ARTSTART MINI GRANTS
ArtStart Grantees 2023-2024
INVISIBLE
Tappin' Into Nork
Individual Artist |
Project Title |
Maurice Chestnut |
Tappin’ Into Nork |
Project Summary |
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Maurice Chestnut (Tap Artist and Choreographer) and Armando Diaz (videographer) will select a local business in wards specified above and produce a tap dance short to promote businesses featuring tap students from Newark School of the Arts. Students will showcase the arts in the city of Newark. These clips will celebrate the culture of dance in our city while promoting local businesses. Locations include: Nacho Taco, Ivy Hill Laundromat, Newark Cheesesteak, Deaf’s Delight Cafe https://youtu.be/ObqamXwsuvY |
Triumph Mural
Individual Artist |
Project Tittle |
Brenda Echeverry |
Triumph Mural |
Project Summary |
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The project consists of the installation of an outdoor mural at Triumph the Church of the New Age’s location in Newark. The mural is meant to beautify the site and increase community engagement at the center. |
Arts & Entertainment, Fiction & Film Workshop & Masterclasses
Individual Artist |
Project Title |
Andrea Clinton |
Arts & Entertainment, Fiction & Film Workshop & Masterclasses |
Project Summary |
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With the film studios and other opportunities coming to Newark, we would like to teach Fiction, Film and Theatre Writing, Producing and Acting to residents of Newark. Andrea Clinton is a residency partner with Express Newark and would like to teach these workshops at the Express Newark facility in Haynes and other Rutgers Newark class setting. |
Squash & Shekere: Making Music in the Garden
Organization |
Project Title |
Where’s Your Tree? |
Squash & Shekere: Making Music in the Garden
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Project Summary |
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Where’s Your Tree? presents “Squash & Shekere: Making Music in the Garden,” at the Giving One Tenth Community Garden, facilitated by the renowned percussionist-educator Ahmondylla Best. Families can decorate their shekeres from dried gourds and learn about the instrument’s African roots and routes through interactive song-making and performance. Explore the versatility of squash as a locally grown, nourishing food and musical instrument used by celebrated bands. Don’t miss these rhythmic and educational workshops! |
505 Block Party (Dancing in the Street)
Individual Artist |
Project Title |
Kimberllyn “Olive” Xavier Oliveira |
505 Block Party (Dancing in the Street) |
Project Summary |
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The 505 Block Party is an effort to unite the neighborhood surrounding The Gant Gilbert Arts Collective building and South Ward as a whole. Join in a day of camaraderie with fellow Newarkers on September 2, 2023 from 1-6PM at 505 Clinton Ave. There will be activities to delight folks of all ages including a beginner’s yoga class, a seed planting workshop, and a collective canvas for all to paint on. Come on down! |
Art at the Willows
Individual Artist |
Project Tittle |
Nichole (Nikki) Donnell |
Art at the Willows |
Project Summary |
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Art at the Willows will provide art programming. Offerings include paint, poetry, and family movie night curated by local teaching artist followed by stake holder chats to foster the growing artist community. The Willows and the Ingerman sister locations are one of the first artist preferred housing spaces in Newark NJ. “Art at the Willows” will activate these spaces with artist activity as we build community within the existing diverse community of Newark. |
Arts Always for All III
Organization |
Project Tittle |
Ivy Hill Vailsburg Center for Arts Culture and Community Activism |
Arts Always for All III |
Project Summary |
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In its eighth year, ACCA Creates continues to provide arts education via our Third Annual one-week Dance Intensive and our six-week Summer Arts Day Camp one culminating in an Informal Dance Showcase, and the other in a production that will be presented in five locations including the North and South Wards. Summer Arts includes community activism, creative writing, dance, theater, vocal music, piano in collaboration with Keys2Success, and Cooperative Games supporting positive play among children. |
Back 2 The Future
Organization |
Project Tittle |
Drama With A Twist |
Back 2 The Future
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Project Summary |
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Artists take elders and youth “Back 2 the Future”, in an intergenerational arts program. Newark students at Elliott Street Elementary School will meet in person with adult seniors living with first and mid stages of Alzheimer’s and dementia. Students and adult seniors will explore theatre, art, film and music together. A culmination session invites participants, students, school administration and participating artists to celebrate works created during program. |
Breakin in the Bricks
Organization |
Project Title |
Newark School of the Arts |
Breakin in the Bricks |
Project Summary |
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The Breakin in the Bricks festival will be a one-day event that will showcase the different elements of hip hop, including music, dance, graffiti, and spoken word. The event will be held in the heart of Newark, NJ, and will be open to the public. The festival will provide a safe and inclusive space for people of all ages and backgrounds to come together and celebrate hip hop culture. |
Carter Glennon Center for Arts and Nature Summer Music and Arts Camp
Organization |
Project Title |
Carter Glennon Center Arts and Nature A NJ Non Profit Corporation |
Carter Glennon Center for Arts and Nature Summer Music and Arts Camp |
Project Summary |
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Carter Glennon runs a one-week sleep away summer camp to be held on a college campus in New Jersey which will serve Newark youth. The program allows students to develop skills on their current musical instrument under the guidance of professional musicians and to engage with nature through field trips to nearby hiking trails and arboretums as well as experienced a taste of college life in the atmosphere of Drew University. |
Community Arts Crochet Club and Community Service Project
Organization |
Project Title |
Arts ETC |
Community Arts Crochet Club and Community Service Project |
