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"Any form of art is a form of power; it has impact, it can affect change—it can not only move us, it makes us move."
- Ossie Davis, Actor
| LUMINARY SPOTLIGHT |
Whitney Houston
One of the most successful entertainers of her time, Whitney Houston, is the youngest of three children born to John and Cissy Houston of East Orange, New Jersey. Whitney Houston grew up in a musical family and has received numerous Grammys and other awards throughout her career. She became the first performer to have seven consecutive number one singles on the BILLBOARD magazine pop-music charts and has also enjoyed a successful career as an actress. Houston is also involved with several humanitarian organizations including the United Negro College Fund, the Children's Diabetes Fund, the St. Jude's Children's Hospital, and has also established The Whitney Houston Foundation for Children.
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| Visual Arts |
Explore the unique, powerful and creative works of black artists utilizing various mediums of visual arts. Online galleries include the National Museum of African Art, artifacts from the American Art Museum and a photographic documentary of southern towns in New Jersey.
Cyber Galleries
National Museum of African Art at the Smithsonian Institution
Highlights from the Smithsonian American Art Museum
Small Towns, Black Lives |
CULTURAL ARTS TREASURES
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African Art Museum of the SMA Fathers
Tenafly, New Jersey
Established in 1980, by the SMA Fathers at Tenafly, an international Roman Catholic missionary organization, the museum is one of only a rare few in the United States dedicated solely to the arts of Africa. |
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HaitianPaintings.com
Union, NJ
Launched in 1998, HaitianPainting.com opened with a mission to use the internet to share the beauty and mystery of Haitian art to the world. Today, it has expanded its categories of artwork and services to include exhibitions, lectures and other cultural activities. |
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Whether life is imitating art or vice versa, black theater continues to broaden its horizons through unique storytelling and performances that challenge mainstream conventions. Explore excerpts of the journey through a visual diary of "Black Broadway" as well as the efforts of a national Black Theatre Association dedicated to preserving and promoting the culture of people of African decent through theater and other performing arts.
Black Broadway: A Twentieth Century Black Musical Review
A visual diary of the great performers and memorable performances.
· The Black Theatre Association (BTA)
The Black Theatre Association is an organization composed of diverse scholars, graduate students, and theatre artists with interests in promoting the experiences of black people through the critical study of Black theatre as well as the various forms of drama and performance. |
CULTURAL ARTS TREASURE
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Crossroads Theatre Company
Enjoy artistic excellence and entertainment at the state's premiere African American theater, located in New Brunswick, NJ.
(Learn more) |
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| Media |
From telegraphs to telephones and photographs to film, media communications has always played a major role in our society. The following is a sampling of these major media networks and cinemas.
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Televison Networks
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Program Guide(s)
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TV Guide: Find local TV listings, read the latest TV show scoops, celebrity gossip and movie reviews and blog about your favorite TV shows, movies and celebrities.
TopTVbytes: Review samples of the top TV shows and memorable program moments, also explore the website's DVD, news, sports, lifestyle, animation and music sections for additional entertainment features.
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| Movies/Cinema |
Movie Listings, Theaters and Trailers
NJ.com "Movies" - One-stop-shop for all theaters in New Jersey (including movie listings and times) by county. Also includes trailers and reviews
Yahoo! Movies - Instant data at-a-glance, includes, top box office listings, weekly openers and coming attractions. Also, includes trailers, movie guides, gossip and other special features
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Entertainment and Celebrity News
BlackTalent News.com
Trade industry website featuring news, information and commentary on film, television, cable, home video, theaters and celebrities.
Urbanmecca.com
Diverse website featuring national and business news, as well as lifestyles and entertainment sections related to the black populace.
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African American Film Critics & Reviews
Blackfilm.com: Movie reviews, trailers and discussion forum for filmmakers and cinema enthusiasts.
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Black Cinema
African American Motion pictures: Past & Present: Comprehensive listings, timelines and history composites of black cinema, presented by Long Island University.
Independent Black Film Festival (IBFF)
The goal of the IBFF is to provide an international platform that facilitates a nexus between creative cultures and the business of filmmaking, and cultivating audiences for independent film.
