Report To The Community 2021

face to face
Arts education at NJPAC
evolves again,
with a mix of in-person,virtual and hybrid programs
“We had
to move
forward
to evolve —
we’re a learning
community, we
reflect, learn
and act accordingly”
– Jennifer Tsukayama
Stephen Dent, Faculty
Member for Hip Hop Arts
& Culture, leads students in
an arts training program.
When NJPAC’s Arts Education
staff returned to its home base,
the Center for Arts Education,
in the fall of 2021, they realized
they had a lot of work to do.
For starters, after more than
a year without in-person
classes, the building itself
needed an overhaul.
“We had to clean out and scrub
down everything. The building
had been empty for so long,”
remembers Jennifer Tsukayama,
Vice President of Arts Education.
But the tidying up, while
extensive — the entire Center for
Arts Education was sanitized
with hospital-grade cleaners,
reorganized, painted, had HEPA
air purifiers installed in every room
and had needlepoint bipolar
ionization systems installed in
all its HVAC units — was only the
prelude to the work Tsukayama
and her team did in transforming
NJPAC’s education programs
themselves, to incorporate both
the lessons learned over 18 months
of virtual teaching and an
expanded focus on redeveloping
the Arts Center’s education
programs to nurture students
with trauma-informed, healingcentered,
anti-racist and culturally
responsive practices, as well as
student activism opportunities
and the support of social workers.
“We had to move forward,
to evolve — we’re a learning
community we reflect,
learn, and act accordingly,”
says Tsukayama.
The first step was transitioning
NJPAC’s arts training programs
from a fully virtual model to a
hybrid one, with some programs
held in-person and some
remaining online — and some
continuing on both tracks.
“There were many conversations
about how we were going to
transition safely,” says Vicky
Revesz, Senior Director of
Operations for Arts Education.
Just determining how many
students could be accommodated
in a classroom was a struggle;
several programs reduced
the number of participants to
allow for social distancing.
“But the kids were so, so ready
for it. We heard it nonstop:
When can we come back?
When is class in-person again?
They wanted to be back in
that building,” Revesz says.
NJPAC’s 2021 summer camps,
however — including the City
Verses summer camp, and the
Geri Allen Jazz Camp for female
or nonbinary pre-professional
musicians — remained virtual,
allowing students from across
the country and beyond to
participate. Costs to attend were
also kept low to accommodate
families still struggling with the
financial impact of the pandemic.
“We had students from across
the country, from different parts
of the world, and we didn’t want
to lose them, they’re part of our
community now. At the same
time, we knew we were going
to be competing with outdoor
camps and activities, and with
Zoom fatigue, so we redesigned
the summer camps again, with
multiple options for participation,”
Tsukayama explains.
In the fall, most arts training
programs returned as in-person
classes and “from the moment
a child walked in the door,
every little detail had to be
worked out. Their whole day
had to be reimagined,” says
Roe Bell, Senior Manager of
Schools and On-Site Programs.
Entry times were staggered to
prevent crowding in hallways.
Students were checked into the
building and into each classroom
via iPad, leaving a digital record
to facilitate contact tracing.
Then came the logistics of
teaching the arts safely — for
example, figuring out how
to conduct musical theater
classes in which students sing
together, or Jazz for Teens
ensemble rehearsals, where
young musicians play together
on trumpets and clarinets.
“We had to do a lot of research
about aerosol spread,” says
Revesz. “In the end we got bell
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