(BELMAR, NJ) — The arts throughout the Garden State is on display with three digital Fall 2019 Season Preview guides produced by New Jersey Stage in partnership with ArtPride New Jersey and the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. Guides for North Jersey, Central Jersey, and South Jersey are available for free at www.NJStage.com/fall. Each has regional content, advertising, and event listings specific for the area covering events taking place from September through November.
North Jersey Guide — Features include Chasing Rainbows: The Road to Oz at Paper Mill Playhouse; Black Maria Film Festival; Adelphi Orchestra and its dedication to young artists; Mayo Performing Arts Center (MPAC) turns 25; Newark Arts Festival; New Jersey Ballet at Centenary Stage Company; and the Jersey City art scene with features on Art Fair 14C and the Jersey City Art & Studio Tour.
Central Jersey Guide - Features include New Brunswick Performing Arts Center (NBPAC) changes the landscape; Tony nominated playwright Joe Iconis returns to Two River Theater with Love In Hate Nation; Remember Jones talks about his Yas Queen show; Rossen Milanov celebrates 10 year of leading the Princeton Symphony Orchestra; a podcast conversation with Emily Mann of McCarter Theatre on Gloria: A Life; New Jersey Film Festival; Dance meets film meets virtual reality when Bridgman|Packer Dance comes to Monmouth University; artist Susu Pianchupattana talks about “Inseparable” at the Monmouth Museum; and Lewis Center for the Arts: Incubator of New Works.
South Jersey Guide - Dena Blizzard: From Miss New Jersey to One Funny Mother; Rowan University puts its arts programming in high gear; South Camden Theatre anchors the city’s emerging arts scene; a look at Adam Birnbaum who performs classical music through a jazz prism; Riddlesbrood Touring Theater launches the Flashwright Project; and adults with disabilities discover unlimited artistic talent.
“In a perfect world arts coverage would be abundant in newspapers, but, in reality, coverage has been reduced and even eliminated by many publications in the past two decades,” explained Gary Wien, publisher of New Jersey Stage. “For the past five years we have been covering the arts with our monthly digital magazine. We believe the arts deserves coverage and these guides represent a big step forward for us.”
More than 55 arts organizations took out ads in the guides, taking advantage of the digital medium with full color ads that link back to their websites. Some advertisers included videos, photo slideshows, and even audio files in their ads. Since digital publishing costs less to produce, the ads were just a fraction of the price they would have been in a printed guide.
The Discover Jersey Arts Fall Guides utilized seven arts journalists for the project. The guides included articles written by Gary Wien, Candace Nicholson, Chris Howatt, Richard Skelly, Samuel Levy, Dan Bauer, and Brent Johnson.
“We were proud to be able to pay the writers for their work,” said Wien. “Arts journalists have been hit hard by the reduction in newspaper coverage. Since arts organizations tend to have limited budgets for promotion, it is often difficult for outlets to make enough revenue to pay writers. New Jersey Stage itself is run by volunteers for this very reason. Projects like this offer an opportunity to keep original arts journalism alive.”
Digital guides and the monthly magazine by New Jersey Stage offer a chance for the arts to be seen and experienced in ways print media cannot match. Each guide includes videos of music, theatre, comedy, and dance performances; photo slideshows of art exhibits; trailers of films; and more. Users can read the guides on any PC, tablet, or smartphone without the need to zoom in. Best of all, the guides are never out of print, can easily be shared across social media, and always just a click away from anywhere in the world.
“More people read the news on websites today than with print newspapers,” added Wien. “Arts organizations should look at the advantages the digital medium offers. In this case, change may actually be a good thing.”
