December 2, 2020

Princeton Symphony Orchestra Streams Free Holiday Concert

POPS IN PALMER SQUARE: As part of the Princeton Symphony Orchestra’s holiday season, presented virtually on weekends in December, the orchestra’s brass ensemble, shown here in Palmer Square, will play Leroy Anderson’s “Sleigh Ride.”

The Princeton Symphony Orchestra (PSO) will present multiple free weekend broadcasts December 5-20 of its family-friendly Holiday POPS! concert. The event features holiday favorites performed by pianists Christina and Michelle Naughton, dancers of the American Repertory Ballet, and PSO musicians led by Edward T. Cone Music Director Rossen Milanov. As in previous years, members of the Princeton High School Choir, under the direction of Vincent Metallo, will lead the annual carol sing-along.

“We are thrilled to present this exceptional holiday showcase featuring top artists and local arts partners as an uplifting gift of thanks to all for continuing to support the arts in our community this season,” said PSO Executive Director Marc Uys.

The program includes selections from Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker performed by Christina and Michelle Naughton, arrangements of holiday favorites played by the PSO woodwind quintet, and Leroy Anderson’s Sleigh Ride recorded by the PSO brass ensemble in Princeton’s Palmer Square. The Princeton High School Choir performs Eric Whitacre’s “Sing Gently,” and a piano trio including PSO concertmaster Basia Danilow accompanies American Repertory Ballet dancers Nanako Yamamoto and Jonathan Montepara, as they perform The Nutcracker’s Grand Pas De Deux. more

Celebrating “Revelations”

From December 2-31, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater will present a free holiday virtual season of performances, including a celebration of six decades of the choreographer’s “Revelations,” which the dancers are pictured performing at Wave Hill Public Garden and Cultural Center. The month-long run will also feature world premieres by Matthew Rushing, Yusha-Marie Sorzano, and Jamar Roberts. Special family programs, a series of “BattleTalk” conversations with artistic director Robert Battle, and a farewell tribute performance by longtime company members Glenn Allen Sims and Linda Celeste Sims, are planned. Visit alvinailey.org/virtualseason for information. (Photo by Nicole Tintle)

Artists’ Gallery to Host “A Clear Light” Exhibit

“A CLEAR LIGHT”: “Walkway in Fall” by Claudia Fouse Fountaine, above, and “Open House” by Gail Bracegirdle, below, will be featured in a dual exhibition of their paintings, running January 7 to 31 at the Artists’ Gallery in Lambertville.

The Artists’ Gallery of Lambertville will be showing work by Gail Bracegirdle and Claudia Fouse Fountaine from January 7 to 31 in the exhibition “A Clear Light.”

Bracegirdle said she enjoys working in watercolors because of the environmentally sensitive nature of the medium. She likes to experiment with various textures and types of watercolor papers and pigments to create specific effects. The subjects vary, depending on each day’s distractions.  

Fouse Fountaine is an award-winning Bucks County artist known for her colorful depictions of animals, interiors, and local landscapes. This show features all new work from her, done during the pandemic. Smaller in scale than usual, these paintings reflect a somewhat distilled vision, or a “clearer light.”

The Artists’ Gallery is located at 18 Bridge Street in Lambertville. Gallery hours are Thursday through
Sunday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, there will be no opening reception.

For more information, call (609) 397-4588 or visit lambertvillearts.com.

ACP Presents “2020 Member Exhibition”

“2020 MEMBER EXHIBITION”: More than 115 pieces created by members of the Arts Council of Princeton are now on view in the Taplin Gallery at 102 Witherspoon Street, through December 19.

Each year, the Arts Council of Princeton (ACP) welcomes its community of member artists to submit work to its annual “Member Exhibition.” This year, the Taplin Gallery is filled with the most art ever submitted in the history of this tradition: more than 115 pieces created by ACP’s members are currently on view for the community to enjoy, including drawing, painting, photography, sculpture, textile art, and more.

The ACP also invites the community to join Adam Welch, executive director, and Maria Evans, artistic director, for a Virtual Opening Reception and gallery tour on Tuesday, December 8 at 7 p.m.

