All in Kids & Family
This holiday season, the Moorestown Theater Company (MTC) in Burlington County will present "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Jr." and the acclaimed youth theater organization will do it all with a cast of elementary and middle school students — as well as a few ninth graders.
If you’re looking for something special to do on the first weekend of October (Oct 7 and 8 from 10 AM to 5 PM) how about an outing to Wheaton Arts in Millville for the annual “Festival of Fine Craft?” On any given day, WheatonArts is a place where creativity, culture, and history flourishes. And during the crowd-favorite festival, the place positively shines.
The “Festival of Fine Craft” showcases more than 125 artists and craftspeople, displaying and selling their handcrafted works, including clay, fiber, glass, jewelry, leather, metal, mixed media, painting, and more.
And while you are strolling through Wheaton’s 45-acre campus, you will have the opportunity to see and participate in a wide range of craft demonstrations and hands-on art-making activities.
There are also two exhibitions on view now at WheatonArts. In the Museum of American Glass, visitors will see “Amber Cowan: Alchemy of Adornment,” and the Down Jersey Folklife Center is presenting “The Good, The Bad, and the Funny: Ritual & Mask Dance of Latin America.”
The festival also features a Beer and Wine Garden, specialty food truck and food vendors, live music, and the nothing-quite-like-it Glass Pumpkin Fundraiser.
Over 100 students and arts educators will receive the state’s most prestigious award in arts education at the 43rd Annual New Jersey Governor’s Awards in Arts Education celebration June 2 and will be livestreamed via YouTube, Facebook, and the Governor’s Awards website at www.njgaae.org. This event is free and open to the public.
Over the past four decades, the Governor’s Awards has highlighted New Jersey’s most talented youth. Students of artistic disciplines as varied as dance, music, poetry, visual arts, speech, debate and theater have walked across the awards stage to receive their medal.
This year, the annual Governor’s Awards ceremony will be held as the culminating event of the inaugural Arts Ed NJ Day which will also feature the first-ever Gathering Ground Arts Education Call to Collaboration (C2C), networking opportunities, award-winning performances on various stages, an interactive photo booth, alumni guest speakers, pop-up advocacy activities, Live Red Carpet Countdown to the Awards, and a statewide student visual arts exhibit.
The C2C will bring together over 250 educators, nonprofits leaders, artists, teaching artists, school board members, parents, students, businesspeople and legislators.
This engagement is co-presented by the Sound Planet Music Festival, which presents impactful performances and learning opportunities focused on the climate and biodiversity crises.
Dan Brown is the man behind the No. 1 bestselling novel, “The Da Vinci Code” and “Wild Symphony” is his children’s picture book. The story features a mouse conductor who recruits a menagerie of animals to perform in an orchestra, while delivering proverbs about the virtues of fortitude, patience and cooperation. New York-based stage and screen actor Matt Dallal narrates the story while the Rowan University Wind Ensemble performs the score, bringing the majestic story to life.
The Phantom Limb Company collages puppetry, movement, multimedia storytelling and design. The company’s unique integration of social impact and aesthetics is essential to their work. “The Puppet Cycle: Small World Stories,” showcases original short plays starring contemporary artist-made marionettes on a solar-powered mobile stage — a specially adapted cargo bike.
“When teenager Percy Jackson discovers he’s a demigod, he and his friends embark on an epic journey to find Zeus’s missing lightning bolt and prevent a war among the gods.”
That is the synopsis for “The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical,” produced by The Growing Stage, The Children’s Theatre of New Jersey, in Netcong March 10-26, 2023.
The Growing Stage’s mission is to nurture the development of the performing arts through education, and to create, produce and perform works that engage the entire family.
Based on the novel by Rick Riordan, with a book by Joe Tracz and music and lyrics by Rob Rokicki, this rock musical is theater for the whole family to enjoy.
Jersey Arts speaks with “The Lightning Thief” vocal coach Melinda Bass O’Neill and actress Jeorgi Smith as they prepare to launch this production by The Growing Stage.
Billed as the largest in New Jersey, First Night Morris County offers plenty of sparkle.
This year, the festival comprises 200 artists, 70 cultural events, 50 on-demand films, 21 venues, a 4-hr Children’s Fun Festival, trio of art exhibits, 2 fireworks displays, and a livestream from Mayo PAC.
Performances include theater, comedy, storytelling, tap, reggae, rock, jazz, classical and opera.
Activities unfold in everyday spaces as varied as churches, Morristown High School, the Hyatt Regency and the County Administration Building.
Now that’s something to celebrate.
The Montclair Art Museum (MAM) will honor the artistry and contributions of Indigenous peoples with a series of workshops, performances and art-making activities with an Indigenous Peoples Weekend Oct. 7 – 10.
The Lenape are the Indigenous people of New Jersey and MAM is inviting adults, children and families across the state to join them in recognizing Native American history and heritage here in Lenapehoking (homelands of the Lenape).
On Saturday, September 18, four young playwrights will present their new plays at The Growing Stage — The Children’s Theatre of New Jersey. Ranging in age from 12 to 18, they are the finalists in The Growing Stage’s inaugural Playwriting Festival for Young Writers. Listen in as we speak to the blossoming writers and the creative team behind the festival.
The 2nd annual New Brunswick HEART Festival is like a block-after-block party. Featuring live performances; a salsa dance class party; tours of the State Theatre and NBPAC; Japanese black ink drawing; ticket giveaway contests; yoga; steamroller art; an activity tent; and – if you can believe it – much more! It’s family friendly, free, and happening this Saturday.
The 2021 NJ Governor's Awards in Arts Education kicks off on Saturday, May 22. In this episode, we speak to two past winners, two of this year's awardees, and more about the impact of these annual awards.
Jazz House Kids, based in Montclair, has fully leaned into the digital space to make sure the music plays on. Jesse and Dave talked with Jazz House Kids leaders — and married couple — Melissa Walker and Christian McBride about how they've adapted during this time.