Newark Black Film Festival
Since its inception in 1974, the Newark Black Film Festival has become one of the longest running black film festivals in the United States. Throughout the years, it continues to provide a progressive public forum for hundreds of emerging writers, directors, producers, performers, and film buffs who enjoy African American and African Diaspora cinema. Screening in the summer months, the films shown reflect the full diversity of the black experience in America, both past and present. Each film selection encompasses a wide range of cinematic forms and formulas, from documentary to the avant-garde. (more) | |
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Local Filmmaker Spotlight: Byron Hurt
New Jersey filmmaker Byron Hurt is the founder & CEO of God Bless the Child Productions, Inc., a documentary production company that creates socially relevant, cutting-edge documentary films about race, class, and gender for diverse national and international audiences. His ground-breaking "Beyond Beats and Rhymes" premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and aired on the PBS Emmy-winning series, "Independent Lens." Hurt is also featured in Dr. Michael Eric Dyson's book, Know What I Mean? Reflections on Hip Hop with Intro by Jay Z, and Outro by Nas.
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Dance, a universal human activity, has always played an important role in the social, spiritual, emotional and personal expression of people of African descent. Explore the rich and diverse forms of dance from the modern-day movement of preserving a historical Afro-Brazilian ritual derived from slaves, to the important role African-American choreographers and dancers have played in the development of modern dance.
Free to Dance
Free to Dance is a behind-the-scenes web companion of a three-part documentary presented by the PBS/WNET television series, Great Performances. The website and documentary chronicle the crucial role that African-American choreographers and dancers have played in the development of modern dance as an American art form. Tracing this phenomenon against the backdrop of America's social, political, and cultural landscape, it captures the struggle for artistic freedom and spotlights the genius created by cultural synergy.
Artslynx International
Artslynx is an international arts resource website providing, (among many other arts resources), a diverse listing of African Dance master sites and dance companies.
Black Dance USA
Black Dance USA is an annual expo and festival presented by Better Family Life. Annually, this five-day event attracts over 1,200 choreographers, dancers, musicians, students and enthusiasts from around the country. The website provides information on event dates and festival details.
"Praise Dancers"
A growing movement within today's modern church service is the inclusion of "praise dancers" or "worship leaders." These dance groups incorporate a diverse array of interpretive movement, including pageantry, ballet, lyrical, jazz as well as elements of hip-hop for youth oriented dance groups. The following is a composite listing of several of these dance groups within the state of New Jersey. (New Jersey Praise Dancers)
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CULTURAL ARTS TREASURE
Afro Brazilian Cultural Center of New Jersey
The Afro Brazilian Cultural Center of New Jersey is home to all things Brazilian. Located in the heart of Montclair, New Jersey, the center hosts many Brazilian Arts including Capoeira, Maculêlê and Samba. Capoeira is an Afro-Brazilian martial art form and ritual that encompasses (among many other things) elements of dance, ritual, self-defense, acrobatics and self-expression. Developed over 400 years ago by African slaves who were brought to Brazil, it is quickly becoming one of the fastest growing art forms around the world.
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| Music |
The polyrhythmic contributions and musical traditions of people of African descent has greatly influenced the evolution of music both domestically and internationally. From jazz to pop, rock, gospel, country, R&B, blues, as well as today's hip-hop, the rhythmic signature of ancient societies can still be heard in the stanzas of new refrains.
JAZZ
Deeply rooted in American social history, jazz is a fusion of various kinds of musical forms and cultural experiences derived primarily by African Americans. Explore New Jersey's longstanding love affair with the people, places and the music from its early days to the present.
A Great Day in New Jersey
The Star-Ledger's celebration of jazz in the Garden State, from its rich history, jubilant present to its promising future.
Jazz: A History of America's Music
A behind-the-scenes collection of transcripts, historical notes and footage of this PBS documentary which explores the history of jazz.
The New Jersey Jazz Society
Founded in 1972, the Society is run by a board of directors who meet monthly to conduct the business of staging music festivals, awarding scholarships to deserving New Jersey college jazz studies students, conducting the Generations of Jazz programs in local school systems, and inducting pioneers and legends of jazz into the American Jazz Hall of Fame.
WBGO FM/ Jazz 88.3
WBGO is a publicly-supported, New Jersey-based, cultural institution that champions jazz and presents news to a worldwide audience through radio, other technologies and events.