The “2020 Member Exhibit” runs through December 19.

For more information, visit artscouncilofprinceton.org.

Homestead Princeton, Offering Furniture and Gifts, is an Independently-Owned Family Business

SHOPPING SPECIALTIES : “We wanted to expand the space, and we want to be a destination place, where customers can come to find a great selection of furniture, including our signature barnwood tables, as well as a variety of gifts of all kinds.” Kristin and Ron Menapace, owners of Homestead Princeton, are delighted to offer customers an intriguing selection of holiday shopping opportunities.

By Jean Stratton

As the song says, “We need a little Christmas…,” and perhaps now more than ever during this year of our discontent.

And indeed, Christmas has come to Homestead Princeton at 300 Witherspoon Street.

Decorated trees, holiday displays, Santas and snowmen, angels and elves, fragrant candles and musical snow globes — and more — all capture the season at this very inviting store.

“I think people are starting to decorate earlier this year,” says co-owner Kristin Menapace. “They want their house to be special and festive, especially now with the virus.” more

Delaying her Junior Season for PU Field Hockey, Donovan Gained Lessons in Coaching Role at PDS

TAKING OFF: Claire Donovan gets ready to hit the ball in a 2019 game during her sophomore season for the Princeton University field hockey team. Deciding to take the year off from school and defer her junior year at Princeton, Donovan has served as an assistant coach for the Princeton Day School field hockey team and taken on a side gig as a delivery driver for DoorDash. (Photo provided by Princeton’s Office of Athletic Communications)

By Bill Alden

This fall, Claire Donovan got an early taste of life outside the Princeton University bubble and the family feeling surrounding the Tiger field hockey program.

Deciding to take the year off from school and defer her junior year at Princeton, Donovan, a back/midfielder for the Tigers, has served as an assistant coach for the Princeton Day School field hockey team and taken on a side gig as a delivery driver for DoorDash.

“In the beginning it was difficult, I was not ready to be thrown into the real world,” said Donovan, one of six Tiger field hockey players who decided to not enroll in school for the 2020-21 session.

“I am definitely learning a lot of lessons, it is a good little tease into the real world.”

Donavan’s decision to delay her junior year at Princeton came down to academics as much as athletics.

“Towards the end of the summer, we started realizing that field hockey wasn’t looking too good,” said Donovan.

“The spring online classes were not great, I was not a fan of them. Once I realized that we might be having Zoom classes again in the fall, my family thought that it might not be worth it to pay tuition to do online classes. That played a large part in my decision.” more

PU Men’s Hoops Fell in 2019 Battle with ASU’s Martin But Got on Right Track in Path to Ivy League Tourney

RAISING ARIZONA: Princeton University men’s basketball player Richmond Aririguzoh, right, battles in the paint against Lafayette in a 72-65 loss to the Leopards on November 13, 2019. Two weeks later, Aririguzoh grabbed a career-high 18 rebounds as the Tigers fell 67-65 to Arizona State. While the defeat left the Tigers at 0-5, they built on their performance that night to go 10-4 in their next 14 games on the way to a 14-13 campaign and a spot in the Ivy League postseason tournament. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

Remy Martin is a fine French cognac, known worldwide for its smoothness.

But two nights before last Thanksgiving, another Remy Martin, the star guard for the Arizona State University men’s basketball team, produced a vintage performance at Jadwin Gym as the Sun Devils battled Princeton.

The 6’0, 175-pound Martin put on a dazzling display in the November 26 contest, electrifying a Jadwin throng of 2,727 that included Hall of Fame coach Bob Hurley Sr., the father of Bobby Hurley, the ASU head coach.

Slashing to the basket, draining pull-up jumpers, and hitting from long distance, Martin poured in 33 points, including a 23-point outburst in the second half.

