2012/13 ANNUAL REPORT Cover: A Princeton Mix, 2013, collage mural by Nancy Shill, 2013 Anne Reeves Artist-in-Residence, on view at Witherspoon Hall, 400 Witherspoon Street. The Project: To honor and recognize the newly consolidated town of Princeton, Nancy Shill, the Arts Council of Princeton’s Spring 2013 Anne Reeves Artist-in-Residence, created a collage mural made entirely of materials found or collected in Princeton. Nancy’s approach is to represent a specific location in which she collects the content material for her collages and this public artwork creatively represents the life and culture of our newly consolidated town. From the BOARD PRESIDENT AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR IT IS SAID that the true test of character is how one performs when faced with adversity. As we are in production on this Annual Report, we are observ- ing the one year anniversary of Superstorm Sandy. That was truly a test for the Arts Council and we are proud to report that the handling of that extreme emergency situation was evidence of an organization with great character. The ACP was without power or phones for over a week. Even after power was restored, our server was found to be severely damaged due to a 27,000 volt power surge when the storm hit. Internet and email service was not fully functional for almost a month. While we were without email or any standard means of communication during the week after the storm, our staff held emergency meetings, members of our Dining by Design team gathered to reschedule the event and, through sheer resourcefulness, we found ways to get messages to our ticket holders, students, and members via text messages and Constant Contact. The Princeton Public Library, so welcoming to the entire community after the storm, was a very important community partner to the Arts Council, providing temporary office and meeting space to our staff and board for more than a week while we got back on our feet. To use another popular saying, “whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” the Arts Council of Princeton today is much stronger than a year ago. We bounced back from the storm with the second most successful Annual Fund Drive ever, one of our most memorable and lucrative Dining by Design events, steadily increasing enrollment in our classes and workshops, and a continually growing membership and donor base. It’s exciting to look back on the past year and see how the Arts Council’s outreach to the community has grown. In turn, it is heartening to observe how community collaborations, volunteer power, and the inspiring creativity of artists and performers have helped to build the Arts Council’s programs and impact to new heights, even during a year when a “superstorm” posed a very real threat to our organization and to our community. During the year we increased our outreach to seniors, teens and to those in the community who have little or no access to the arts. In the spirit of our mission of building community through the arts, we were proud to work with our new consolidated Princeton to adopt a new town logo and to sponsor a community collage mural project. In these pages you will find images and words that record the many accomplishments of the Arts Council from July 2012 through June 2013. You will also find the names of the hundreds of individuals, businesses and nonprofit partners who come together to make our building community mission a reality. We offer our sincere thanks to all of you. With kind regards, Cindi Venizelos Jeff Nathanson President, Board of Trustees Executive Director 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 Greetings from the Board President & Executive Director 3 The Numbers Tell the Story 4 Arts Education 5 Artreach 6 Communiversity Festival of the Arts & Princeton Arts Weekend 7 Community Cultural Events 8 Exhibitions 9 Performances 10 Gala Benefits 11 Membership and Volunteers 12 Finances 13 Our Supporters (Thank you!) 26 Community Partners 27 ACP Faculty/Teaching Artists 28 Board of Trustees, Staff and Consultants, Photo credits 2 participants in ACP 50,000 programs and events studio arts classes for The 489 children and adults Numbers 238 new classes offered 2,000 students scholarship dollars 18,000 awarded 23 exhibitions 1,500 Halloween paraders children and seniors served in 250 our outreach programs 3,655 volunteer hours logged tell the 2,111 current members 1,500 donors Communiversity story attendees 40,000 900 fundraiser attendees 345 participating artists 8,894 email subscribers Facebook Friends 1,900 3 “The best part of ACP classes is the enthusiasm, encouragement and inspiration to try new techniques.” –ACP student ARTS EDUCATION Student at work in Ruth Councell’s Watercolor Exploration class. 