(NEWARK, NJ) -- On Friday, July 27th, Lincoln Park Coast Cultural District (LPCCD), opened the 13th annual Music Festival with City of Newark Mayor Ras J. Baraka as he joined LPCCD Executive Director Anthony Smith; Newark Arts Executive Director, Jeremy Johnson and other Newark artistic leaders to launch this year’s Lincoln Park Music Festival.  At the ceremony, a street was renamed at the ceremony to honor the late Newark artist and Lincoln Park icon Rodney M. Gilbert.

This Fall, Gilbert will be further honored by a crosswalk mural by Yendor Arts’ Malcolm A. Rolling, Jay Golding, Yasmeen DeJesus and Elijah Minton.  In collaboration with Lincoln Park Coast Cultural District in an effort to enhance the economic impact, foot traffic and community morale, Yendor has designed a set of Crosswalk Murals. The Crosswalk Murals are the pilot to a greater initiative lead by Lincoln Park Coast Cultural District to beautifying the greater Lincoln Park area.  The first crosswalk mural embodies the spirit and life work of the late Rodney M. Gilbert.   The Crosswalk Mural design is heavily influenced by West African ancestry of African American communities in the City of Newark. This design consists of wax textiles with red, green, yellow and black colors, each color representing a facet in African tradition such as; richness in spirit, community growth, the exchange of goods, and the spirit personified. The crosswalks themselves will be highly visible pedestrian walkways.  The crosswalk mural will be completed in late summer and dedicated on Saturday, October 6th during the annual Newark Arts Festival.

Lincoln Park resident and Newark’s native son, Rodney M. Gilbert was born in Hunterdon County, NJ and raised in the City of Newark, where he graduated from Quitman Street School and Arts High School.  He continued his education at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, where he majored in Theater and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1989.   At Yendor Productions, founded in 2003, Gilbert developed, oversaw and produced arts education programming and events.  Yendor Productions produced its first arts event with local Newark artists Jerry Gant, Hassan Hamilton, and Yucef Mayes at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC). Yendor Productions established its reputation by developing and facilitating workshops for Plainfield Public Schools under the direction of Laura Fatal, Director of Visual and Performing Arts.

The Turrell Foundation in 2005 and 2006 funded the “I Have a Dream” (IHAD) program in Plainfield, NJ for Yendor Productions to produce a documentary on IHAD and host filmmaking classes. Yendor developed and implemented in 2005 a Rites of Passage program for Children’s Aid in partnership with The Artist Collective for Social Change.  

Since then, Yendor has evolved into two distinct branches – Yendor Arts and Yendor Theater Company  – which perpetuates the arts through Gilbert’s twin passions, drama and visual arts.  Yendor Arts’ Newark Murals program is a part of the Newark Public Art Program.  Newark Murals creates collaborative works of art and design that manifest the spirit and pride of Newark in public spaces by advancing neighborhood improvement agendas of community organizations and residents.  To date, over twenty large-scale murals have been created in the city under Yendor's leader Rodney M. Gilbert. Artists make large-scale murals that include collaborations with students and community-based organizations with a strong interest in engaging Newark communities in creating public art.  The work of Yendor Productions continues under the leadership of Chief Operator and Artistic Director Malcolm A. Rolling.  

Yendor Theater Company is an outgrowth of Gilbert’s work as a full-time professor in the Theatre Department at Drew University.   Rodney Gilbert and Yendor Theater Company have staged numerous stage productions in and around Newark, NJ.   Past productions have included NJPAC Stage Exchange, a partnership with Playwrights Theatre of New Jersey and Yendor, is where cutting-edge new play development meets insightful community dialogue; Redemption The Musical, based loosely on the life and times of singer Felicia Moss Eaton; award-winning playwright Pia Wilson’s Down Neck, a play about the Ironbound in the aftermath of the 1967 Newark Rebellion; and a staged reading of Five Husbands, written  by Award-winning playwright and Plainfield resident B.V. Marshall in Plainfield, NJ.   Gilbert branched out to film production and served as 2nd assistant director and acting coach on Clipped Wings, They Do Fly, a feature-length, suspense movie that is loosely based on the novel of the same name by William Michael Barbee and two collaborations with East Orange filmmaker and artist-in-residence of Rutgers-Express Newark Yucef Mayes — short film Zahra and the Oil Man and Driver a narrative feature in which Gilbert also starred.  Driver was an Official Selection of Newark International Film Festival, Harlem Hip-Hop Film Festival, and Baltimore’s Reginald Lewis Museum Screening Series.  Yendor Theater Company was co-founded in 2016 by Gilbert and mentee Andrew Binger, an educator, actor, mentor and community activist.

At Drew University, Gilbert taught Speech, Intro to Acting and Directing, and African American Theatre.  During his tenure, Drew’s Department of Theatre and Dance was ranked fifth in the country for B.A. theater programs by the Princeton Review.  He also co-founded Advantage Arts, with the Marion Bolden Center and Professors Lisa Brenner and Chris Ceraso. The program brings Newark high school students to work with Drew mentors to create original works and perform plays.  The Drew University Theatre partnership continues to provide a unique theater experience to Newark Public Schools and Drew University students.  The Advantage Arts program continues through Gilbert protégé, artist and educator Malik Whitaker who now serves as the Newark liaison.  .  Drew University renamed its annual Educational Opportunity Scholars Salon The Rodney M. Gilbert Memorial Salon: The Fires of Rebellion, in honor of the professor.   

Rodney M. Gilbert is a member of the Actors Equity Association, a Leadership Newark Fellow, and an Audelco Award Nominee.  He was appointed by Mayor Ras J. Baraka to serve as one of the first members of the City of Newark’s LGBTQ Commission.  He is the recipient of numerous awards including the Civic Engagement Award from Drew University.  

PHOTO BY JEAN MERINE