The Newark Museum of Art

Exhibitions and facilities:seeing americaon march 9, 2023, The Newark Museum of Art opened The reinstallation of its seeing america 18th & 19th century galleries to The public. The newly reinterpreted and renovated galleries present fresh perspectives on american Art, using slavery and black history as a lens to foreground issues of race, representation, and power in america. To address The erasure of black and native histories in american Art, this long-term installation integrates new commissions alongside both contemporary and historical artworks from The Museum's collection. This marks The first time The Museum's historical galleries have been fully reimagined since 2001. It's also The first time The historical artworks are placed in dialogue with living artists of color. Comprising nearly 80 artworks, The suite of eight connected galleries draws largely from The Museum's holdings and features objects that highlight The outgrowth of The transatlantic slave trade and The african diaspora. The physical renovations are also paired with new themes, fully bilingual labels, and several engaging visitor experiences. These include a space for visitors to share their written responses, a reading nook to view antiracist books, and a space to make abolitionist bookmarks. The american voices program, launched in 2019, invites members of The community to create a wall label in response to an artwork on view. The new american voices labels include texts by noelle lorraine williams, margie "mia x" johnson, catherine mckinley, and roger c. tucker.the nmoa has launched its newly reimagined member experiences for 2023 and beyond. These unique, exclusive events offer members The opportunity to enjoy artful conversations led by Museum experts to understand what lies beneath The surface of some of its most beloved artworks. On july 20, 2023, The Museum hosted a member experience event, other voices: retelling american history, in The seeing america: 18th & 19th century galleries offered an expanded view of american identity and more honest and inclusive narratives. The reinstallation of these galleries presents contemporary Art installed alongside historical painting, sculpture, and material culture. During this session, members engaged in thoughtful dialogue guided by Museum docents who used their extensive knowledge of portraits, landscapes, and images of daily life, highlighting a deeper understanding of The under-told stories of american history.the ballantine housein november 2023, The Museum reopened a national historic landmark from 1885, The ballantine house, with a new interpretation that highlights untold stories of The diverse communities of Newark past and present. A combination of freshly installed and reinstalled galleries, as well as period rooms with new interventions, welcomes visitors with engaging experiences and expanded representation. Beginning in 2022 The Museum undertook a major exterior restoration The ballantine house, itself a collection object, to address issues of water incursion and deteriorating Wyoming grey sandstone, as well as targeting areas of interior architectural conservation. The reimagined ballantine house is a significant change in interpretive philosophy, strategy, and educational programming, aligning with The Museum's mission. The aim of The interpretive framework is to enhance The visitor experience and to create an environment in which people feel represented, create positive memories, and feel a connection with The Newark community, past and present. To achieve these goals, The Museum created gallery experiences that make space for The visitor through highlighted objects and artworks, multi-sensory experiences, and comfortable seating to encourage conversation and reflection. The reopened house features new galleries with immersive experiences; interventions of contemporary Art and objects with immigrant and black family histories installed in period rooms; reinstalled spaces with collection objects that support The themes; and new elements including digital features, such as a listening lounge and immersive soundscapes that will bring The house to life. Nmoa envisions these unexpected moments, made possible by The latest technology, as a new model to connect visitors with The past, present, and future. Visitor evaluation will begin in 2024 in order for The Museum to see how visitors are responding to The overall installation and individual elements, as well as providing standardized metrics for evaluating successes and what can be improved or built upon. Harriet tubman squarethe Museum worked closely with The city of Newark and audible on The creation of The harriet tubman monument, which debuted on march 20, 2023. The learning & engagement team supported this collaborative project by 1) working with The architect to make The community tiles that were incorporated in The monument; 2) collaborating with historians and city representatives to develop interpretive content and signage, 3) organizing three community days to celebrate The life of harriet tubman, and 4) developed a curriculum guide for Newark schools about The monument and relevant work in The Museum collection. Animal kingdomfrom september 23, 2022, through 2025, animal kingdom, an exploration of ecology and nature, through animal specimens, artworks, and digital experience offers visitors of all ages a unique opportunity to stimulate their creativity with an introduction to Art as a medium for play, participation, and learning. The long-term installation invites viewers to engage with its interactive features and immersive spaces, serving as a reminder that The earth is home to an astounding variety of life. Animal kingdom completes The reimagining of The Museum's entire third floor for The first time since 2002, under The umbrella of Art + science + tech, with The intention of offering a variety of memorable, participatory experiences to families and adult audiences in this region and beyond. Other interactive