Report To The Community 2022

njpac short stories
At the opening of Defiantly
Happy, an exhibition of work
by Mashell Black, presented by
Newark ArtSource and Akwaaba
Gallery at NICO Kitchen + Bar.
Poet and novelist Sandra
Cisneros was featured as part
of the four-day Dodge Poetry
Festival, North America’s
largest poetry event.
fanning the flames
Christian McBride, the
eight-time GRAMMY®
Award-winning jazz bassist,
bandleader, composer, educator
and producer, who is also the
NJPAC’s Jazz Advisor and Board
Member, knows jazz, of course —
but he also knows comedy.
“I think I’ve been just as
much a student of comedy
as I’ve been of jazz. I’ve
studied the improvisational
skills of people like George
Carlin and Flip Wilson and
Lucille Ball and Phyllis Diller
and Richard Pryor, the same
way I’ve studied the skills of
Charlie Parker, Miles Davis
and Coltrane,” McBride said.
So presumably he knew what
he was getting into when he
put himself in the hot seat for
one of the funniest events on
the Arts Center’s calendar this
year — the NJPAC Celebrity
Roast held in McBride’s honor
in June, on the occasion of the
jazz master’s 50th birthday.
Stand-up king George Wallace,
“Roastmaster General” Jeff Ross,
Amanda Seales, one of the
stars of HBO’s hit show, Insecure,
Comedy Central star Yamaneika
Saunders and Alonzo Bodden,
one of the champions of NBC’s
Last Comic Standing, were
“Roastmaster General” Jeff Ross
teases Christian McBride at
a birthday celebration which
raised funds for jazz education at
NJPAC and JAZZ HOUSE KiDS.
among the professional funny
people who gave McBride the
business at the event held on
the Betty Wold Johnson Stage
in Prudential Hall. So did many
of McBride’s friends and family
members. Pals Amy Schumer,
Bootsy Collins and Sting sent in
zingers via video messages.
In addition to being one of the
best 50th birthday celebrations
ever, the event also served as a
fundraiser, taking in $200,000 for
jazz education programs at both
the Arts Center and JAZZ HOUSE
KiDS. McBride, in addition
to his roles at NJPAC, serves
as Artistic Director for JAZZ
HOUSE, which was founded
by his wife, Melissa Walker.
new art at nico
Newark ArtSource curated
an exhibition at NICO
Kitchen + Bar in partnership
with Akwaaba Gallery located
in Newark’s West Ward. This
first Akwaaba@NICO exhibit,
titled Defiantly Happy, featured
a solo exhibition by visual
artist Mashell Black. This was
the first art installation by
Akwaaba Gallery at NICO; three
exhibitions are planned. The
opening of the NICO exhibition
coincided with the annual
Newark Arts Festival which
took place over four days in
October. The 2022 festival was
themed “Artful Healing” and
included free events at galleries,
studios, museums and spaces
across Newark. NJPAC is a
community partner of Newark
Arts and hosted a VIP opening
reception in the Parsonnet Room
and a closing reception of the
four-day festival at NICO.
dodge poetry
festival returns
“It’s so nice to be in the country
of poetry,” said Sandra Cisneros
during the opening celebration of
the 2022 Dodge Poetry Festival
held in October. This biennial
festival began in 1986 and has
been hosted by NJPAC since
2010. This year was especially
celebratory as 2022 marked
the in-person return of North
America’s largest poetry event.
The 2022 festival opened with
a trio from TD Jazz for Teens
performing on the Prudential
stage and more than 20 poets
reading their work. Over the
four-day festival, more than
120 events took place, many
simultaneously, in several NJPAC
venues and in nearby spaces.
Festival highlights included
two performances of the New
Jersey Symphony, several
live recordings of the podcast
Poetry Unbound and the East
Coast premiere of Endangered,
a multimedia performance
of music, poetry and film.
nj symphony’s
centennial season
The New Jersey Symphony
celebrated its centennial season
with a gala and sold-out concert
at NJPAC in November. The
Symphony is the Art Center’s
resident orchestra. In the first
of his two appearances at
NJPAC this season, celebrity
cellist Yo-Yo Ma performed
Dvořák’s cello concerto. The
gala’s program also included a
performance of Herald, Holler
and Hallelujah: Fanfare for Brass
and Percussion by composer
and trumpet virtuoso Wynton
Marsalis, featuring jazz melodies
inspired by New Orleans funeral
processions. This work was
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