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2021 Spotlight Gala @ Home Journal

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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

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