Rutgers University Institute of Jazz Studies
Explore the astounding collection of jazz research and artifacts acquired by Rutgers University's Institute of Jazz Studies which includes over 100,000 sound recordings. (more)
ADDITIONAL MUSIC GENRES & RESOURCES
Billboard.com
Premier online destination for music news and charts for music of all genres.
BlackMusicAmerica.com
Multi-entertainment website featuring audio, video and articles on urban entertainment
AfriClassical.com
Explore the diverse and alluring world of the contributions of Africans, African Americans and Afro-Europeans in classical music.
BlackGospelChoir.com
Information, links and resources for gospel choirs, including a video tutorial regarding live church recordings.
Stellar Awards
Premiere gospel music website featuring information regarding artists, radio stations, news and the annually produced Stellar Gospel Music Awards. |
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| Story Tellers, Writers and Poets |
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"...[I]t is only the story that can continue beyond the war and the warrior. It is the story that outlives the sound of war-drums and the exploits of brave fighters. It is the story...that saves our progeny from blundering like blind beggars into the spikes of the cactus fence. The story is our escort; without it, we are blind. Does the blind man own his escort? No, neither do we the story; rather it is the story that owns us and directs us."
--Chinua Achebe, Anthills of the Savannah (1987)
From the rich oral traditions of African cultures to spoken word artists of modern-day jazz clubs, storytelling remains a living tradition that continues to evolve and flourish. Explore the various forms and formats of storytelling from the spoken word exhibition of the Smithsonian to the diverse works of black poets, authors and female playwrights.
Say it Loud: African American Spoken Word
An eclectic collection of audio and written text exploring African American spoken word.
African American Author Roundtable
Meet twenty-two notable African-American writers and illustrators and review excerpts of their latest works.
Painted Voices - Portraits of 20 Celebrated African American Writers
Painted portraits of 20 of the most celebrated African American writers in U.S. history accompanied by brief biographies. (Presented by artist Gilbert Fletcher.)
African American Playwrights - Women of Color, Women of Words
Comprehensive collection of biographies, theater works, theater companies and other resources related to black female playwrights..
The National Association of Black Storytellers, Inc. (NABS)
The National Association of Black Storytellers, Inc. (NABS) promotes and perpetuates the art of Black storytelling. A nationally organized body with individual, affiliate and organizational memberships, NABS preserves and passes on the folklore, legends, myths, fables and mores of Africans and their descendants.
Amiri Baraka: Poet, Playwright and Activist
Born in Newark, New Jersey in 1934, Amiri Baraka is one of the most celebrated poets and authors of our time He is the author of over 40 books of essays, poems, drama, and music history and criticism, a poet icon and revolutionary political activist who has recited poetry and lectured on cultural and political issues extensively in the USA, the Caribbean, Africa, and Europe. Learn more about Amir Baraka and explore information about his historical and contemporary works.
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"Queen Nur"
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Storyteller Spotlight: New Jersey's Queen of Storytelling
Karen Abdul-Malik, (Queen Nur), is one of New Jersey's nationally celebrated storytellers. Based in Burlington County, New Jersey, Karen and her Duinsity Storytelling and Lecturing Group, have been featured in such venues as the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC and the Equitable Tower on Broadway. (more) |
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Arts Resource and Support Organizations
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State Organizations
New Jersey State Council on the Arts
Founded in 1966, the mission of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts is to improve the quality of life of the state of New Jersey by helping the arts to flourish. Through programs, grants funding and services, the Council supports hundreds of nonprofit cultural organizations in providing several thousand high-quality events and programs that benefit New Jersey audiences in excess of 18 million people each year.
New Jersey State Council on the Arts
225 West State Street, 4th floor
Trenton, New Jersey 08608
Phone: 609.292.6130
Fax: 609.989.1440
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 306, Trenton, New Jersey 08625-0306
www.njartscouncil.org
The New Jersey Cultural Trust
The mission of The New Jersey Cultural Trust is to ensure a stable and healthy cultural industry in New Jersey that is sustainable under fluctuating economic conditions through the establishment of permanent, interest-generating funds to be an additional source of revenue to nonprofit arts, history, and humanities organizations.
