“The Garden State” is a schema that conjures certain images: the beautiful Jersey shore, Atlantic City, traffic on I-95, traffic on the Parkway, traffic on I-287…the Jersey Devil.
Wouldn’t it be great if Jersey could rejuvenate “The Garden State” motto to conjure a thriving ecology where industry, culture, and community exist in support of each other, like vines twining to reach the sun?
There are three things happening in New Jersey that excite me. All have to do with cross-sector partnerships, creativity, and innovation; all are bettering New Jersey’s communities and positioning our state to take a step forward in redefining itself.
ONE: The Gandhi Garden
Nine months ago, East Hanover Street in Trenton was equal parts boarded up buildings, vacant lots, low-income housing…and artist office/work space.
We’ve all heard that story; many of us, including me, are living it. The story we may not all know is the rapid transformation and strategic development that a cross-sector partnership can bring about, like the one forged between the Trenton Downtown Association (TDA), a destination marketing/economic development organization and the SAGE Coalition, an urban beautification NFP made up of a diverse group of Trenton-based visual and performing artists, musicians, teachers, and fabricators.
Six months ago, TDA initiated renovations of the decaying artist workspace on East Hanover Street. In a matter of a couple months, cosmetic repairs were complete, long-vacant studios were filled with a diverse group of working artists, and a new gallery space opened in the front window.
Simultaneously, TDA capitalized on the trust it had built in delivering tangible results by partnering with SAGE Coalition artists to transform vacant buildings on the block into colorful and thought-provoking canvases, sometimes three stories high.
Capitalizing again on the momentum from this public art project, TDA and SAGE broke ground on an abandoned lot with thigh-high weeds. Today, it is on its way to being The Gandhi Garden: an open-air community space that includes tables, chairs, a fire pit, planters for edible foods and flowers, and sculptures, all constructed from reclaimed materials like wooden shipping pallets, steel cable, and discarded tires.
In two month’s time, the Gandhi Garden will host a student-created theatre piece—Passage Theatre’s new “Stoop Theatre” education program—tackling neighborhood issues.
The transformation of East Hanover Street was rapid, highly-visible, and welcoming. I can tell you first-hand how uplifting it is to turn the corner onto East Hanover and see lead artist Will KASSO’s mural of Gandhi with his oft-quoted words: “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”
TWO: Creative New Jersey
Generating action from community meetings can be…challenging. Some would say futile.
Enter Creative New Jersey, an organization “fostering creativity, innovation and sustainability through a series of community-wide, cross-sector, and multi-generational convenings” linked through technology to facilitate sharing of resources and ideas.
Creative New Jersey’s website lays out the hard facts: our state is shedding college graduates and residents, we’re no longer competitive in the industries we were known for (pharmaceuticals, telecommunications, technology), and we’re one of the least attractive states to entrepreneurs and businesses.
But—says Creative New Jersey—all the talent for innovation and creative problem solving is already here, we just need to harness it.
Using Open Space Technology meeting formats, Project Director Elizabeth Murphy has led four “Call to Collaboration” convenings since 2011 in four different municipalities: Monmouth, Morristown, Rahway, and Orange.
I’m encountering Open Space for the first time, but it has a proven track record and its self-described best application is: “…when the work to be done is complex, the people and ideas involved are diverse, the passion for resolution (and potential for conflict) are high, and the time to get it done was yesterday.”
Sounds like a regular day at [insert-your-arts-organization-here], right?
Creative New Jersey convenings recognize that a community is its own expert when it comes to creative problem solving and works to provide the platform for launching a community planning process with that in mind.
One project idea to come out of a convening was a healthcare program that fights youth obesity by bringing dance and theatre programs to schools (I recommend reading full plans and comments, but as a starter here’s a blog on the most recent convening).
I’m excited to see the results of these “community as expert” convenings and to dig deeper into Open Space. If you’ve worked with Open Space strategies chime in and share your experiences!
THREE: NJ Recovery Fund
Six months after Hurricane Sandy, coastal and northern New Jersey is still regaining its footing. The magnitude of destruction…is ripe with opportunity?
The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, Community Foundation of New Jersey, and a host of other philanthropies believe so and the resulting NJ Recovery Fund will support, “…catalytic ideas and projects with an emphasis on collaboration, innovation, and sustainability as New Jersey recovers from Hurricane Sandy.”
What I find particularly compelling is that preference will be given to projects that “…serve as demonstration projects from which others can learn” and/or “are complementary to other recovery efforts.”
The NJ Recovery Fund’s focus on building and augmenting efforts already underway, and projects that can serve as templates for other communities are key to a new future for New Jersey. The deadline for invited proposals was last week, so we can expect to hear more about the funded projects by the summer.
A New “Garden State”
Taken together, the cross-sector partnerships founded in initiatives like the Gandhi Garden, Creative New Jersey and the NJ Recovery Fund have the potential to result in rapid, highly public change generated by and for communities in ways that are replicable, adaptable, and build on existing infrastructure. What we will find, I think, is a flourishing state supported by the intertwining of industry, culture, and community.
