New Jersey Theatre Alliance and ArtPride NJ and the Creating Change Network Present CREATING CHANGE 2023

New Jersey Theatre Alliance ("the Alliance") announces registration for this year's Creating Change in-person symposium on May 10, 2023 from 9:30am - 5:00pm at the Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank. The event, supported by The Grunin Foundation, will feature a full day of breakout sessions, panel discussions, racial healing circles, and more for the New Jersey arts community.

This year's symposium has a theme of "Collective Liberation for the New Jersey Arts Community." The organizing committee is utilizing the definition from the Vanderbilt University Medical Center Office of Diversity and Inclusion that outlines liberation as "the creation of relationships, societies, communities, organizations and collective spaces characterized by equity, fairness, services, benefits, and rewards that support the full participation of each human and the promotion of their full humanness."

Participants will be immersed in a day-long experience connecting with arts and cultural leaders, artists, educators, and volunteers from across New Jersey. Plenary sessions include a keynote conversation between Dr. Tobie Stein and Donna Walker-Kuhne, as well as a panel featuring arts leaders who each have different visions for their work. The day will feature Racial Healing Circles led by Sharon Stroye, Director of Public Engagement at the School of Public Affairs and Administration (SPAA) at Rutgers University-Newark. Over a dozen breakout sessions will be available with various topics potentially including: building resilience within yourself and your organization; the lifecycle of diversity/equity/inclusion movements; embodied learning and wellbeing; shifting language in projects; caregiver support as anti-oppression work; pay equity in the arts; navigating and interrupting micro-aggressions; and others. More than 200 attendees are expected.

"As we enter our third year of Creating Change, I am immensely inspired by the hard work and commitment of the participating organizations," says Donna Walker-Kuhne, " As Chair of the Planning Committee, we have been laser focused on advancing a culture of belonging and inclusion throughout the New Jersey arts sector. We acknowledge this forever endeavor and are looking forward to even greater participation next month."

The Creating Change Network, a program hosted by New Jersey Theatre Alliance and ArtPride New Jersey that aims to build a more equitable, just, 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 activities of the network are supported by the Grunin Foundation.

Registration is open for anyone who is part of the New Jersey Arts community: https://artpride.formstack.com/forms/creating_change_event_2023

Founded in 1981, New Jersey Theatre Alliance was the first statewide service organization for professional, not-for-profit theatre companies in the United States, and is a leader in developing model programs that unite, promote, strengthen, and cultivate professional theatre in New Jersey. Funding for the New Jersey Theatre Alliance, a not-for-profit organization, is provided in part by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, New Jersey Arts and Culture Renewal Fund of the Princeton Area Community Foundation, and contributions from numerous individuals, corporations, and foundations including Amazon, The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, Grunin Foundation, MidAtlanic Arts Foundation, The Horizon Foundation for New Jersey, Bank of America, City National Bank, The Shubert Foundation, The Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation, The Hyde and Watson Foundation, The F.M. Kirby Foundation, E.J. Grassmann Trust, The Union Foundation, New Jersey Manufacturers Insurance, and OceanFirst Foundation

The ArtPride New Jersey Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization that promotes the value of the arts to New Jersey's quality of life, education, and economic vitality through research and a variety of programs and services. For more information about ArtPride, visit www.ArtPrideNJ.org.