(HACKENSACK, NJ) -- The Northern New Jersey Community Foundation's  (NNJCF) ArtsBergen initiative, working with the City of Hackensack, has announced the installation of the 'Hackensack Is On The Rise' poster project.   Graphic designer and visual artist Poramit Thantapalit, a Hackensack resident, created a poster design illustrating the city's resurgence and renaissance.  The posters were installed along Main Street business' windows to create a visually colorful, impactful display communicating Hackensack's rise as a vibrant destination.  The installation beautifies the area and shines a visual message of hope and resiliency to the community.  

“The arts can help build economic resiliency.  Through the simple idea of putting up posters in a concentrated space, the pop of colorful imagery and a positive message punctuates the background of the pandemic and its hard-hitting effects on small businesses.  This is the power of the arts -- to uplift and draw people out emotionally and physically," explained Danielle De Laurentis, Associate Director, Northern NJ Community Foundation.

"The Alliance is thrilled to co-sponsor with NNJCF Arts Bergen, this amazing messaging announcing a new dawning on Main Street.  It encapsulates perfectly the positive message for all who come to Hackensack that our communities’ best is just ahead of us.  We are very excited about our poster project, Hackensack Is On The Rise," said Patrice Foresman, Executive Director, Main Street Business Alliance.

The 'Hackensack Is On The Rise' poster project was conceived through the ongoing partnership comprised of the NNJCF's ArtsBergen initiative, the Main Street Business Alliance, the Hackensack Creative Arts Team (CAT), and the City of Hackensack.  The collaboration uses creative placemaking to integrate arts and culture into the downtown redevelopment plans and to implement Creative Hackensack, a creative placemaking initiative to make the City of Hackensack an arts destination and a place where the arts thrive.  'Hackensack on the Rise' is one of several projects realizing the 'Creative Vision Statement' developed in 2015 with input from various members and sectors of the community.

This program is made possible in part by a grant administered by the Bergen County Division of Cultural & Historic Affairs (BCDHCA) from funds granted by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.

Founded in 1998, the Northern New Jersey Community Foundation (NNJCF), a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization based in Hackensack, New Jersey, focuses primarily on civic engagement, education, public health, the environment, philanthropy, and the arts.  The NNJCF works with local governments, school districts, businesses, non-profit organizations, and citizen groups in northern New Jersey to improve community life.  The Foundation's partners identify and resolve regional problems and opportunities by talking and learning from each other and sharing ideas, best practices, services, and resources.

ArtsBergen, an initiative of the Northern New Jersey Community Foundation, is an arts alliance in Bergen County, New Jersey that supports and encourages creative placemaking, the practice of integrating arts and culture into a neighborhood, town, or region to build community and livability and boost local economy.  The initiative's mission is to energize and unify artists and arts organizations and connect the Bergen County community to the arts. 

PHOTO: (TOP) Graphic designer and visual artist Poramit Thantapalit created the poster design illustrating the city's resurgence and renaissance.