4 art REACH “The class opened my eyes to new ways of looking at things, new possibilities.” –Participant in Art for Caregivers Class THROUGH ALL OF OUR ArtReach programs, the Arts Council provides free high quality, regularly occurring, subsidized arts programming to community members who would not otherwise receive the benefits of that experience. Our Arts in Healthcare initiative, Creative Aging, focuses on the delivery of free weekly arts instruction to low-income and Instructor Eva Mantell with students in infirm seniors in our community, and to their family and professional Art Techniques for Caregivers. caregivers. Our Community Youth ArtReach programs, such as ArtsEx- change for disadvantaged youth in Trenton, Creative Fridays and Pre-K ArtReach for at-risk youth in Princeton, reach hundreds of young people each week with free after school workshops and free special highlights of the year events. IN THE FALL the students from the ACP’s We thank the following funders for their support of outreach program, Arts Exchange, won ArtReach Programming in 2012-2013: first prize in the Princeton University’s Recycling Superhero Contest and re- ACP Fundraising Events | Charles Galbraith Trust | Church & ceived a check for $500 to be used for a Dwight Employee Giving Fund | Colgate-Palmolive Inner City sustainability initiative for the class. The Education Fund via United Way | Concordia Foundation class created a story, masks, costumes, The Firmenich Charitable Foundation | Horizon Foundation, Inc. staging and voiceover for a short video about “Recycle-eeze” Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. | Johnson & Johnson Consumer (rhymes with Hercules) who can take plastic and other Companies, Inc. | Mary Owen Borden Foundation | The Migedan garbage and turn it into living plants. After creating the Foundation, Inc. | Jerri Morrison | Princeton Public Library video, the students paraded in masks and costumes to PNC Foundation, Central & Northern New Jersey | Target Jadwin Gym on the Princeton campus. On a small stage they Townsend Harris High School Faculty and Staff told their story with students taking turns performing To learn more, please look under COMMUNITY OUTREACH a speech they had written. on our website. ARTS EDUCATION IS at the heart of our mission, and the dedication of the ACP Scholarship and Outreach Fund in 2012-2013, with a of our faculty of 75+ professional artist-educators allows us to offer special acknowledgement to the following: programs reaching every facet of our diverse community. In addition to The Bank of Princeton | Leigh & John Bartlett | Annie & Craig Battle our core offerings for children, teens and adults in Drawing & Painting, The Blandford Family | Linda Bosniak & Andrew Bush | Elizabeth Bromley Darkroom & Digital Photography and Ceramics & Sculpture, we Charles Evans Foundation | Church Woman United | Alison Hauptman & continuously develop innovative programs to introduce new faculty Aaron Epstein | Sunny Greenberg | Diana Griebell | Carol Hoffman | Gail and explore a range of varied media, including collaborations with Kohn | Littlebrook Elementary School PTO | Linda McClellan | Mary Beth Morven Museum and Garden, Grounds For Sculpture, Stony Brook- & Mark McDonough | Jane & Richard Nieman | NRG Energy, Inc | Michele Millstone Watershed Association and Central & Southern NJ Girl Schara | Hila Sela | Suzanne Staggs & Jason Puchalla | Susan D. Ultan Scouts. Over $18,000 in scholarships awarded in 2012/13 helped to Mickey Waring | Ann & Mitsuru Yasuhara keep our classes accessible to the entire community. We thank all of our generous scholarship funders for their support To learn more, please look under CLASSES on our website. 5 Festival of COMMUNIVERSITY the Arts AND Princeton Arts Weekend “I think that the Arts Council is enhancing the cultural life of the community through its remarkably broad spectrum of activities.” —ACP event attendee FOR THE FIRST TIME since 1971, Communiversity Festival of the Arts Paint Out Princeton. Local artists set up their easels throughout the was held on a Sunday (April 28th, 1:00 – 6:00 pm). Once again, event site to capture the spirit of the day. Completed paintings were downtown Princeton was transformed into an outdoor art museum, on display at a “Wet Work” exhibition and sale in the Taplin Gallery from music festival, emporium, farmer’s market and restaurant row. Nearly 4:30 – 6:00 pm. 200 booths showcasing artists, crafters and merchants from around Communiversity serves as the anchor event for Princeton Arts the tri-state area; continuous live entertainment on five stages; Weekend. Presented in cooperation with the Princeton Area Arts and children’s activities and games; a wide array of delicious food from Culture Consortium, the entire weekend of arts and cultural activities around the globe; and a broad representation of the many businesses is meant to encourage the public to take advantage of the many arts and non-profit organizations drew a record crowd of over 40,000 events offered throughout the weekend, including the ACP’s spring participants. benefit, Pinot to Picasso. Because the goal of Communiversity is to inspire, engage and For a complete list of performers and sponsors for Communiversity foster creativity among its attendees, the ACP introduced 2013, look under PAST EVENTS on our website.