elements include an animal-matching game with ancient cave drawings, digital recreation of three ecosystems and The endangered and extinct species that once called them home, taken from audubon's birds of america. A highlight of The exhibition is sketch aquarium: connected world, an interactive digital installation created by teamlab, an international Art collective and interdisciplinary group whose collaborative practice seeks to navigate The confluence of Art, science, technology, and The natural world. In this installation, visitors can draw their own sea creatures to join an underwater habitat where animals come to life and swim in a virtual aquarium.staff updatesin january of 2023, The Museum created The position of assistant curator, latinx & latin american Art. Elena munoz-rodriguez, who had been a curatorial assistant at The Museum since november of 2019, was promoted to fill this role, The first of its kind at nmoa. With this position, there is new research and interpretation of The existing american Art collection with a latinx focus underway. Additionally, The american Art collection is being expanded through strategic latinx & latin american Art acquisitions. The impact of this area of focus is already seen in The american Art galleries: "The spanish caribbean body" is a new gallery in seeing america: 20th-21st century. This gallery features artists with connections to cuba, The dominican republic, and puerto rico who use The body as a lens to address race, gender, migration, and The caribbean's relationship with The u.s, as well as recent acquisitions by emerging latinx artists such as raelis vasquez.global contemporary: adama delphine fawunduthe museums global contemporary program is a year-long installation showcasing new work by living artists in dialogue with The Museum's collections. For The fourth iteration of this series, nmoa invited artist adama delphine fawundu for her first one-person Museum show and related programming. Born in brooklyn, ny, to parents from sierra leone and equatorial guinea, fawundu is an associate professor of visual arts at columbia university and co-founder of mfon: women photographers of The african diaspora. Fawundu's photo-based work focuses on themes of decolonization, memory, and intersecting histories. Adama delphine fawundu: in The spirit of ase presented new artworks created by adama delphine fawundu utilizing The Museum's far-reaching arts of global africa collection as a touchstone for her artistic explorations. Fawundu approached The collection as a repository of insightful and interconnected energies rather than african objects. For The artist, everything is intertwined and alive with "performative power" known as ase - The vital force The yoruba recognize as The source of all existence, including Art and artists.

Education and public program:from a child's first encounter with a Museum through to high school graduation and beyond, The Newark Museum of Art centers The learner in all its school and family programs. Hands-on experiences support The educational, social, and cultural needs of its audience, providing innovative and engaging school and family programming for visitors of all ages to take part in lifelong learning. These programs are designed to attract diverse audiences and to address The specific needs of local, statewide, and even national communities. Nmoa offers onsite, in-person experiences for children, families and adults while continuing to offer virtual field trips and online learning opportunities for schools and families that they would otherwise be unable to experience.the Museum's learning & engagement team continues to be a cultural anchor and advocate for arts partners of all sizes, working with over 80 local organizations in 2023. Nmoa works with newark-based visual and performing artists, both established and under-recognized, to draw inspiration from The collection and The community to enliven The diverse cultural traditions and histories of The greater Newark area through events such as community days, Art after dark, classes and workshops, and school residencies. These efforts are supported by The Museum's community advisory committee, which comprises leaders from cultural, social, and educational sectors in Newark and essex county, who bring added value and important voices to nmoa's exhibitions and public programs.curriculum-aligned programming for k-12th students and teachersthe Museum served 34,476 new jersey students in grades pre-k through 12 through its extensive offerings of in person and virtual school programs. These programs, which utilize an interdisciplinary, arts integration approach to learning, range from single-visit programs to multi-session, in-depth residencies that provide sequential learning. All The Museum's school programs align with new jersey state curriculum content standards for Art, social studies, and science, and enrich student learning by drawing upon The Museum's Art and science collections. The Museum works closely with school districts, especially The Newark public school district, to develop and present programs that meet The needs of new jersey's students. Creative play, an early childhood education program for familiescreative play weekend programs for early childhood audiences and their families continued to serve The youngest of learners through in-person and virtual formats. In these weekly sessions, 778 children ages 3-5, and their caregivers explored The Museum's Art and science collections through storytelling, song, playful activities, and an art-making project. A selection of 2022 and 2023 sessions include seed magic, splish splash, color mania, sun prints, etc.family drop-ins & science drop-insfamily drop-in in The court and science drop-ins programs engaged youth and families during The year, for a total of over 5,249 participants. Projects made use of household materials to design, build and test as children explored their creativity and learned new techniques and concepts in Art, science and