theatre and performance, and how Indigenous arts leadership can, should, and will be part of the future of the field.

“We are so pleased to continue our partnership with the NJ Theatre Alliance in support of programs that explore the intersection of history and theatre,” said Sara Cureton, Executive Director of the New Jersey Historical Commission. “This panel discussion will be a central contribution to the Historical Commission’s 2021 year of programming, which is focused on spreading awareness of Native American history and life to a wider audience by elevating the voices of Indigenous peoples and tribal communities.”

Panelists include Ryan Pierce (The Eagle Project), whose work is currently being developed in partnership with Rattlestick Theatre and Lincoln Center; Madeline Sayet (Red Eagle Soaring), whose one-woman play Where we Belong is currently available to stream from Woolly Mammoth Theatre in Washington DC; and DeLanna Studi (Native Voices at the Autry) who is currently producing her theatre’s  27th Annual New Play Festival, also available to watch online. 

Moderating the discussion will be Rev. Dr. John Norwood, a citizen of the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Tribal Nation, for which he served as the Principal Justice of the Tribal Supreme Court, as a Councilman, and as the senior minister to the Nanticoke-Lenape Tribal Christian Prayer Circle Ministry. “The power of theater in sharing experiences, providing commentary, and educating on important issues is that it is a vital tool in presenting and preserving the history and culture of Indigenous Peoples and raising awareness of our communal and individual worldviews. I am honored and humbled to moderate this panel focusing on the work of Indigenous performing artists,” said Rev. Dr. Norwood.

About New Jersey Theatre Alliance

Founded in 1981, New Jersey Theatre Alliance was the first statewide service organization for professional, not-for-profit theatre companies in the United States, and is a leader in developing model programs that unite, promote, strengthen, and cultivate professional theatre in New Jersey. Funding for the New Jersey Theatre Alliance, a not-for-profit organization, is provided in part by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, New Jersey Division of Travel and Tourism, and contributions from individuals, corporations, and foundations including Amazon, the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, The Grunin Foundation, The Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey, The Horizon Foundation for New Jersey, Bank of America, City National Bank, The Shubert Foundation, The Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation, Investors Bank, The Hyde and Watson Foundation, Kessler Foundation, The F.M. Kirby Foundation, E.J. Grassmann Trust, and The Union Foundation.

About the New Jersey Historical Commission

The New Jersey Historical Commission (NJHC) is a state agency dedicated to the advancement of public knowledge and preservation of New Jersey history. Established by law in 1967, its work is founded on the fundamental belief that an understanding of our shared heritage is essential to sustaining a cohesive and robust democracy.

Princeton Festival Performers to Reveal Secrets of Baroque Music and Instruments at Artists’ Round Table

PRINCETON FESTIVAL ARTISTS' ROUND TABLE

WHEN: June 9 at 7 pm
WHERE: Live streamed so that audience members can ask questions
TICKETS: free
More information is available at https://princetonfestival.org/event/2021-artists-round-table/

This year’s Princeton Festival Artists’ Round Table features four specialists in Baroque performance discussing how to play the vibrant music of the period on the instruments for which it was written. 

Three musicians from the Festival’s popular Baroque Chamber Ensemble will participate:

• Chiara Fasani Stauffer, violinist/violist and concertmaster
• Joshua Stauffer, guitarist/theorboist
• Caitlyn Koester, harpsichord player

They will be joined on the panel by Gregory Geehern, the Festival’s Acting Artistic Director. Kyle Masson, a specialist in 17^th-century music, will moderate. The Artists’ Round Table is sponsored by the Princeton Festival Guild.

“I’m sure the audience will enjoy hearing the secrets of great Baroque music from people who actually play it,” said Geehern. “We’ll explain why Bach, Vivaldi, and Handel, to name just a few, sound brighter and better on so-called period instruments. We’ll also reveal the special techniques for playing these instruments, and how we shape the notes according to Baroque practices.”

