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spotlightgala@home<br />
wer Facade<br />
THE FUTURE IS BRIGHT<br />
NJPAC announced plans<br />
to expand its campus —<br />
and transform Newark’s<br />
downtown<br />
AC ARTS AND EDUCATION DISTRICT<br />
MORE, OWINGS & MERRILL LLP<br />
AFTER YEARS OF WORKSHOPPING AND PLANNING,<br />
the Arts Center has unveiled the next phase of its evolution —<br />
two projects that will change the landscape of its downtown<br />
Newark neighborhood.<br />
In 2024, the Arts Center plans to<br />
open the new Cooperman Family<br />
Arts Education and Community<br />
Center. This project’s development<br />
was launched by an extraordinary<br />
$20 million gift from Toby and Leon<br />
Cooperman and the Cooperman<br />
family, tonight’s Founders Award<br />
honorees.<br />
The Cooperman Center will be a<br />
purpose-built home for NJPAC’s<br />
arts education and community<br />
engagement programs. This new<br />
building will house classrooms and<br />
a fully-functioning black box theater<br />
for student performances, and<br />
spaces for community engagement<br />
programs such as film screenings<br />
and panel discussions.<br />
But the Center will also offer so<br />
much more, including an initiative<br />
The Cooperman<br />
Center will create<br />
an environment<br />
where new<br />
methods of<br />
teaching the arts<br />
are developed,<br />
tested and shared,<br />
both in-person<br />
and digitally.<br />
to develop new arts education<br />
and arts integration programs.<br />
A whole floor of the Center will be<br />
devoted to professional rehearsal<br />
spaces, where visiting artists and<br />
performance groups can come<br />
to rehearse and develop new<br />
work — while interacting with NJPAC<br />
students and the community.<br />
“The Cooperman Center will be<br />
where all are invited to create —<br />
where staff and teaching artists<br />
can invent curricula and pedagogy<br />
grounded in trauma-informed care,<br />
where artists can create work that<br />
is responsive to our community,<br />
where students find their voice<br />
through art-making and where<br />
elders can celebrate and reflect<br />
on Newark’s rich artistic history,”<br />
says Chelsea Keys, NJPAC’s<br />
Director of Special Projects.<br />
There will even be a children’s arts<br />
reading room, curated in conjunction<br />
with the Newark Public Library,<br />
which features books written<br />
specifically for youngsters about<br />
artists in all genres.<br />
A new series of programs created<br />
around the idea of marrying the<br />
performing arts with wellbeing —<br />
think art therapy classes, or<br />
dance movement workshops<br />
that include presentations by<br />
nutritionists — will also be offered<br />
at the Cooperman Center.<br />
Simultaneously, NJPAC will redevelop<br />
the portion of its campus on the<br />
other side of Center Street, creating<br />
a vibrant new neighborhood of<br />
low-rise and high-rise multifamily<br />
buildings, retail establishments,<br />
restaurants and cultural spaces.<br />
This project will transform an area<br />
that is now a parking lot into an<br />
exciting work-live-play destination.<br />
“Contributing to the ongoing<br />
revitalization of Newark’s downtown<br />
has always been central to the<br />
Arts Center’s mission as the city’s<br />
anchor cultural institution,” says<br />
John Schreiber, NJPAC’s President<br />
and CEO. “This plan will bring a<br />
thoughtful, curated mix of residential<br />
buildings, retail environments and<br />
cultural resources to our campus.”<br />
The development will include a<br />
pedestrian-friendly extension<br />
of Mulberry Street, across what<br />
is now NJPAC’s Lot A parking<br />
area. A simultaneous redesign of<br />
NJPAC’s Eastern facade will create<br />
a welcoming additional entryway<br />
to the Arts Center.<br />
NJPAC has partnered with<br />
developers Center Street Owners,<br />
led by L+M Development Partners,<br />
to complete the project. L+M has<br />
developed other sites in downtown<br />
Newark including Walker House<br />
and the Hahne & Co. building.<br />
Prudential Impact & Responsible<br />
Investments is a partner in the<br />
project as well.<br />
World-renowned restaurateur and<br />
entrepreneur Marcus Samuelsson,<br />
whose Newark restaurant, Marcus<br />
B&P, has become a highlight of the<br />
city’s dining scene, is also engaged<br />
in the project. The centerpiece of the<br />
new neighborhood will be a food<br />
hall — similar to Boston’s Faneuil<br />
Hall, but on a smaller scale —<br />
curated by Samuelsson. Celebrated<br />
architectural firm Skidmore, Owings<br />
& Merrill (SOM) has been engaged<br />
to design these new facets of<br />
NJPAC’s campus.<br />
NJPAC staff spent months meeting with<br />
community groups across Newark, to<br />
learn the needs of the city’s children,<br />
senior citizens and young people.<br />
42 njpac.org/gala<br />
njpac.org/gala 43