Project Summary |
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We are asking for funds to support our Community Arts Crochet Club at Arts High School. The crochet club has been very successful and we would like to continue it for a second year to reach more students. We would also like to add a community service incentive to motivate students to do community service and to provide support to students who conceive of community service projects that will impact their communities. |
Community Institute
Organization |
Project Title |
The Institute of Music for Children |
Community Institute |
Project Summary |
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The Institute of Music for Children’s mission is to engage children and youth in artistic expression and the creative process. Guided by its vision of HARMONY (Helping Achieve Responsible, Motiviated, Optimistic, Neighborhood Youth,) we are buildig a community of high-achieving citizens who are arts makers through professional instruction, mentorship, and family engagement. Commuity Institute is one of our core programs, providing mult-media and performing arts residencies in three to five sites in Newark Public Schools. |
Dancing with the Blind 2024 #Goinggrowingandglowing
Organization |
Project Title |
Eyes Like Mine Inc |
Dancing with the Blind 2024 #Goinggrowingandglowing |
Project Summary |
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At “DWB”, we welcome community members to participate with an initial meet and greet to discuss the layers of participation. We offer scheduled rehearsal time for both sighted and vision impaired to be trained as a group dance routine. We schedule photo shoots, Video diaries about the dancers’ experience, and an opportunity for two communities to unite And build memorable bonds. In conclusion, we perform in front of audience to find The ultimate winning team! |
Digital Media Arts Boot Camp
Organization |
Project Title |
Keys 2 Success |
Digital Media Arts Boot Camp |
Project Summary |
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Keys 2 Success’s Urban Fellowship program employs teens from Newark and other urban areas to perform a wide range of teaching, mentorship, and media tasks. In the summer of 2023, 4 Urban Fellows will participate in a Media Arts Bootcamp to learn to record, edit, and distribute video, photo, and audio content online and in media, including coding. They will also use these skills to lead a coding course within K2S’s STEAM summer program. |
Don't Touch My Hair
Individual Artist |
Project Title |
Ayana Morris |
Don’t Touch My Hair |
Project Summary |
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“Don’t Touch My Hair” is a blunt statement to America to stop the policing of black hair. Black hair is seen as “unprofessional” but its display seems to spark an ironic curiosity. Some willingly act on this curiosity and commit the faux pax of touching a black woman’s hair. This boldness is why the phrase “don’t touch my hair” is more than a request, it’s a rallying cry. |
MW Newark Theater Art Workshops For Academic Success
Organization |
Project Title |
Mighty Writers |
MW Newark Theater Art Workshops For Academic Success |
Project Summary |
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Mighty Writers requests $3,000 to implement an eight-week summer camp in Newark located at 59 Lincoln Park. We will teach 50 kids and youth ages 7-15 in various literary art activities during cinema, art and cinema weeks. We will invite teaching artists and musicians. Students will watch and explore movie theories, read poetry, and learn music from expert educators in Newark City. |
Our Fathers: Dismantling Stereotypes Surrounding Black Fatherhood in America
Organization |
Project Title |
I’M SO NEWARK |
Our Fathers: Dismantling Stereotypes Surrounding Black Fatherhood in America |
Project Summary |
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OUR FATHERS is a feature-length documentary film about the myths and damaging stereotypes about black fatherhood popularized by media, family members, and society. This film will examine the ongoing effects of racism and discrimination black men who are fathers face in America today. OUR FATHERS will showcase black dads from various economic situations, individual relationships with their children, and the impact of fatherhood in communities of color. |
Stitch With Love
Individual Artist |
Project Title |
Rashidah Nelson |
Stitch With Love |
Project Summary |
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Inspiring the beautiful people of Newark to create art built from love, compassion and individuality. |
Through the Eyes of Newark's Youth: What is a Community?
Organization |
Project Title |
Boys and Girls Club of Newark |
Through the Eyes of Newark’s Youth: What is a Community? |
Project Summary |
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At BGCN, we believe the connection between social justice, community public health issues, and the arts are important. Racial inequality, income inequity, and the opioid crisis are just three of the social and public health issues that some Newark communities face, and impact the youth growing up here. This project, Through the Eyes of Newark’s Youth: What is a Community?, will allow youth to self express and show the world their freedom to be themselves. |
Wynona Lipman Project
Organization |
Project Title |
Wynona Lipman Project |
Wynona Lipman Project |
Project Summary |
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Our organization is embarking on our second documentary, this one on Sen. Wynona Lipman (1923-1999) , NJ’s First African American Woman Senator. Her foray into politics led her to becoming the Director of the Essex County Board of Freeholders (now Commissioners), before being elected to the State Senate in 1971 (29th District). She was succeeded by Mayor Sharpe James and currently by Sen. Teresa Ruiz now serves in her seat. |


Since 2001, the ArtStart Grant Program has been a catalyst for cultural activity in the local Newark arts community. The program offers mini-grants to community members, schools, non-profits and individual artists with the aim of nurturing a broad spectrum of arts and cultural activities involving young people and/or taking place in our neighborhoods. By seeding these innovative programs, Newark Arts continues to fulfill its mission of powering the arts in locations that are often overlooked by traditional programs, and stimulating economic and cultural activity on a hyper-local level.
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