Despite Martin’s heroics, Princeton, which brought a 0-4 record into the evening, was undeterred. With senior center Richmond Aririguzoh dominating in the paint with 16 points and a career-high 18 rebounds, the Tigers overcame a 46-39 second half deficit to lead 60-54 with 6:19 remaining in regulation. more

PHS Football Loses to Haddon to Finish 1-5 But Enjoyed Successful Fall Despite Record

HOLY MOSES: Princeton High running back/linebacker Moses Santizo looks for an opening in recent action. Senior co-captain Santizo provided leadership and production as PHS went 1-5. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Bill Alden

Although the Princeton High football team lost 30-6 at Haddon Township in its season finale on November 21, Charlie Gallagher saw reasons to be encouraged.

“The effort was like it has been in every other game, it was outstanding,” said PHS head coach Gallagher, whose team’s lone score in the finale came on a touchdown pass from junior quarterback Jaxon Petrone to classmate Jaiden Johnson as the Tigers finished the fall with a 1-5 record.

“We played a few new guys because we had some guys banged up. We were able to get a good look at some of our younger guys and they just did an outstanding job. These are good program guys who have been at practice every single day on time. When you do that, you deserve a hand in the pot, so to speak. This was a great opportunity.”

Junior running back Lahehmoo Pwee took advantage of his opportunity to play against Haddon, rushing for 55 yards.

“Lahehmoo played halfback for us and did an outstanding job,” said Gallagher.

“When he turned in his equipment, I told him how proud I was of him. We were a little nervous about Lehehmoo, he played the first game and things didn’t go well. He thinks he could have played a better game and we all do. He has grown so much over the past several weeks. In the back of my mind on the bus ride down, it is like this is his audition. Do I leave this game saying do we need a tailback or did Lehehmoo step up and he surely did. He did an outstanding job.”

In Gallagher’s view, the team grew as it persevered through the ups and downs of the season. more

PDS Girls’ Soccer Displayed Championship Form, Producing 10-Game Winning Streak in Going 10-1

BRINGING HER A-GAME: Princeton Day School girls’ soccer player Adriana Salzano controls the ball in a game this fall. Freshman Salzano made an immediate impact in her debut campaign for PDS, tallying nine goals and six assists. The Panthers ended the season in a 10-game winning streak, posting a final record of 10-1. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Bill Alden

While the Princeton Day School girls’ soccer team didn’t get to play for any titles this fall with the state Prep B and Mercer County tournaments canceled due to COVID-19 concerns, the squad displayed championship form.

After dropping its season opener 3-2 to Monroe on October 1, PDS reeled off 10 straight victories to post a final record of 10-1.

The highlight of that winning streak came on November 7 when the Panthers played at defending state Group 4 champion and powerhouse Hunterdon Central on short notice and pulled  out a thrilling 2-1 triumph.

With a matchup against local rival Pennington having been canceled due to COVID protocols, PDS was looking for a challenge.

“We wanted to find a top-20 team, we found Bridgewater-Raritan, I think they were No. 19 at the time so we were all set to play Bridgewater on Saturday,” said PDS head coach Pat Trombetta.

“Then we get a call Thursday night saying that they are going under quarantine for a second time. On Friday morning, Hunterdon Central reaches out and says how about a game. They gave me 24 hours’ notice and, by the way, it is at their place.”

With no time to waste, Trombetta put together a game plan overnight. more

November 25, 2020

Holidays at Morven

HOLIDAYS AT MORVEN: Morven Museum & Garden on Stockton Street now presents its annual Festival of Trees, a juried collection of trees and mantels displayed throughout the museum’s galleries, on view through January 10. Visit morven.org for timed admission tickets. (Photo by Weronika A. Plohn)

Affordable Housing Plan Receives Judgement of Compliance

By Anne Levin

A ruling in New Jersey Superior Court last week completed the final step in the realization of Princeton’s affordable housing plan. On Thursday, November 19, Judge Mary Jacobson issued a Judgement of Compliance and Repose, meaning the municipality has met several conditions in order to fully comply with its affordable housing obligation.

The compliance hearing culminated a process that began in July 2015, after COAH (the Council on Affordable Housing) failed to formulate rules for the third round of municipal housing obligations, which are for the years 1999 to 2025. “This officially brings to conclusion the court’s part of the affordable housing process,” said Mayor Liz Lempert. “It’s a significant milestone.”

