Report To The Community 2021

Acclaimed pianist Arturo
O’Farrill brought Salsa
Meets Jazz to NJPAC
Sweet times came
courtesy of Mars
Wrigley’s Halloween
Treat Truck Tour
NJPAC’s Emmy-winning
The Hip Hop Nutcracker
2021 Business Partners Roundtables guests
included (clockwise from top left) Senator Bob
Menendez; Scott Kirby, CEO of United Airlines;
Tanuja M. Dehne, President & CEO, The Dodge
Foundation; and Scott O’Neill, former CEO of
Harris Biltzer Sports & Entertainment.
nosotros hablamos
españo
Scores of Latin and Hispanic
performers appear at NJPAC
every year, from legendary
sonero Gilberto Santa Rosa
to Latin jazz star Arturo
O’Farrill to Mexican singersongwriter
Ana Gabriel.
In October, NJPAC unveiled a
new way to reach fans of those
artists: A Spanish-language
version of its website, which
can be found at es.njpac.org.
The Arts Center partnered
with Smartling, a leader in
translation management, to
offer NJPAC’s entire publicfacing
web presence in both
Spanish and English.
“NJPAC has always served an
incredibly diverse audience.
It only makes sense for us to
invite as many people as we
can to discover everything
the Arts Center has to offer in
their primary language,” says
David Rodriguez, the Arts
Center’s Executive Producer
and Executive Vice President,
who led the effort to transition
NJPAC’s website to a bilingual
model, in collaboration with
Las Jardineras (the Arts
Center’s Employee Resource
Group for staffers of Latin
and Hispanic heritage), the
NJPAC Latino Community
Advisory Committee and the
Arts Center’s Marketing team.
“We fill our stages with worldclass
artists from across the
globe, because our community
traces its roots to places around
the world,” adds Rodriguez.
“So many of these artists
have fan bases whose first
language is Spanish, and
we want to ensure they all
feel welcome at NJPAC. We
look in the future to translate
our web content into other
languages representing the
diverse communities we serve.”
Smartling, a firm that pairs
automated translation services
with the work of live translators,
assisted NJPAC in translating
121 web pages (approximately
45,000 words) into Spanish
for the new website’s launch.
As new concerts, classes
and events are added to the
Arts Center’s calendar, they
now appear on both the
Spanish and English language
websites simultaneously.
“We want everyone, Spanishspeaking
or English-speaking,
to be able to enjoy NJPAC, to
come to events, to bring their
children to take part in classes,
to be a part of our community,”
says Rosa Hyde, Senior
Director of Arts Education
Performances and Special Event
Operations, and the Chair of
Las Jardineras. “Language
should never be a barrier to
enjoyment or education.”
time for treats
Not all holiday celebrations
have gone back to normal
after the pandemic, but
one Newark holiday tradition
was back in full force
this year: Mars Wrigley’s
Halloween Treat Truck Tour.
The famous candy company,
born in Newark and now
headquartered a few blocks
from NJPAC, partnered with the
City of Newark to send a just
slightly spooky yellow, orange
and black Halloween truck to
key locations, to hand out tote
bags full of candy and costume
accessories, like fairy wings.
The truck rolled up in front of
the Arts Center on the afternoon
of October 22 about a week
before Halloween, to distribute
bags full of goodies to children
and everyone young at heart
and sweet of tooth (including
a few Arts Center staffers).
and the
winner is...
NJPAC is many things:
A performing arts center, an arts
educator, a convener of civic
events, a real estate developer.
And, as of this past October,
NJPAC is also an Emmy winner!
The Arts Center, along with
its partners ALL ARTS and
The WNET Group, took home
the 2021 New York Emmy
Award for Entertainment —
Longform Content, for the
filmed version of NJPAC’s
homegrown holiday
spectacular, The Hip Hop
Nutcracker, which was
taped in Prudential Hall
to air as a PBS special.
NJPAC’s President and CEO
John Schreiber, and Executive
Producer and Executive Vice
President David Rodriguez, were
both named as award-winners
thanks to their roles as executive
producers of the special, as
was the show’s host — in both
its filmed and live iterations —
legendary rapper Kurtis Blow.
Alas, none of them were able
to walk a red carpet, as the
awards were presented this year
at a virtual gala, livestreamed
on Facebook, YouTube, and
the New York Emmy’s own
website. Marvin Scott of WPIX
announced the award from
the middle of Times Square,
and a clip of the performance
was shown when The Hip Hop
Nutcracker was announced
as the category winner.
taking care
of business
NJPAC’s Business Partners
Roundtables — discussion events
for the employees of the Arts
Center’s Business Partners,
companies that support NJPAC’s
arts education and community
programming — were one of
the first programs to become
live virtual events in 2020, and
the series continued as a digital
one throughout 2021, with
a greatly increased number
of events, featuring business
executives, thought leaders
and government officials from
across the state in discussion
with John Schreiber and others.
Some events were one-on-one
chats with major players in the
state, from New Jersey’s senior
Senator Bob Menendez, who
chatted with Schreiber from
the halls of Congress, to Scott
Kirby, CEO of United Airlines,
who spoke about the impact
of the pandemic on the travel
industry — and especially
on Newark’s own Newark
Liberty International Airport.
Scott O’Neil, the former CEO
of Harris Blitzer Sports &
Entertainment (which operates
the Prudential Center), spoke
not just about his organization’s
work in Newark, but also
discussed his new memoir and
advice book, Be Where Your
Feet Are: Seven Principles to
Keep You Present, Grounded,
and Thriving, about how to
succeed in work and in life.
And Tanuja M. Dehne, President
and Chief Executive Officer
at the Dodge Foundation,
spoke about transforming
her organization into an
actively anti-racist one.
Indeed, several Roundtable
events complemented the Arts
Center’s work in advancing
social justice, diversity and
inclusion, including a discussion
with Barry Ostrowsky, President
and CEO of RWJBarnabas
Health, and the organization’s
Senior Vice President and Chief
Social Integration & Health
Equity Strategist, DeAnna
Minus-Vincent, on strategies the
healthcare system is pursuing
to be actively anti-racist
across all levels and services.
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