New Jersey Performing Arts Center
New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC), located in downtown Newark, New Jersey, is the most diverse performing arts center in the country, and the anchor cultural institution for both the city of Newark and the state of New Jersey. It is an artistic, cultural, educational, and civic center where great performances and events enhance and transform lives every day.
New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC), located in downtown Newark, New Jersey, is the most diverse performing arts center in the country, and the anchor cultural institution for both the city of Newark and the state of New Jersey. It is an artistic, cultural, educational, and civic center where great performances and events enhance and transform lives every day. NJPAC brings communities together, providing access to all and showcasing the state’s and the world’s best artists, while acting as a leading catalyst in the revitalization of its home city. Through its extensive Arts Education programs, NJPAC is shaping the next generation of artists and arts enthusiasts. NJPAC Arts & Well-Being develops initiatives and programs that amplify the health benefits of the arts and measure the impact of the Arts Center on community health and well-being. NJPAC has attracted more than 12 million visitors (including more than two million children) since opening its doors in 1997. Visit njpac.org for more information.
Programs & Activities
OUR INITIATIVES
ARTS IN HEALTH RESEARCH LAB
The Arts in Health Research Lab is a collaborative, interdisciplinary Research Lab in partnership with Rutgers School of Public Health and Rutgers Mason Gross School of the Arts. It conducts innovative arts in health research in the state of New Jersey and is creating a research and evaluation framework to measure the impact of NJPAC programs.
What makes this unique:
This is the first-in-the-nation partnership between a school of public health, a school of the arts, and a performing arts center. With focuses on research, education, and community development, it will help build the next generation of arts in health researchers.
ARTS IN HEALTHCARE
NJPAC is bringing the arts into healthcare facilities throughout the RWJBarnabas Health System, piloting at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center. The arts programs enhance the healthcare environment for patients, staff and the community.
Programs include:
Artists in Residence: Our specially trained artists visit patients at the bedside to improve their experience and provide opportunities for joy and creative expression.
Culture Connects: Artists and performers bring vibrant and interactive programming to staff cultural celebrations.
Music in the Lobby: Local musicians perform regularly in hospital lobbies for patients, staff, visitors and the community.
ARTSRX
Through ArtsRx, our social prescribing program, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey members and Rutgers University Newark students receive referrals for six months of free arts prescriptions across the City of Newark. Participants are attending shows at NJPAC, classes at Glassroots, dancing at Newark Symphony Hall, knitting at the Newark Public Library (and more!) and improving their health and well-being through the arts.
What makes this unique:
ArtsRx is the first social prescribing program in the nation to include a health insurer as a primary partner.
Why this matters:
This program increases access to arts and culture, improves health equity and health outcomes, and promotes engaging with the arts for wellness.
HEALTH PROMOTION
We’re engaging with health partners to produce events and programs that use the arts to address local health priorities and increase access to health services and information. Our focus is on using the arts and creativity to address the state’s most pressing needs including mental health, social isolation, and maternal health.
Why this matters:
The arts offer a vehicle to create empathy, change minds and communicate health messaging to drive positive behavior change. As a trusted messenger and community partner, NJPAC can improve access to health and wellness information, promote a broader public understanding of the value of arts/culture, and increase access to the arts, which drives health equity.
TRAINING & EDUCATION
To date, there is no open-source resource available to artists for skill building, networking, benchmarking, and resource sharing. NJPAC and Rutgers Arts Online will fill this gap by developing affordable, accessible online education courses to enable evidence-based use of the arts for health promotion and wellness in communities nationwide.
Why this matters:
As a social prescribing model is implemented, demand for arts and cultural programming will increase rapidly in communities across the nation. In turn, artists and arts organizations will need resources to prepare to provide arts programming that is safe and effective in enhancing health and well-being.