Last February, Jacobson approved the town’s settlement agreement with Fair Share Housing Center, ending almost five years of litigation. But certain compliance requirements had to be met. Council members Mia Sacks, David Cohen, and Michelle Pirone Lambros formed a negotiating team that met with property owners, developers, objectors, residents, and others to address various ideas and concerns. They were able to meet several compliance requirements involving zoning changes, agreements, updates, a spending plan, and other actions.

“This is a really complex process,” said Sacks. “We have literally been working around the clock for months now. Everything has to go through the Planning Board and Council. There is so much work in setting up the legal and financial framework. Our submission to the court was more than 2,000 pages.”

“In the end, Princeton was able to formulate, and actually begin to implement, an innovative plan to meet and exceed Princeton’s affordable housing obligation,” reads a press release from the negotiating team. “The plan incorporates a mix of product types dispersed throughout the municipality, and achieves critical planning goals set forth in the municipal master plan. The plan offers a carefully balanced mix of inclusionary developments, 100 percent affordable housing development, senior units, family units, as well fully mixed income projects.” more

No Longer in Infancy, Coronavirus Creates Increasing Challenges

By Donald Gilpin

Princeton COVID-19 case numbers reached a new high Monday, November 23, with a seven-day total of 36 new cases, the Princeton Health Department reported. The 14-day total of 54 new cases is just slightly less than the highest 14-day count in Princeton since the pandemic began in March.

Princeton Health Officer Jeff Grosser noted the current resurgence in cases that resembles the situation six or seven months ago, but noted several differences.  “In the first wave, we saw long-term care centers contributing to the majority of cases, not only in Princeton but throughout New Jersey,” he wrote in an email. “Many non-essential businesses were closed, youth and professional sports were canceled or suspended, and schools were primarily remote. And from our vantage point at the health department, there was more concern over the virus because of its infancy.”

He continued, “What we have now is a combination of that infancy maturing and some communities not adhering to strict physical distancing and mask guidance, and of course, essential and non-essential businesses are open. Also youth sports and professional sports are once again operating, and schools are in-person (or at least working through in-person instruction while adhering to NJDOH COVID criteria).”

The load on contact tracers has been intense, according to health department reports, because of the numbers of infections and the multiple contacts of each. As of Monday’s report, there was a total of 337 cases over the past nine months with 280 recovered after completing isolation. More than 1,600 individuals have been contact traced by the Princeton Health Department.  more

Princeton University Undergrads Will Return to Campus in February

By Donald Gilpin

Princeton University has invited all its students back to campus for the spring semester beginning in February. Between 3,000 and 4,000 students, about 75 percent of the undergraduate population, are expected to accept the invitation, with the others choosing to continue remote learning for the remainder of the 2020-21 school year.

In an announcement yesterday, Tuesday, November 24, Princeton University President Christopher L. Eisgruber emphasized that the Princeton campus in February will be far different than it was a year ago before the COVID-19 pandemic and the imposition of restrictions and public health measures. The creation of an on-campus testing laboratory and a rigorous testing protocol are also important parts of the University’s plan.

Most teaching will be virtual and online, Eisgruber added. Some classes may be offered in a hybrid format, but no courses are expected to be purely in-person.

Noting the need to serve both the educational interests of the students and public health issues, Eisgruber emphasized that numerous health procedures would be in place and that the University would be “fully in compliance” with state protocols and guidance from local health officials.

Masking and social distancing requirements will apply throughout the campus. All students living on campus or in the Princeton area will be required to participate in the University’s coronavirus testing program. Parties and most other social gatherings will be prohibited. Students will be prohibited from hosting visitors and will be restricted from traveling. All returning students will be required to quarantine upon arrival on campus. Students will be housed in single bedrooms, one-to-a bedroom. High infection rates may require all or part of the campus to be locked down for extended periods. more

“Sundays at the Sarnoff” Zoom Event Talks about Toscanini

MUSIC HISTORY: Arturo Toscanini with the NBC Symphony Orchestra, which he led from 1937 until 1954. The orchestra was the idea of David Sarnoff, president of RCA.

