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originally published: 03/07/2023 

(HACKENSACK, NJ) --Are you concerned about flooding from the Hackensack River?  Attend the Northern New Jersey Community Foundation's ArtsBergen initiative's Flood Theater Community Workshop to raise awareness about the devastating effects of flooding along the Hackensack River.  Join us to share your flood story and to create a quilt square for a public artwork, Flood Theater.  The interactive workshop takes place on Wednesday, March 29 from 6:00pm to 8:00pm at Oradell Borough Hall on the top floor located at 355 Kinderkamack Rd. in Oradell, New Jersey.

The workshop is free and open to Oradell and New Milford residents and anyone affected by or concerned about flooding from the Hackensack River.  Sign up for the workshop by March 24 online at bit.ly/3J34UJj .

Founded in 1998, the NNJCF, a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization headquartered in Hackensack, New Jersey, focuses primarily on the environment, arts and culture, public health, education, civic engagement and philanthropy.  The Foundation was one of only five organizations in the Garden State selected to receive a grant co-sponsored by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and the New Jersey State Council on the Arts that will pair artists specializing in environmental topics to create art installations in specific sites in the state's coastal zone.  The NNJCF's ArtsBergen project plans to produce a public artwork raising awareness of the devastating impact from Hackensack River flooding.

Flood Theater: The public artwork, Flood Theater, created by artist Juliacks, includes a metal sculpture inspired by the North Jersey applique quilts of the 18th and 19th centuries.  The imagery of these metal screen quilts will be created collaboratively at the workshop.  Participants create paper cut applique patterns that together tell a story about the flooding.  These paper-cut patterns will then be translated into a storytelling metal screen.  Upon completion, the artwork will be installed next to the Oradell train station.  This artwork is funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the New Jersey Coastal Management Program, Department of Environmental Protection – in partnership with the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.

Juliacks, an award-winning transmedia artist, makes books, films, installations, paintings, tapestries, comics, performances and events.  She created fiction across mediums exhibiting, performing, screening and existing in public space, museums, galleries and festivals in New Jersey, the Netherlands, France, Switzerland, and Sweden among others.  Juliacks also developed the hybrid comic book, Architecture of an Atom.

 

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The Northern New Jersey Community Foundation, a not-for-profit 501(c)3 organization based in Hackensack, New Jersey, works with local governments, school districts, businesses, non-profit organizations, and citizen groups to improve community life.  Through collaborative partnerships, regional problems are identified and resolved.  Opportunities are discovered and explored by talking and learning from each other and sharing ideas, best practices, services and resources.  The Foundation's primary areas of work are the environment, arts and culture, public health, education, civic engagement and philanthropy.

The Northern New Jersey Community Foundation’s ArtsBergen initiative, a regional arts alliance, works with various stakeholders.  These stakeholders encompass artists, arts organizations, businesses and municipal leaders, who use the arts to shape the social, physical, cultural, and economic identity of communities.  Creative placemaking, a community-led, arts-driven approach, is used to increase vibrancy, spur economic development, and build capacity among residents to take ownership of their communities.

ArtsBergen is the only initiative in Bergen County, New Jersey offering a range of services in creative placemaking.  The initiative has partnered with multiple municipalities facilitating creative teams, developing public art and creative placemaking plans, and directing and managing public art projects to preserve and express community culture.

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