By Mabel Pais

“We’ve got to live in the real world. If we don’t like the world we’re living in, change it. And if we can’t change it, we change ourselves. We can do something.”     – Nikki Giovanni

Honor Women’s History Month by joining NJPAC’s in-person ‘Standing in Solidarity’ celebration of acclaimed poet Nikki Giovanni whose words have inspired the courage to dream for decades. She’s an icon, activist and Afrofuturist feminist who emerged from the Black Arts Movement of the ’60s and ’70s. She speaks her truth with humor and heart, and her themes can feel otherworldly and hopeful in spite of the harsh realities during which they were written. This event takes place on Wednesday, March 27 at 6 pm in the Chase Room at NJPAC.

NJPAC’s  PSEG True Diversity Film is ‘Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project,’ winner of the U.S. Grand Jury Prize for documentary in the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. The film tells Giovanni’s life story through her words including interviews, public appearances and candid interactions with family and friends. Making the film was a seven year project for directors and producers Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson.

Following the screening, Stephenson will be in conversation with Donna Walker-Kuhne, Senior Advisor of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at NJPAC. Also appearing is Amina Bey, Executive Director of Newark Emergency Services for Families, and Naomi Extra who will perform one of her original poems. This program is a co-production of Women@NJPAC and Dodge Poetry.

THE FILM

Winner of the Grand Jury Prize in the Sundance U.S. Documentary Competition, this beguiling documentary portrait follows poet and activist Nikki Giovanni as she approaches 80.

The film explores Giovanni’s Afrofuturist-feminist philosophical outlook as well as her poignant relationship with her family, her political audacity, and her poetic eloquence, all knit together with a constant eye and ear for its subject’s own aesthetic verve.

Looking back at a personal life and history cast in the long shadow of American racism, and forward to hopeful, possible futures, Giovanni acts as our guide and narrator, with refreshingly unorthodox filmmakers Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson refraining from traditional chronologies or talking-head conventions.

Going to Mars is fueled by constant intellectual engagement and radical imagination in the search for emotional and political fulfillment in a world of disenfranchisement. An HBO Documentary Films release.

PANELISTS

Donna Walker-Kuhne

Moderator

Donna Walker-Kuhne is the founder of Walker International Communications Group, a marketing, press, and audience development consulting agency. Her team specializes in multicultural marketing, group sales, multicultural press, and promotional events. 

Michèle Stephenson

film maker

Filmmaker, artist, and author, Michèle Stephenson, pulls from her Haitian and Panamanian roots to think radically about storytelling and disrupt the imaginary in non-fiction spaces. She tells emotionally driven personal stories of resistance and identity that center on the lived experiences of communities of color in the Americas and the Black diaspora.

Amina Bey

panelist

Amina Bey is a Newark resident who was born, raised, and educated in New Jersey’s largest city. She currently serves as the Executive Director of Newark Emergency Services for Families, Inc. (NESF), a non-profit organization in Newark, New Jersey that provides emergency assistance such as food, clothing, immediate shelter placement, rental assistance, utility assistance, and other support services for individuals and families in crisis throughout Essex County.

Dr. Naomi Extra

poet

Naomi Extra is a poet, writer, cartoonist and scholar who received a doctorate in American Studies from Rutgers University–Newark. Extra is the recipient of numerous fellowships and her work has been published in Boston Review, Zora, Glamour, Literary Hub, The Lily and The New Yorker.

RSVP

RSVP is required to attend this in-person event. RSVP at njpac.tfaforms.net/145?id=a2FUc00000028cbMAA

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WOMEN LEADERS IN ARTS & EDUCATION

By Mabel Pais

Join NJPAC for an engaging panel discussion as it celebrates and explores the crucial role of women leaders in the realms of arts and education. This event takes place on Wednesday, March 27 at 3:30 pm via Zoom.

The panelists — accomplished women from diverse backgrounds — will share their experiences, insights and strategies for advancing women’s leadership in K – 12 education and the arts. From fostering creativity in the classroom to breaking barriers in leadership positions, this discussion promises to inspire educators and administrators to champion gender equity and cultivate inclusive environments where all voices thrive.

Be a part of this dynamic conversation and join the panelists in shaping a brighter, more equitable future for our schools and communities.

MODERATOR

Marcia Wilson Brown

Marcia Wilson Brown: an alum of the Rutgers Newark law school, and upon graduation, clerked for New Jersey Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert Wilentz. Following her clerkship, Ms. Brown joined the law firm of Smith and Mullen, specializing in race, sex and age discrimination litigation, and later in her own practice in Newark. Brown has more than 40 years of engagement in community development advocacy and governmental relations focused on public policy, housing, education, and nonprofit leadership issues. Brown ran the Minority Student Program (MSP) at Rutgers Law School Newark where she helped to create pathways for the admission of underrepresented and underserved students.

Currently, Brown is a member of the Long Branch Planning Board and the Monmouth Medical Center Patient Advisory Board, and a former member of the Long Branch Cable Commission. She is also a mother, grandmother, and faith walker.

PANELISTS

Lynette Mawhinney

Lynnette Mawhinney: Chair of the Department of Urban Education and Professor of Urban Education at Rutgers University-Newark. She is also an affiliated faculty in the Africana Studies Department.

Simone Marean

Simone Marean: Co-Founder & Co-CEO of Girls Leadership, a national educational nonprofit that teaches girls to exercise the power of their voice. In Girls Leadership’s eleven years as a nonprofit, it has impacted over 300,000 girls, and is on track to reach one million girls by 2025.

Ashley Y. Lipscomb

Ashley Y. Lipscomb: Co-founder & CEO of the Institute for Anti-Racist Education, Inc. She has experience working with, motivating, and advocating for students and educators.

REGISTRATION

Registration IS required to participate. Professional development (PD) credit is also available on request.

COST – PAY WHAT YOU CAN

Any amount to defray the costs of participation and those unable to afford making a contribution, is requested.

(Mabel Pais writes on Social Issues, The Arts and Entertainment, Spirituality, Education, Cuisine, Health & Wellness, and Business)