By Anne Levin

The great conductor Arturo Toscanini had resigned from the New York Philharmonic and retired to his native Italy when RCA president David Sarnoff proposed creating a symphony orchestra, led by Toscanini, for radio concerts. The maestro was initially uninterested in the proposal, but Sarnoff prevailed, and the NBC Symphony Orchestra debuted, with Toscanini on the podium, on Christmas Day, 1937.

The relationship of Toscanini and Sarnoff, and the 17-year history of the orchestra, are the focus of a “Sundays at the Sarnoff” Zoom event being presented Sunday, November 29 at 1:30 p.m. by the Sarnoff Collection at The College of New Jersey (TCNJ). The talk will trace the history of Toscanini’s time with the orchestra, relaying anecdotes and showing some of the collection’s artifacts and photographs.

“Toscanini and David Sarnoff were friends,” said Florencia Pierri, curator of the collection. “They sent each other gifts over the years, some of which are very strange. I love that we have Toscanini’s house keys. We have a conductor’s baton that he used, some of his records, and photographs, autographed portraits, and coins. We did a pop-up exhibit a while ago which told the story of how he was convinced by Sarnoff to come out of retirement to lead the orchestra, as well as how his career transitioned from radio to television. We played some of his old records. We won’t be able to play them this time around. This talk is just a fun little music history lesson.” more

Public Meeting to Address Future of Quarry Site

PLANNING A TRANSFORMATION: The Moores Station Quarry off Route 29 in Hopewell Township is ceasing operations and will eventually be turned into a park. The public can comment on how a master plan should be developed at an open meeting early next month.

By Anne Levin

In spring of 2023, Moores Station Quarry off Route 29 in Hopewell Township will cease operations after more than a century. The site, which is more than 200 feet deep and 2,000 feet across, has been designated for transformation into a park.

Just how that park should be created is the subject of a public meeting being held via Zoom on Wednesday, December 2 at 7 p.m. Additional meetings will be held in February, May, and October, 2021.

“This will probably be the most exciting project we’ve ever undertaken,” said Aaron Watson, executive director of the Mercer County Park Commission. “We want to figure out how to do it right, which is why we’re having a master plan. We want to hear public input.”

Back in the 1800s, materials from the quarry were moved by barge on the Delaware and Raritan Canal, and then later, via railroad. Today, trucks transport materials from the Titusville site. A 25-year agreement with Trap Rock Industries, which has been operating the quarry, will expire in 2023. At that point, the Park Commission will take possession and begin the multi-year process of turning the open-pit quarry into a park. Creating a master plan is the first step. A multi-disciplinary team of landscape architects, geologists, engineers, ecologists, wildlife biologists, architects, sustainability experts, and real estate market analysts have been put together to assist in the process.  more

Anna Leader, Pennington Teacher and Author: “Teaching Makes Me a Better Writer, and Writing Makes Me a Better Teacher”

By Donald Gilpin

Anna Leader

A live, masked, physically distanced audience was in attendance as the lights dimmed at the Grand Theatre de Luxembourg on the evening of October 2 for the debut performance  of Deliver Us, a play about the coronavirus specially commissioned by Luxembourg’s national theater.

The 24-year-old playwright, Anna Leader, was not present, however. She was in her dormitory apartment at The Pennington School in the midst of her first full semester of teaching English and French, and overseeing the young women boarders.

Born in the United States and raised in Luxembourg, Leader has been a writer since childhood, author of a number of award-winning poems, plays, and novels, and an aspiring teacher since her high school years.

Settling at Pennington this fall was Leader’s third move to New Jersey. She came to Princeton University from Luxembourg in 2014 and graduated in 2018. She then worked for a nonprofit in Washington, D.C., for a year before returning to Princeton to earn her New Jersey teacher certification through the University’s Teacher Preparation Program in January 2020, after which she went back to her job in D.C. She returned again to New Jersey in August this year to begin her teaching career at Pennington.

Leader realizes that her life in Luxembourg and the United States, and in the worlds of teaching and writing, offers many options as she contemplates her future.  more

The Translator’s Gambit: From Cavafy to Shakespeare

By Stuart Mitchner

In his landmark celebration of translation, John Keats not only heard Chapman’s Homer speak out “loud and bold,” he put a new planet into orbit, with its kingdoms, states, islands, realms of gold, and bards.

