NJPAC Commissions 13 Artists for New Public Art on Reimagined Newark Campus
The NJ and NY-area artists will create works spanning murals, sculpture, and mixed media for the expanded campus.
New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC), in partnership with Newark's Project for Empty Space (PES), has announced the names of 13 artists and artist collectives from New Jersey and New York who have been commissioned to create original, site-specific public works of art that will be installed by 2027 on the Arts Center's redeveloped campus in downtown Newark.
The artists include award-winning painters, print-makers, sculptors and muralists with pieces on display across the region, creatives undertaking their first large-form public works —and one artist, Danielle Scott, who, as a senior at Newark Arts High School, painted a portion of the community mural displayed on fencing around the NJPAC construction site when the Arts Center was built three decades ago.
Other participants include Nina Chanel Abney, now an internationally renowned artist, whose first public work was a mural included in the 2016 Gateways to Newark: Portraits project on McCarter Highway, and Layqa Nuna Yawar, who completed a monumental, 350-foot-long mural in Newark Liberty International Airport's Terminal A in 2022.
This announcement follows a multi-year community engagement initiative in collaboration with creative agency We Should Do It All WeShouldDoItAll (WSDIA) that brought together Newark residents, creative professionals and families involved in NJPAC's Arts Education programs to inform the design of NJPAC's new campus.
Insights from those efforts, along with advisory input and staff engagement, informed a competitive Request for Proposals process launched in November 2025, which attracted hundreds of submissions from artists across the region. The commissioned artworks, inspired by the theme Stories in Sound, Movement and Community, span a variety of media and will offer interactive experiences centered on the initiative's core ideas.
“The quality of the proposals was exceptional, and this group of artists truly reflects the spirit of our community,” said John Schreiber, President and CEO of NJPAC. “Their work will make art a part of daily life in this district, connecting the creativity inside our theaters with the neighborhood outside.”
The artworks will be integrated into the Cooperman Family Arts Education and Community Center, a new purpose-built home for the Arts Center's arts education and social impact work, and ArtSide, a new mixed-use residential and retail complex —both currently under construction —and throughout the NJPAC campus. The awarded proposals, selected by two distinguished juries, will form the visual soul of NJPAC's transformed 12-acre campus and complement the architecture of Barton Myers (who designed NJPAC a generation ago), Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (ArtSide) and Weiss/Manfredi (Cooperman Center).
“The creative arts have always been at the heart of NJPAC and this new collection will continue that legacy by showcasing the work of local artists," said Kim Bernardin, Director of LMXD. “We look forward to seeing these works come to life as the redeveloped campus takes shape.”
Installation of the artworks will coincide with the completion of elements of the ArtSide and Cooperman Center projects throughout 2026 and 2027.
“This process began with listening — grounding the vision for this public art program in the voices of the community,” said Co-Directors Rebecca Pauline Jampol and Jasmine Wahi of Project for Empty Space. “Through the RFP process, we engaged artists who understand that public art is not just about aesthetics, but about belonging. These works welcome people in, reflect NJPAC's mission and honor the stories that define Newark.”
From large-scale outdoor installations to rehearsal studio murals, these projects will connect the Arts Center's theaters with the street life of the downtown district. Each artist will also have a specific, tailored engagement with the community, including workshops, photography projects and archival research.
“Projects like this show how public art can transform everyday spaces into places of connection and meaning,” said fayemi shakur, Director of Arts and Cultural Affairs for the City of Newark. “When artists are invited to shape the public realm, they help tell the story of a city —reflecting its people, its history and its future.”
In addition, NJPAC's collaboration with WSDIA led the agency to create two major anchor artworks for the Cooperman Center: a graphic curtain installation spanning the building's picture windows, and a monumental wall sculpture depicting an abstracted soundwave of a Queen Latifah song.
The selected artists and artist collectives include:
- Nina Chanel Abney (Cold Spring, NY): ArtSide, Underpass Installation
- Eirini Linardaki (Newark, NJ): ArtSide, Retail Windows Vinyl Installation
- Layqa Nuna Yawar (Newark, NJ): NJPAC Exterior East Facade Mural
- Malcolm Rolling, Hans Lundy & Kaishon Way | YENDOR (Newark, NJ): 31 Mulberry Street Facade Mural
- Danielle Scott (Jersey City, NJ): Cooperman Center, Interior Elevator Mural
- Damien Davis (Newark, NJ): Cooperman Center, Floor 1, Reading Room Mural
- Angela Pilgrim (Newark, NJ): Cooperman Center, Floor 1, Vestibule Mural
- Haemee Han (Mountainside, NJ): Cooperman Center, Floor 2, Corridors Mural
- Shoshanna Weinberger (Newark, NJ): Cooperman Center, Floor 2, Vestibule Mural
- Matilda Forsberg (Maplewood, NJ): Cooperman Center, Floor 2, Vestibule Mural
- Kimmarii (Brooklyn, NY): Military Park Garage, Level 1 Mural
- Antoinette Ellis-Williams (Newark, NJ): Military Park Garage, Level 2 Mural
- Tom Nussbaum (East Orange, NJ): Military Park Garage, Level 3 Mural
The selection process was guided by two distinguished juries comprised of:
Alliyah Allen — Independent Curator
Alyson Maier Lokuta — AVP, Arts & Well-Being, NJPAC
Ashley Mays — Chief Marketing Officer, Newark Alliance; President, Newark Happening
Chantal Fischzang — Interdisciplinary Designer; Associate Professor of Communication Design, Rutgers University–Newark; Co-Director, Design Consortium
Chelsea Keys — Senior Director, Social Impact, NJPAC
Elena C. Muñoz-Rodriguez — Assistant Curator, Latinx & Latin American Art, The Newark Museum of Art
Eyesha Marable — Assistant Vice President, Community Engagement, NJPAC
fayemi shakur — Director of Arts and Cultural Affairs, City of Newark
Jennifer Tsukayama — Vice President of Arts Education, NJPAC
John Schreiber — President and CEO, NJPAC
Kim Bernardin — Director, LMXD
Kitab Rollins — AVP, Performance and Broadcast Rentals, NJPAC
Lauren Craig — Executive Director, Newark Arts
Patricia Ryan — Senior Creative Director, NJPAC
Rebecca Pauline Jampol — Co-Director, Project for Empty Space
Sherri-Ann Butterfield — Senior Vice President, Social Impact, NJPAC
Stefon Harris — Co-Director, Express Newark; Founder & Director, Harmony Lab
Tamara Remedios — Director of Neighborhood Impact, Audible
Tim Lizura — Executive Vice President, Real Estate & Capital Projects, NJPAC
Victoria Walker — Director, Arts and Education District
Weiss/Manfredi — Multidisciplinary New York City–based design practice, Cooperman Center architect
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