'The Hacktivator' Booth Comes to Hackensack

Do you want to see more art and culture in Hackensack, New Jersey? Participate in 'The Hacktivator' project, a unique live and interactive art installation opening and launching at the NJ Transit Bus Station on Atlantic Street in Hackensack on Monday, November 4. The public can also contribute to and activate 'The Hacktivator' booth on November 5, 7, and 8. The temporary art installation will be open at these peak commuting times: November 4 from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., November 5 from 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m., November 7 from 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. and November 8 from 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.

The project's purpose is to collect community input to create the 'Art Walk' at Demarest Place using arts and culture, lighting, landscaping, seating, events, and activities. The 'Art Walk' is a permanent, interactive public space and walkway spanning from the Hackensack Performing Arts Center (HACPAC) to the Atlantic Street Bus Terminal. The 'Art Walk' will enrich and develop Hackensack's Transit Village and connect the HACPAC, Main Street, and the bus terminal with an arts destination site and experience to attract visitors, interest passersby and residents and reflect the community's character. The walkway space will also serve as an area to provide programming and activities.

The 'Hacktivator Press', seen at the Main Street Alliance's Music Art Brew and Fare in October, returns. A set of three actors, made up of award winning choreographer/performer Claire Porter, Annemarie Hagenaars, and Bill Atwood, will survey and gather information from passersby about Demarest Place to inform plans for the walkway. Pedestrians can interact with 'The Hacktivator' booth by answering the question, What brings you back to life?. Once the answer is submitted into the booth and an active button is pressed, the booth and a sleeping performer awaken and the participant receives a performance of dance, rap, skit, or another art form. The information collected will be used to develop future art installations reflecting Demarest Place and NJ Transit users' ideas and engage the community about Demarest Place.

'The Hacktivator' is a collaborative effort of the Main Street Business Alliance, the Hackensack Creative Arts Team (CAT), the City of Hackensack, and the Northern New Jersey Community Foundation's ArtsBergen (NNJCF) initiative. The Hackensack CAT is a group of artists, merchants, organizational leaders and public officials collaborating to implement Creative Hackensack, a creative placemaking initiative to make the City of Hackensack an arts destination and a place where the arts thrive.

Creative placemaking integrates arts and culture into a neighborhood, town, or region to build community and livability and boost the local economy. 'The Hacktivator' is among several projects CAT identified to implement the Creative Vision Statement developed with input from various members and sectors of the community.

"The work of 'The Hactivator' project is to engage the community using the arts and to provide a creative platform for members to express their voices in imagining their city. Our collaboration views the arts as a tool not only to make Hackensack more vibrant, but also to encourage pride and investment by reflecting the character of the community in what is happening with the city's redevelopment," said Danielle De Laurentis, Associate Director, Northern New Jersey Community Foundation.

Learn more about the Main Street Business Alliance on the organization's website at www.downtownhackensack.org. Follow Creative Hackensack and the Hackensack Creative Arts Team at www.downtownhackensack.org/arts/creative-hackensack and the NNJCF at www.nnjcf.org.

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