New Jersey Cultural Trust
P.O. Box 529
Trenton, New Jersey 08625-0529
(609) 984-6767
Fax: (609) 341-5005
http://www.state.nj.us/state/culturaltrust
South Jersey Cultural Alliance
The mission of the South Jersey Cultural Alliance is to encourage the active participation of residents and visitors in the cultural life of southern New Jersey by strengthening the region's nonprofit cultural organizations through collaborative efforts in audience development, programming, advocacy and management.
South Jersey Cultural Alliance
6 W. Glendale Avenue
Pleasantville, NJ 08232
(609) 645-2760 or 1-888-704-SJCA
Fax: (609) 645-2864
info@sjca.net
http://www.sjca.net
The National Association of Negro Musicians, Inc.
Founded in Chicago in 1919, the National Association of Negro Musicians, Inc. is the country's oldest organization dedicated to the preservation, encouragement and advocacy of all genres of the music of African Americans. (Below is a listing of the New Jersey Chapters of NANM.)
http://www.nanm.org
ArtPRIDE New Jersey
ArtPride New Jersey is the statewide advocacy organization for the arts.
165 Third Street, #4A
Bordentown, NJ 08505
(609) 324-2734
Fax: (609) 443-3582
www.artpridenj.com
Discover Jersey Arts/JerseyArts.com Showcase
The JerseyArts.com Showcase is an online guide to arts and culture in New Jersey. The site serves as the online component of the Discover Jersey Arts initiative - a project designed to increase the awareness of and participation in the arts in New Jersey.
Discover Jersey Arts
P.O. Box 306
Trenton, NJ 08625
Phone: (800) THE ARTS
http://www.jerseyarts.com
New Jersey Theatre Alliance
For more than 20 years, the New Jersey Theatre Alliance has provided opportunities for New Jersey's professional theatres, artists, managers and the theatergoing public. The Alliance provides its members a wide range of supportive services and programs to assist them in their growth and development, as well as the promotion of their programs ? helping them realize their dreams and reach their full potential.
New Jersey Theatre Alliance
163 Madison Avenue, Suite 500
Morristown, NJ 07960
(973) 540-0515
Fax: 973-540-9799
www.njtheatrealliance.org
Dance New Jersey
Dance New Jersey seeks to expand participation in dance through public awareness initiatives, information services, networking and advocacy.
Dance New Jersey
P.O. Box 1453
Highland Park, NJ 08904
(973) 222.8844
Fax: 973.539.0077
info@dancenj.org
Young Audiences New Jersey
Since 1973, Young Audiences New Jersey has been providing quality arts experiences to children across the state. Young Audiences artists sing, dance, act, sculpt, paint and play their way into the hearts and minds of schoolchildren every day, performing for nearly 420,000 kids pre-kindergarten through 12th grade across New Jersey in all 21 counties in the state.
Young Audiences New Jersey
200 Forrestal Road
Princeton NJ 08540
Toll-free phone: 866-500-YANJ
Local phone: 609-243-9000
Fax: 609-243-8999
http://www.yanj.org
New Jersey State Teen Arts
New Jersey State Teen Arts is a statewide multidisciplinary program in the fine and performing arts. Serving students and teachers in both public and private schools. The program hosts an annual touring show of the works of local teens and encompasses other activities in dance, theater, vocal music, instrumental music, film and video, photography, creative writing and the visual arts
Friends of Teen Arts
1422 Route 179
Lambertville, New Jersey 08530
(609) 397-0505
www.teenarts.org
Regional and National Organizations
Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation
Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation supports the richness and diversity of the region's arts resources and promotes wider access to the art and artists of the region, nation and world. The Foundation serves the states and territories of Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, the US Virgin Islands, Virginia, and West Virginia.
Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation
201 North Charles Street, Suite 401
Baltimore, MD 21201
(410) 539.6656
Fax: 410.837.5517
info@midatlanticarts.org
www.midatlanticarts.org
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts recognizes, encourages, and supports the excellence and diversity of our nation's artistic creativity and accomplishments. The majority of the NEA's grants are awarded in the following areas: Creativity: Creating and presenting high quality artistic work; Organizational Capacity: Developing strong and effective arts organizations; Access: Making the arts available to all; Arts Learning: Children and youth learning in and through the arts. Heritage/Preservation: Preserving our cultural heritage. Many of the arts activities that the Endowment supports attract tourists, for example, dance, music, theater, folk and traditional arts and the design arts (including urban planning and design, historic preservation, and landscape architecture). In addition, Challenge America, offers grants for Community Arts Development projects involving partnerships between arts organizations and community groups that highlight the potential of the arts as a focus for the development of cultural tourism or cultural districts, make a community more livable by addressing civic design issues, and the development of community cultural plans.
