What Artists Must Know

The headquarters are not exactly world-class—they’re in a former Marty’s shoe store in West Orange—but the concept may be.

Posted June 8, 2009 by Tammy La Gorce

Teacher/artists pose with young performers comprising the cast of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the Arts Incubator’s first troupe.

Photo courtesy of Arts Incubator.

Actress and entrepreneur Amy Simon hatched the idea for the New Jersey Arts Incubator at her West Orange kitchen table two years ago. The plan, she says, is to build business skills among nonprofit arts organizations so they can “be less dependent on public funding.” Such organizations, says Simon, can become “culture catalysts for downtowns across New Jersey.”

Now, with funding from some heavy hitters including JP Morgan Chase, PSEG, and Verizon, the nonprofit Arts Incubator is kicking off officially with a free weekend-long party. A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Festival, to be held July 18 and 19 at Verona Park in Verona, will showcase food from Garden State vendors and provide information from arts groups such as the New Jersey Renaissance Festival (which, fittingly, will arrive with a battalion of costumed jugglers).

The main event? A 5 pm performance each day of A Midsummer Night’s Dream by the Arts Incubator’s first troupe of up-and-coming student artists. “We saw 55 or 60 children who came from all over Essex County to audition,” Simon says, “and we ended up with sixteen [performers].” Arts Incubator, which will hold regular workshops on marketing and other business skills that artists can use, is meant to be a resource for all New Jersey arts programs, whether they are youth-targeted or not. “But the next generation needs to be supported if we want to keep the show going,” she says.  

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