It was Richard Burton’s “loud and bold” translation of Hamlet’s speech to the players that finally put Shakespeare on the map for me. Burton didn’t change the words, he just re-energized them, brought them to life, up close and in person on the stage of the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre. Striding briskly back and forth, he commanded the house, still in fame’s floodlight after playing Antony on the screen with Elizabeth Taylor, the movie queen Cleopatra who came to pick him up after every performance, setting off a nightly fan-crazed mob scene on 46th Street.

Antony and Hamlet

Translation has been the theme of the moment ever since an English friend sent me his rendering of C.P. Cavafy’s poem “The God Abandons Antony.” Although I have no knowledge of Greek beyond what I picked up on the island of Mykonos, where Roger and I first met more than half a century ago, all it took to get into the game was a fondness for the poem and access to standard translations like the one by Princeton professor emeritus Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard. I was playing at translation, an unsupervised amateur enjoying the ebb and flow of poetry in motion, a fluid text “writ in water,” as Keats worded it in his death bed epitaph. more

Passage Theatre Presents an Online Reading of “Welcome to Matteson!”; Tensions Erupt at a Dinner for New Neighbors in Inda Craig-Galván’s Comedy

“WELCOME TO MATTESON!”: Passage Theatre presented, to ticketed viewers, an online reading of “Welcome to Matteson!” Written by Inda Craig-Galván (above), and directed by Andrew Binger, the dark comedy depicts the class tensions that erupt when a couple is forcibly relocated from a housing project to a more affluent suburb. (Photo by Julián Juaquín)

By Donald H. Sanborn III

Passage Theatre has presented a live online reading of Welcome to Matteson! Inda Craig-Galván’s poignant comedy portrays “a suburban couple that hosts a welcome-to-the-neighborhood dinner party for their new neighbors, a couple recently (forcibly) relocated from Chicago’s roughest housing project,” notes a press release, which adds that the dinner turns out to be “anything but welcoming.”

“The play, at heart, is about how we relate to each other, how we value things over people,” Craig-Galván says. “It’s taken on sort of a different feel, now that we are in our own bubbles, and our own seclusion.”

As with Passage’s presentation of the prerecorded Panther Hollow last month, the reading was treated as a theatrical event. The purchase of a ticket entitled audiences to watch the livestream via Zoom on November 21, or the recording on YouTube through November 25.

Craig-Galván is developing new works with theater companies such as Primary Stages and Company One. She has received awards such as the Jeffry Melnick New Playwright Award, Blue Ink Playwriting Prize, and Stage Raw Best Playwright Award. She is a writer on the CBS All Access series Happy Face, and previously was a writer for How to Get Away with Murder and The Rookie, both for ABC. The reading of Welcome to Matteson! is her first collaboration with Passage. more

New Jersey Symphony Presents World Premiere in Virtual Concert

By Nancy Plum

Since March, orchestras nationwide have been developing online concert series often presenting well-known works recorded either live or from archives. New Jersey Symphony Orchestra (NJSO), in its first online video concert broadcast of NJSO Virtual 20-21, marked this unusual year by performing a piece commissioned specifically to capture an unprecedented time period which certainly became more tumultuous during the course of the piece’s composition. 

NJSO commissioned Haitian-American composer Daniel Bernard Roumain to write a work which, in the words of the composer, was created “during a series of overlapping crises in our lives: a pandemic, a global fight for social justice, the effects and awareness of climate change, an array of economic collapses, and the tyranny of an electoral process under siege by a president and his party.”

NJSO Music Director Xian Zhang combined Roumain’s music with that of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, American composer Michael Abels, and symphonic titan Gustav Mahler to create a virtual experience blending musical nobility and joy, in a concert recorded at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in October and launched online last Thursday night.  more

Jim Brickman Virtual Tour Celebrates Holidays

YULETIDE ZOOM: Popular pianist Jim Brickman performs as part of a virtual tour presented by State Theatre NJ on Saturday, December 12.

