Get ready New Jersey! The Newark Museum, the state’s largest museum, will celebrate its 100-hour Centennial Celebration Marathon, a multi-cultural extravaganza offered, round-the-clock, from 10:30 a.m. on April 22 until 6 p.m. on April 26. Almost all of the 100 hours of special programs are absolutely FREE!
According to Museum Director Mary Sue Price, the Marathon is designed to involve all aspects of the institution’s art, science and education mission. “Just think about it: 100 hours of continuous education and entertainment in downtown Newark,” Price said. “Suburban and city families, college students, children and individuals who work in the City, and arts groups from throughout the state will be crossing paths for a once-in-alifetime experience – celebration of the Newark Museum’s 100th anniversary.”
Everyone is invited to the grand opening ceremonies Wednesday, April 22 at 10:30 a.m., when Director Price will be joined by special guests including Mayor Cory Booker to start the electronic clock that will count down the hours of the marathon. The Malcolm X. Shabazz High School Band and the Newark Boys Choir will perform. The program also includes presentations by artists. Visitors will be able to sign the world’s largest Museum Centennial birthday card!
You can be part of the studio audience as WOR Radio host Joan Hamburg will broadcast her daily talk show live from the Newark Museum during the opening ceremonies from 11am-1pm. Later that evening Lite –FM’s morning personality Karen Carson stops by for the opening of Skies Alive exhibit on Wednesday night, while WCBS-FM’s Bob Shannon will join the birthday festivities on Sunday. The museum is the place to be for 100 hours.
The imaginative programs planned for the Centennial Celebration include demonstrations and workshops in art forms from quilting and pottery; armchair talks with members of the Museum’s distinguished curatorial staff and other scholars; dance lessons and then the opportunity to use what you’ve learned at Motown, Salsa and Swing dance parties; a 100 Amazing Object treasure hunt through the Museum’s 80 galleries from the permanent collection; exciting planetarium experiences, and multicultural, multi-ethnic performing arts presentations by professional musicians and dancers.
The 100-hour marathon also includes plenty of intervals for socializing and networking and complimentary signature drinks. During the “wee-hours,” there will be opportunities to visit with night creatures at the Mini Zoo; go on a flashlight tour of the historic Ballantine House or watch several independent movies presented by the Newark Black Film Festival. Early morning activities include birding, sunrise yoga, Tai-Chi instruction and meditation to the chanting of Tibetan Monks.
On Saturday, April 25, the Museum’s Science Department will again present Dinosaur Day, one of its most popular family experiences, a multi-faceted full-day program of hands-on activities and demonstrations in the geosciences including an exhibit of lifesize dinosaur fossils and a fossil and mineral dig. That evening, children will be invited by reservation only, to a sleepover in the Museum.
A community birthday party will conclude the 100-hour marathon on Sunday, April 26, complete with a birthday cake, special musical performances by Dr. K’s Motown Revue, and dancing in the garden.
The Newark Museum was founded in April, 1909, by John Cotton Dana, Director of the Newark Library. A national revolutionizing influence on both librarianship and museums, Dana’s intense interest in contemporary American art, at a time when other museums were concentrating on European masters, resulted in an important core collection of 19th and early 20th century works. That interest is reflected today in the Museum’s Collection of American art, considered one of the finest in the country. The initial art exhibition for the Centennial, Unbounded: New Art for a New Century, opened in February and will run through August 16.
The exhibition highlights the Newark Museum’s expansive and global approach to contemporary art by creating unexpected connections or groupings that transcend traditional divisions based on geography, genre or media. All the works are from the Museum’s permanent collection. The first of a series of site-specific, single-artist Centennial commissions, Insecta Fantasia has been installed in the historic Ballantine House and has received critical praise. The installation will remain on view through June 14. -- www.newarkmuseum.org
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