Newark, NJ – September 30, 2021 – Mayor Ras J. Baraka and Lincoln Park Coast Cultural District (LPCCD) announced today that the LPCCD’s “Lincoln Park Gallery Without Walls” Alley Reclamation Mural Project was selected as part of the City of Newark’s Love Your Block Initiative.

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“It really is wonderful to see the combined energy of the City of Newark’s Love Your Block program and the new Black Girls Dream mural,” said Mayor Baraka. “The mural program our administration has created is expanding the creativity of our artists, inspires our community, and helps revitalize our city.”

The home of the “Lincoln Park Gallery Without Walls” sits behind the historic New Ark Cathedral Church (known as La Vid Verdadera en La Catedral New Ark, Lincoln Park) and the Dryden Mansion, which was the primary home of John F. Dryden, the founder of Prudential Insurance Company and U.S. Senator from New Jersey. The alleyway sits in the middle of Lincoln Park’s “Little Five Points,” a convergence of Lincoln Park Place, Crawford Street, South Halsey Street, Bleeker Street, and Washington Street.

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Prior to the opening of The Willows at Symphony Hall, “Little Five Points” was a dimly-lit, desolate, strip with little residential foot traffic. The area was on the rise until the closure of cWOW (City Without Walls) Gallery and then the global pandemic struck. The mandatory lockdowns and no foot traffic outside gave way to an uptick in “COVID crime.”

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The City of Newark’s Love Your Block program and Lincoln Park Coast Cultural District is taking back the alley and turning it into a usable space named after the community it will serve – the “Lincoln Park Gallery Without Walls”. The “Lincoln Park Gallery Without Walls” sits diagonally from the defunct cWOW (City Without Walls Gallery) which was New Jersey’s oldest not-for-profit alternative art space based in Lincoln Park. “Lincoln Park Gallery Without Walls” pays homage to City Without Walls Gallery and is inspired by the “allery” movement (turning alleys into outdoor gallery spaces) such as the The Belt in Detroit, Chicago’s ACTIVATE series and closer to home, down neck in the Ironbound, The Newark Allery revitalized alleys with public art, beautified the neighborhood and uplifted the community.

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The winning muralist Kween Moore, said about being selected, “It is truly an honor to see my work win on so many levels. This work belongs to my grandmother, my mother, all of my aunts and sisters who have come before me. Thank you to Lincoln Park Coast Cultural District, The City of Newark, and all project supporters and partners for creating space for Black and Brown girl artists like me. Black Girls Dream is the celebration of our women, who we are in the world and most importantly, how we see ourselves in light. We are bold and live in color. We love when we should and even when we lack luster. We move in waves and hues of color, popping out all over the world. Us black girls are loud; we cry, scream, and share stories.”

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LPCCD’s Executive Director Anthony Smith said, “The nexus of community development and public art is where the rubber meets the road for Creative Placemakers like ourselves. Kween Moore’s ‘Black Girls Dream’ answered our call for bright, loud, bold, and uplifting. It balances the masculine desolate energy of an underused outdoor space with powerfully regal feminine divine energy. The women in our community get to see themselves in a positive light through the lens of visual art.”

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The “Lincoln Park Gallery Without Walls” project was produced by Kim J. Ford, Founder, BRND Marketing Group LLC (official lead agency for LPCCD) and Armisey Smith, Artistic Project Manager.

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OPENING & VIEWING AT NEWARK ARTS FESTIVAL

The “Lincoln Park Gallery Without Walls” will open with a ribbon cutting and brief program on Saturday, October 2. Media call is 11:30 a.m. and Opening Program is from Noon to 1 p.m. Additional viewing during the citywide Newark Arts Festival on Saturday, October 9, between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. Location GPS: 6 Crawford Street, Newark. Walk half a block to Halsey Street between Beecher and Lincoln Park, behind the New Ark Cathedral Church.

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MEDIA ASSETS

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1PJGVsS_97hT7B4SFUfMUkb9-Iuyczehq?usp=sharing

Kween Moore Photo & Full Bio

“Black Girls Dream” Mural Concept

Alley Before & In Progress Sneak Peek

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About The City of Newark’s Love Your Block

The City of Newark Love Your Block (LYB) Program connects residents with city departments and community organizations to implement hyper-local neighborhood beautification and community-building projects. The overall goal of the LYB program is to prevent blight and revitalize city neighborhoods one block at a time.

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About Lincoln Park Coast Cultural District (Non-Profit, 501c3)

The Lincoln Park Coast Cultural District, Inc. (LPCCD) is a non-profit organization actively engaged in the practice of economic development through Creative Placemaking. Its mission to plan, design and develop a comprehensive arts and cultural district in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of downtown Newark. LPCCD’s main arts and culture programs are the annual Lincoln Park Music Festival, Lincoln Park Music Speaks citywide humanities initiative, the Lincoln Park Jazzy Soul music series and the Lincoln Park Sustainable Living Community Podcast.

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About Artist Kween Moore

Curator, Interdisciplinary Artist, Poet and Arts Educator, Kween Moore, leads a life dedicated to the arts and its communal impact. As a Cooperative Arts & Humanities Magnet High graduate, with a B.A. in Art Therapy Psychology from Albertus Magnus College, Moore serves Newark and surrounding communities through creative arts programming, poetry, performance art and visual arts with specific content for all creatives. Through workshops and creative sessions, Ms. Moore produces content that challenges events and topics considered controversial or too difficult to discuss using the creative process.

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Ms. Moore is the owner and Lead Curator for FEMME CURATOR ARTS, a curatorial collective of dynamic art educators and enthusiasts that have produced art exhibitions for many galleries throughout the Tri-state area with a “superior vibe.” She and her team (Dayana Poulard, Ashley Grey and Eion Haynes) created experiences during the Newark Arts Festival year after year, now named one of the top five must-see exhibitions for the fifth year in a row. Perfectly paired with some of Newark’s top musical entertainers and chefs, FCA creates a seamless weekend experience for everyone to enjoy. Kween Moore has been named a “Renaissance Woman” of her time, as she has shifted the idea of what art should be in the City of Newark.

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Connect with @LincolnParkCoastCulturalDistrict on Facebook and follow @LPCCD on Twitter and IG.

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For interviews with the artist, please contact the BRND Marketing Group Press Office at 973-520-7733, or via email at pressoffice@brnd-marketing.com.

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- NEWARK -