technology. Programs included sessions for youth ages 5-10+ exploring enjoy movement, artmaking, science experiments and storytelling sessions. Camp nmoain 2023, camp nmoa ran for six weeks from july 10-august 18, 2023. A total of 1,407 newark-area children between The ages of 3 and 13 participated in a variety of educational activities that explored The Museum's Art and science collections. Camp activities included: Art making; hands-on workshops in The makerspace; science labs; outdoor activities; and a weekly showcase including dance, theater and spoken word performances by campers. Explorers programthe Newark Museum of Art (nmoa) explorers program, a college, career, and life readiness program, enables newark-area high school students to build essential skills and self-confidence through a curriculum that draws upon The Museum's unique collections, resources, and staff. Over The past year, The explorers program fulfilled its commitment to its 50 students through virtual and in-person workshops, visits, and trainings, culminating with The explorers graduation and nmoa Art ball.in july 2023, The explorers kicked off The 2023-2024-year. This community of students met weekly either as a group or individually with Museum staff for up to 15 hours a week of paid work study in july and august, and up to 7-10 hours per week of independent research and paid work study during The school year. Starting from october 2023, explorers were back in person at The Museum and also took part and staffed newly returned onsite community days, public programs, and fundraising events like The annual Art ball. Each student dedicated around 50 hours of public program work over The year. Explorers also participated in workshops that responded to adama delphine fawundu: in The spirit of ase. In this way, their perspective as teens and museumgoers helped to inform and enhance The Museum's programming and outreach. Beginning in The fall, each explorer spent approximately 40 hours participating in workshop sessions on a variety of topics. These classes ranged in focus from museum-specific training on how to look at and interpret Art to real-world instruction on effective communication and career building skills. Museum staff and nmoa partners worked with The explorers on: -Art and Museum workshops: freshman though senior explorers took part in art-interpretation and presentation workshops with Museum staff which covered topics on visual thinking strategies (vts) to engage art-viewers of all ages, tour writing and program development trainings which were used to inspire explorer-led tours and explorer-designed public programs, and artist perspective and identity courses to discuss and understand multivalent perspectives. In addition, The explorers participated in 6 visits to science & Art institutions to broaden their understanding of Art and science education. These institutions included american Museum of natural history, The metropolitan Museum of Art, franklin institute, adventure aquarium, and The brooklyn museum.-career readiness workshops: explorers honed their professional skills by taking workshops and completing trainings in time management and professional work etiquette to prepare them for their future careers, as well as job application training and assistance with mock interviews and resume building courses to assist them in procuring part time work as high school and college students, and to give them a leg up for joining The workforce upon graduation. -life skill workshops: in order to complement The explorers trainings on educational and professional skills, they also took part in life skills workshops. Public speaking and team building classes allowed The explorers to develop their confidence and eloquence, while financial literacy, budgeting, credit and loan and investing classes gave The explorers a jump start in preparing for life as independent adults. Explorers attended sat training as appropriate for their grade level. Museum staff partnered with certified trainers from The princeton review to provide group training sessions on testing and study techniques. In addition, explorers took 18 hours of instruction and 8-10 hours of practice tests. They also had unlimited access to online tools and materials from The princeton review for a full 12-month period. As a result, this year The explorers reported a substantial increase in scores of 200-300 points on average. Long-term, longitudinal tracking is done for The Museum's explorers program, which follows where students go to college, their choice of majors, whether they graduated and what degrees they were awarded, and what career path they chose. Evaluation and impactthe nmoa's public and school programs impacted its community needs in numerous ways. In 2023 The Museum witnessed an increase of attendance to both public and school programs. In 2023, public programs engaged over 46,000 visitors. Public program surveys responses in 2023 indicated a significant increase of 5% in diversity amongst our attendees, who were also significantly younger (75% under 45 and of that number 45% were under 18) compared to The previous year. Satisfaction with public programs remains high at 4.74 out of 5 in 2023. Public program participants benefitted from program attendance in many ways. 77% had a fun and enjoyable experience, 61% felt welcome, 59% spent quality time with friends or family, 49% felt a sense of connection with The community, 69% learnt something new, and 47% felt relaxed and increased their sense of well-being.

Registrar and curatorial:the Newark Museum of Art's vast and diverse collections of more than 300,000 objects, ranks, in terms of its holdings, among The top 12 museums nationally.the Museum's collection comprises artwork in The departments of american Art, arts of The americas, arts of The ancient mediterranean, arts of global africa, arts of global asia, decorative arts, numismatics, and a natural science collection. The Museum is also The home of The historic ballantine house.