ATLANTIC CITY — Stockton University hosted a Regional Arts and Cultural Summit on Monday at its City Campus.
President Joe Bertolino envisions a broader role for the university, one that transcends traditional boundaries and fosters artistic and cultural vitality throughout South Jersey, the school said Tuesday in a news release. Bertolino will be formally installed as Stockton’s sixth president Friday, though he has been on the job since last year.
“We know the arts and cultural expression have the potential to bridge real and imagined divides in our neighborhoods and around the world,” Bertolino said.
The event commenced with performances by Stockton’s student musicians and dancers before a keynote speech by John Schreiber, president and CEO of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark.
Schreiber spoke about how the arts can advance citizenship, community, education and health in the community. He encouraged those who attended to be open minded about the arts and embrace those with a “wild idea.”
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“Consider it. Workshop it. See if it has legs,” he said. “The arts are incredibly powerful, and we don’t quite know how powerful they are until we put them to the test to see what they might be able to accomplish.”
Stockton University’s walking tours of the city will resume in May and will expand into the towns around the resort, the college said Tuesday.
Attendees engaged in focused discussions during smaller breakout sessions, delving into issues such as funding support, the therapeutic role of art, its impact on education and its potential as a catalyst for social change and community engagement, Stockton said.
“Our goal is to collect ideas and strategies that will be useful to others interested in the arts to do what we all know, intuitively, to be true: The arts give us a hopeful way to think about our world, perhaps too infrequently explored by too few people,” said Ian Marshall, dean of Stockton’s School of Arts and Humanities.
Participants like Chase Jackson, executive director of the Ocean City Arts Center, used the summit as a networking opportunity.
“I’m just tickled pink that this is something close, and I don’t have to go to Trenton or Camden,” Jackson said. “For us at the southern shore, it’s a godsend. … With Stockton being the anchor university in the area, it’s vitally important that it takes the lead on these kinds of events.”
Many attendees left the summit hoping Stockton would host future arts summits, the university said.
“This is a good place to start to meet the people that I need to meet — all the arts people in one place,” said Jackson. “Just keep doing what you are doing and learn from this one what to do next.”
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