State Theatre New Jersey presents Jim Brickman on Saturday, December 12 at 7 p.m. in the “Comfort and Joy at Home LIVE!” virtual tour. The event will include an interactive Zoom Room, meet and greets, and Christmas gifts delivered to your door. Brickman mixes holiday carols with his own hit songs such as, “The Gift,” “Sending You A Little Christmas,” “Angel Eyes,” and “If You Believe.”   

Brickman has earned 22 No. 1 albums and 33 Top 20 radio singles in Billboard Magazine. He has been nominated for two Grammy awards, has won gospel music’s Dove Award, two SESAC Songwriter of the Year Awards, and the Canadian Country Music Award. A music scholarship is named after him at his alma mater, the Cleveland Institute of Music. more

Virtual Groundbreaking Planned for State Theatre

GETTING RENOVATIONS UNDERWAY: Plans to update the State Theatre NJ in New Brunswick, as shown in this rendering, will improve safety, efficiency, accessibility, and more.

State Theatre New Jersey will hold a virtual groundbreaking event to celebrate the start of major renovations as part of the Next Stage Campaign on Wednesday, December 2 at 12 p.m. The event will be hosted on the State Theatre’s Facebook page at Facebook.com/StateTheatreNJ.

Speakers will include State Theatre’s President and CEO Sarah K. Chaplin and Board Chair Scott Fergang; Next Stage Campaign Co-Chairs Middlesex County Board of County Commissioners Director Ron Rios and New Brunswick Mayor Jim Cahill; and Next Stage Campaign Honorary Chair and musician, Michael Feinstein.     more

100 Years of Memories

As it nears its 100th birthday, State Theatre New Jersey is issuing an open call for members of the public to “Share Your Story.” Audiences such as this one at “Get the Led Out” have been attending performances at the New Brunswick theater since 1921. Those with anecdotes to relay can upload a written story, photo, and/or video to STNJ.org/Explore/Share-Your-Story. Patrons can also share memories on social media by using #STNJ100. Each month, leading up to the 100th anniversary in December 2021, State Theatre will select stories from the submissions to feature on its website and on social media channels. For more information, visit emailinfo@stnj.org.

Red Mill Museum Hosts Annual Festival of Trees

FESTIVAL OF TREES: The Red Mill Museum Village in Clinton kicks off its 11th annual festival, with an outdoor holiday market, on Friday, November 27. The display of trees will be on view through December 20.

Christmas trees designed and decorated by community members, local businesses, and organizations will be displayed on the grounds of the Red Mill Museum Village in Clinton at the 11th annual Festival of Trees.  more

FOPOS Kicks Off Photo Contest, OptOutside Event

“SNOWY DRIVEWAY”: Cindy Wang’s photo was the third place winner of last year’s Friends of Princeton Open Space Give Thanks to Nature Photo Contest.

On Friday, November 27, Friends of Princeton Open Space (FOPOS), a nonprofit devoted to preservation and stewardship of land in Princeton, invites the community to take walks and hikes enjoying fresh air and the beauty of nature in the Billy Johnson Mountain Lakes Nature Preserve and other areas preserved by Friends of Princeton Open Space.

Due to the current limitations for public gatherings, FOPOS is unable to host their annual OptOutside event at the Mountain Lakes House on Friday. Instead, they are encouraging the community to continue the tradition by opting to spend time outdoors. For trail maps and a family-friendly art activity, visit fopos.org.  more

HV Arts Council’s “ArtSpires” Up for Auction

“BACKYARD FARM”: This spire by Colleen Miller is one of 63 colorful sculptures from the “ArtSpires” community art project now being auctioned off to benefit the artists and the Hopewell Valley Arts Council. The auction closes on December 19 at 4 p.m. with a live online event at hvartscouncil.org.

As part of the Hopewell Valley Arts Council’s community art project and exhibition, “ArtSpires,” 63 colorful sculptures have popped up in 19 clusters this fall throughout Hopewell Valley. These unique pieces have been created by local artists and community members. Now, the spires will be auctioned off to the public to benefit the artists and the HV Arts Council from now to December 19, 2020.

To take part in the auction, and for full details and photos of these works, the public is invited to visit hvartscouncil.org/artspires. more