The panelists will play in two “Sacred and Profane” live-streamed Chamber Ensemble concerts at the Morven Museum and Garden in Princeton on June 8 and June 10. Tickets for either the virtual transmission or a limited number of in-person seats are available at www.princetonfestival.org or by calling (609) 759-1979.

In addition to his role with the Princeton Festival, Gregory Geehern is a conductor, singer, and scholar, with broad experience in Baroque choral music. Kyle Masson has been a co-instructor and Arthur Mendel Fellow at Princeton University since 2014 and a teaching artist with The Princeton Festival since 2018.  

 

    

PRINCETON PUBLIC LIBRARY TEAMS WITH McCARTER THEATRE CENTER TO PRESENT PANEL DISCUSSION FOR MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS MONTH

As part of Mental Health Awareness Month, the Princeton Library is joining with McCarter Theatre Center to present 

Mental Health 2021: Telling Our Stories, Coping with COVID, and How to Reach Out 
A virtual panel discussion

WHEN: Thursday, May 6, at 7 p.m. 
WHERE: via Zoom. 
Registration is available through the events calendar at princetonlibrary.org.

Debbie Bisno, McCarter resident producer, and producer of the digital theater project The Manic Monologues, will moderate the discussion about mental health and wellness issues during the pandemic, how individuals and families can find help and where local resources can be accessed. Those who register will have a chance to submit a question for the panelists.

“With The Manic Monologues, McCarter hopes to reinforce its role as a collaborative community partner dedicated to innovative projects that spark timely dialogue and strengthen connectivity,” said Bisno. “In pivoting to virtual creation during COVID, we’ve uncovered exciting ways of combining art and ideas. We are thrilled to join the library in fostering an important conversation and spotlighting mental health through art.”

Panelists include mental health advocate Kimme Carlos, CEO and founder of Kimme Carlos Motivational Speaking and Consulting; Dr. Calvin R. Chin, director of counseling and psychological services at Princeton University; and Dr. Whitney B. Ross, executive director of Trinity Counseling Services.

McCarter launched The Manic Monologues, a digital theatrical experience, in February. In a collaboration with Princeton University Health Services, The 24-Hour Plays, and Innovations in Socially Distant Performance at the Lewis Center for the Arts, The Manic Monologues is a free, interactive website showcasing the true stories of people with mental health challenges, along with panel discussions and a virtual resource guide. Meant to disrupt the stigma surrounding mental illness the innovative project will be the launching point for the panel discussion. 

See www.mccarter.org/manicmonologues for additional information.

Ending Women's History Month with a Bang!

Click here to register for the March 26th panel discussion!

Click here to register for the March 31st panel

Announcing Music and Spirituality Virtual Event—March 29

Spiritual Dimensions of Music: Meaning, Interpretation and Culture Monday, March 29, 5 - 7 p.m.     Join us during this LIVE virtual roundtable discussion panel exploring how religious traditions receive and interpret secular music.   How does secular art achieve spiritual significance and meaning? How does music articulate and perform spirituality? What is the relationship between religious traditions and popular cultures?   Seton Hall University's Institute for Communication and Religion and the Center for Catholic Studies co-present Spiritual Dimensions of Music: Meaning, Interpretation, and Culture, a live virtual event during which scholars and artists come together for an open and insightful conversation about secular music, how organized religion has reacted to it, and the sometimes-overlooked spiritual aspects to secular music.    Special Invited Guests:   Ian Christe - Author, DJ and Heavy Metal Historian Ray Mancison - Professional Musician, Songwriter and Former Music Executive Alan Paul - Musician and New York Times best-selling author Brooke White - Singer, Songwriter, Musician and American Idol Finalist   Seton Hall Experts:   Gregory Floyd, Ph.D. - Director of the Center for Catholic Studies Jon Radwan, Ph.D. - Director of the Institute for Communication and Religion  Gloria Thurmond, D. Min. - Senior Faculty Associate in the Music Program Jason C. Tramm, D.M.A. - Assistant Professor and Director of Choral Activities   Register for Event

Bringing Women's History Month to Life!