National Endowment for the Arts
1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Room 614
Washington, DC 20506
Phone:(202) 682-5400
www.arts.endow.gov
Americans for the Arts
Americans for the Arts is the nation's leading arts information clearinghouse, with a 40-year record of objective arts industry research. As the nation's arts advocacy organization, it is dedicated to representing and serving local communities and creating opportunities for every American to participate in and appreciate all forms of the arts. Americans for the Arts provides research and information, professional development, advocacy, policy, and visibility programs and services.
Americans for the Arts
1000 Vermont Avenue, NW
12th floor
Washington, DC 20005
Phone:(202) 371-2830
Fax: (202) 371-0424
www. artsusa.org
National Assembly of State Arts Agencies (NASAA)
The National Assembly of State Arts Agencies (NASAA) is the membership organization of the nation's state and jurisdictional arts agencies. NASAA's mission is to advance and promote a meaningful role for the arts in the lives of individuals, families and communities throughout the United States. NASAA empowers state arts agencies through strategic assistance that fosters leadership, enhances planning and decision making and increases resources.
National Assembly of State Arts Agencies
1029 Vermont Avenue, NW, Second Floor
Washington, DC 20005
Phone:(202) 347-6352
Fax: (202) 737-0526
www.nasaa-arts.org
E-mail: nasaa@nasaa-arts.org
Arts Education Partnership
The Arts Education Partnership (AEP) is a national coalition of arts, education, business, philanthropic and government organizations that demonstrate and promote the essential role of the arts in the learning and development of every child and in the improvement of America's schools. AEP was founded and is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts and U. S. Department of Education in cooperation with the Council of Chief State School Officers and the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies. Together they comprise the Governance Committee of AEP.
Arts Education Partnership
One Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Suite 700
Washington, DC 20001-1431
(202) 408-8081 - fax
aep@ccsso.org
http://www.aep-arts.org
American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (AIC)
The American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (AIC) is the national organization of conservation professionals which sponsors conferences and publishes and sells a variety of conservation-related periodicals. Its nonprofit foundation, Foundation of the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (FAIC), offers educational programs, grants to conservators, and a conservator referral system. A general bibliography on conservation, and guidelines for selecting a conservator, are available on request.
American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works
1717 K Street, NW Suite 200
Washington, DC 20006
Phone:(202) 452-9545
Fax: (202) 452-9328
aic.stanford.edu
The Getty Conservation Institute
The Getty Conservation Institute works internationally to advance conservation in the visual arts. The Institute serves the conservation community through scientific research, education and training, model field projects, and the dissemination of information. The Institute is a program of the J. Paul Getty Trust, an international cultural and philanthropic institution devoted to the visual arts and the humanities.
The Getty Conservation Institute
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 700
Los Angeles, CA 90049-1 684
Phone:(310) 440-7325
Fax: (310) 440-7702
http://www.getty.edu/
International Association of African American Music Foundation (IAAAM)
The International Association of African American Music Foundation is a non profit organization whose mission is the perpetuation and preservation of Black music and cultural heritage throughout the United States and around the world. The Foundation has produced a myriad of viable programs around the globe including a Literacy Lyric Project that takes music industry professionals into schools to encourage academic excellence. Founded by Grammy Award winning producers/songwriters Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, participants have included Sean "P. Diddy" Combs, Monica, En Vogue, 112, Dru Hill, and numerous prominent industry executives. Additionally, IAAAM has organized and participated in international music symposiums, conferences, music gala and events in London, Bermuda, Egypt, Bosnia and Japan. As the producers of the national celebration of Black Music Month, each June the IAAAM Foundation has honored a diverse aggregation of legendary luminaries. Among them have been the Reverend Shirley Caesar, Stevie Wonder, Chaka Khan, Frankie Beverly & Maze, Little Jimmy Scott, Salt N Pepa, Isaac Hayes, Patti LaBelle, Freddie Hubbard and many others.
http://www.iaaam.com/home.html
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