This is not an end, it’s a beginning
Dear Artworks Community,
This is not an end, it’s a beginning. A hello, not a goodbye. Next week, M’kina Tapscott will step into the role of Executive Director of Artworks, and I will step down. M’kina is a dynamic, creative, and dedicated leader with experience in everything Artworks currently does. She joins an amazing Artworks team, Kenny, Lank, Addison, our great volunteers, as well as the incredible cohort of all of you, Trenton artists, community builders, creative businesses, dedicated citizens. I can’t wait to see what this team does to advance the wonderful place that is our city through inspired programming, collaborative work and building community health and pride through the arts.
Don’t be shy. Now more than ever is the time to show up, introduce yourselves, bring your kids, make some art, make a difference. M’kina, Kenny, Lank and Addison are waiting to hear from you, and looking forward to seeing you at our expanding series of workshops, classes, exhibits, public art projects, and events. It has been a difficult few years we all know, but the door to Artworks is still open for one and all.
In my years as Artworks Executive Director, I have had to navigate some difficult, even terrible circumstances, for Artworks and for Trenton. What remains with me though, is the good, the beautiful, the sometimes smaller acts of kindness and positive change and sometimes larger ones. The child’s pride who for the first time ever exhibits their newly-made art at a pop-up class exhibit, the teen who sees a whole universe of self-expression opened up through a lens or a brush, those who walk the streets of the city and see art which speaks to them, reflects their rich experience back at them, exhibits that send talented artists on their way, and bring the wealth and diversity of Trenton’s people to our gallery walls.
Despite the adversity, I am optimistic, for Artworks, for Trenton, for our important place in New Jersey and the world. I can’t shake the wonderful sense of beauty, resilience and tenacity within all of you. I am humbled by the community support, the endurance in the face of naysayers, the will to positive change overriding all. Sorry to crib from you Dolores Huerta and Barack Obama, but Sí se puede Trenton, Yes we can Trenton. Not only is the potential here, but the change is already in our midst, even if we don’t recognize it yet.
There will be changes at Artworks, and change is good. One important change in the coming year will be that Art All Night – Trenton will take a sabbatical in 2022. After the tragedy of 2018, Art All Night Director Joseph Kuzemka and I, along with the whole Art All Night team, brought back Art All Night in 2019, thanks to the incredible support and encouragement of all of you. Then came COVID, and the need in 2020 and 2021 to take Art All Night into the virtual realm, which we succeeded in doing too. With continuing uncertainty on many fronts, and after deep reflection, Joe, myself and the Artworks Board of Trustees made the difficult decision to not go forward with an Art All Night event in 2022. But, as I said at the outset here, this is not an end, it’s a beginning. Barely a week goes by when I don’t encounter someone who tells me Art All Night is their favorite event of all. Not just Trenton event, but event period. So for all the lovers of Art All Night, it’s ethos of inclusiveness and creative free expression, its diversity and energy, it’s ongoing importance for the region, please join Artworks in rethinking Art All Night in the coming year, so Artworks and Trenton can plan to bring this signature event for the city back in 2023, rethought, rebuilt, retaining the best of what Art All Night is.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for this wonderful chapter of my life. Like you, I am eager to see what the future holds, for Artworks, for Trenton. I will be helping my successor and Artworks in any way I can or they need. And maybe I have a few other things I’m eager to embark on. Stay tuned.
Lauren Otis
(Soon-to-be former) Executive Director