Lynn Nottage’s Pulitzer Prize winning play Ruined involves the plight of women in the civil war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo where the specific target in this war is women, and the weapon of choice is rape and sexual abuse. This brilliant play forces us to think deeply, and understand the control of natural resources and who ultimately benefits from conflict. Directed by Marcia Wilson Brown, Esq., this performance is part of the NGOCSW65 Forum.

Six free screenings on Youtube:

• Friday, March 19th - 12:00 noon
• Saturday, March 20 - 12:00 noon
• Sunday, March 21 - 10:00 am; Monday, March 22 - 8:00 am
• Tuesday, March 23 - 6:00 pm
• Wednesday, March 24 - 10:00 pm
  
  

Click here to register for the panel discussion!

CROSSROADS CELEBRATES WOMEN’S #HERSTORY WITH TOWN TALK IILLUMINATING BLACK WOMEN IN THE MOVEMENT

A Conversation on Black Women in the Movement

WHEN: March 24 – April 4, 2021
WHERE: streaming on the Home with Crossroads virtual platform accessible from the Crossroads Theatre Company website
ADMISSION: Free of charge

Women are the spark that has fueled the Civil Rights movement decades upon decades and Crossroad Theatre Company is honoring the sheroes from the past up through today. 

Black Women in the Movement is the second topic offered under Crossroads Town Talks series that kicked off in the beginning of the 2020-2021 season with the topic of voting. Black Women in the Movement is a moderated panel discussion that includes political strategist Marilyn D. Davis; Deborah Gray White, Ph. D, author and Board of Governors Distinguished Professor of History and Women and Gender Studies, Rutgers University; and Lisa Yancey, community builder and entrepreneur.  WABC-TV Eyewitness News Reporter Toni Yates is moderating the panel.

“While Black women oftentimes did and still do the heavy lifting as organizers, coordinators and facilitators in the Civil Rights Movement, the accomplishments and achievements of that movement were largely attributed to men and our discussion will shed light on that, as well as the successes and challenges women in the movement face today,” said Monica Weeks, Co-Producer and Crossroads Marketing Director.  “This important conversation promises to be an enlightening one that will touch on the lack women leading movements today to bring justice for all,” Weeks added.

The National Women's History Alliance that coordinates Women’s History Month activities, extended last year’s theme to this year due to COVID-19. The theme is "Valiant Women of the Vote: Refusing to Be Silenced. In addition to Black Women in the Movement, Crossroads’ celebration of women and their contributions to history, culture and society can also be experienced through a conversation and excerpts of Sheila’s Day currently streaming until March 24.

The program is sponsored by Zendesk, Inc., a Silicon Valley company known for its innovative customer relationship management software platforms.

 

About Crossroads Theatre 

The 1999 Tony® Award-winning Crossroads Theatre Company (CTC), now a resident member of the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center (NBPAC), is dedicated to creating and producing work that tells the stories that examine the African American experience so that it may be understood and appreciated by all people.  In its 42nd year being a preeminent gateway for black theatre, it has been the stage for many actors, directors, designers, writers and other theatre professionals.  www.crossroadstheatrecompany.org 

 

About the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center (NBPAC) 

NBPAC has propelled New Brunswick’s Downtown Cultural Arts District into the spotlight as the region’s most exciting and dynamic performing arts center. NBPAC features two state-of-the-art theatrical venues in the Elizabeth Ross Johnson and Arthur Laurents Theaters, dedicated rehearsal studios and collaborative work spaces for arts organizations across the region. www.nbpac.org

 

Grant funding has been provided by the Middlesex County Board of County Commissioners through a grant award from the Middlesex County Cultural and Arts Trust Fund.

 

About Zendesk 
Zendesk is a service-first CRM company that builds support, sales, and customer engagement software designed to foster better customer relationships. Zendesk serves more than 160,000 customers across a multitude of industries in over 30 languages. Zendesk is headquartered in San Francisco, and operates offices worldwide. Learn more at www.zendesk.com