THE CREATING CHANGE NETWORK
The Creating Change Network is a program of New Jersey Theatre Alliance in Partnership with ArtPride New Jersey, with a mission to build a more equitable, just, accessible, and anti-racist arts community in New Jersey.
Guided by a steering committee of arts professionals and social justice leaders, the Creating Change Network offers ongoing opportunities for learning and collaboration to move the arts sector forward. The Creating Change Network is committed to the long-term endeavor of shifting culture, empowering leaders, sharing strategies, ensuring accountability, and sustaining hope so that individuals and organizations can progress in this work.
The Creating Change Network was launched in April 2021 with the virtual conference “Creating Change: Moving Towards Equity, Justice, and Anti-Racism in the New Jersey Arts Community,” which was attended by over 550 arts leaders in the state.
Priority Initiatives
The Creating Change Network offered the following Initiatives for FY23:
Virtual Roundtables
Four Virtual Roundtables, open to all members of the New Jersey Arts and Culture Community, offered at no charge. Topics for this year include Affirmative Action and other HR issues, Decolonization and the arts, and navigating microaggressions. Register today!
Arts Trustee Antiracism Learning Cohort - New!
This 4-session virtual series, offered free of charge in the spring and fall, will be led by leading experts in diversity, equity, inclusion, and anti-oppression. It is a space of learning, growth, and connection exclusively for trustees of New Jersey Arts Organizations.
Creating Change Symposium
The Next Creating Change Summit will take place in the fall of 2024. The date and location will be announced in the spring of 2024.
Creating Change 2023: Collective Liberation for the New Jersey Arts Community was an in-person gathering of the New Jersey Arts and Culture Community focused on learning, inspiration, and action.
2023 Symposium sessions and speaker bios
*“This Guiding Light” is shared with the permission of photographer @dolo_foto, poet @poetjasminemans, and artist @layqanunayawar. This mural was made as part of the #MuralsforJustice initiative in Newark, NJ as a testament to the collective power of Newark artists and that of 2020’s global protests. See the full mural here: http://bit.ly/ThisGuidingLight
Steering Committee
Creating Change Steering Committee Chair:
Donna Walker-Kuhne, NJ Performing Arts Center
Steering Committee:
Rachel Aponte, Visual Arts Center of NJ
Dr. Antoinette Ellis-Williams, New Jersey City University
Donia Salem Harhoor, The Outlet Dance Project
Vince Hall, ArtPride New Jersey Foundation
Deonté Griffin-Quick, Artist Communities Alliance
Chase Jackson, Ocean City Arts Center
Sharnita Johnson, Victoria Foundation
Marshall Jones, III, Rutgers University
Eyesha Marable, New Jersey Performing Arts Center
John McEwen, New Jersey Theatre Alliance
Erica Nagel, New Jersey Theatre Alliance
Adam Perle, ArtPride New Jersey Foundation
Michael Roberson Reid, Young Audiences of NJ and Eastern PA
Alysia Souder, The Institute of Music for Children
Sheldon Steele, Newark Symphony Hall
Daria M. Sullivan, New Jersey Theatre Alliance
Talia Young, Newark Symphony Hall