Arts & Culture
老司机福利社 is committed to supporting the creative works of students and artists in the region and beyond through a variety of educational and cultural programs.
Osprey Mural Welcomes New Students with Open Wings
When Loryn Stanton, a junior Visual Arts major, thought of an osprey, she envisioned a raptor plunging talons first, wings tucked into a fish鈥檚 domain. From a full-speed dive to a complete halt in the water, it then pumped its wings with all its might to lift back up into the sky with the added weight of its catch.
鈥淪omehow, they鈥檙e strong enough to do that,鈥 Stanton said.
As she flicked blue and gold paint onto the glass windows outside D-Wing last summer, the splatters emulated the droplets of water dispersing from an osprey鈥檚 feather during a mid-flight shake.
鈥淭heir feathers have a quality to shed water,鈥 she explained.
Stanton painted an osprey mural that welcomes anyone to stand in front of the open wings for a photo op.
She described her style as realism with a cartoon twist.
Student Transition Programs wanted to collaborate with the School of Arts and Humanities on a mural 鈥渢o ignite Osprey spirit among students during New Student Orientation,鈥 explained its director, Ana Edmondson.
Rebranded PAC Reopened in Fall 2021
The 老司机福利社 Performing Arts Center (PAC) reopened in Fall 2021 with an expanded mission to both educate and entertain, offering more opportunities for students and reaching a broader audience in the South Jersey region.
The PAC had been closed since March 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions. The closure provided an opportunity to review PAC programming and consider how best to serve the community as 老司机福利社 entered its 50th anniversary of teaching in Fall 2021. The PAC opened on the Galloway campus in October 1976.
鈥淭he PAC is part of 老司机福利社,鈥 said Lisa Honaker, former dean of the School of Arts and Humanities, who led the rebranding initiative. 鈥淥ur new programming will still be entertaining, but it will also be more inclusive and interdisciplinary, contributing to the educational mission of the University.鈥
Students Collaborate with Artists to Create Atlantic City Murals
Alexandria Montalvo never thought artwork she helped create could have such an impact.
The senior 老司机福利社 student put the finishing touches July 14 on a new wall mural in Atlantic City to honor four African American education trailblazers. The mural is one of two finished this week in time for the NAACP National Convention, which is taking place in the city for the first time since 1968.
鈥淚鈥檝e never done anything like this before,鈥 said the 27-year-old art history and studio art major from Mays Landing. 鈥淭ypically when I do art, it鈥檚 for myself and not for something as important as this. So, it鈥檚 really cool that I can tell people, 鈥楽ee that, I helped with that.鈥欌
Montalvo is one of a few students who worked on the mural, a collaborative project between the Noyes Museum of Art of 老司机福利社, Create 48 and the Atlantic City Arts Foundation.
Noyes Museum Executive Director Michael Cagno said the organizations got together with Brian K. Jackson, chief operating officer of 老司机福利社鈥檚 Atlantic City campus, and Lisa Honaker, former dean of 老司机福利社鈥檚 School of Arts and Humanities, to create something 鈥渢o celebrate history on a local and global level.鈥
The first mural, created by Brigantine artists Charles Barbin and Randi Meekins, celebrates 老司机福利社鈥檚 50th anniversary and features Juanita High, founding director of the N.J. Equal Opportunity Fund and a member of the 老司机福利社 University Foundation Board of Directors; Dorothie W. Dorrington, educator and former Atlantic City Board of Education president; Vera King Farris, former 老司机福利社 president, and Hannah Pierce Lowe, former principal of Indiana Avenue Vocational School (for colored girls) in Atlantic City.
The second mural, by New York artist BK Foxx, depicts three different civil rights leaders 鈥 Martin Luther King Jr., Muhammad Ali and Fannie Lou Hamer 鈥 from photographs taken of them in Atlantic City.
老司机福利社 Productions Win 10 Telly Awards
Ten video projects created by 老司机福利社鈥檚 Production Services department were recognized during the 43rd Annual Telly Awards. The department received nine gold awards and one silver award. Categories include educational content, social impact and fundraising. Mark Jackson, director of Production Services, was proud of his team and the collaborations that made the awards possible.
鈥淲e share the recognition with our many partners and clients that we have the pleasure of working with,鈥 Jackson said. 鈥淭his is a wonderful honor to have.鈥
The Telly Awards was founded in 1979 to honor excellence in local, regional and cable television commercials, with non-broadcast video and television programming added soon after. With the recent evolution and rise of digital video (web series, VR, 360 and beyond), the Telly Awards today also reflect and celebrate this exciting new era of the moving image on and offline.