THINGS-TO-DO

New Brunswick, Highland Park team on ‘Windows of Understanding’ art project

Bob Makin
Courier News and Home News Tribune
Rutgers University's Asian American Cultural Center is one of several participants in the "Windows of Understanding: We See through Hate" community art project that aims to promote peace, love and understanding.

New Brunswick Community Arts Council, Rutgers University’s Mason Gross of the Arts, Highland Park Arts Commission and New Brunswick Cultural Center are working with several partner agencies on a monthlong art project that aims to promote peace, love and understanding.

“Windows of Understanding: We See through Hate” will be displayed throughout New Brunswick and Highland Park from Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Jan. 15 to Feb. 15. The storefront displays will be celebrated with an invitation-only reception Jan. 16 at New Brunswick’s Zimmerli Art Museum, one of the project’s many partners.

“This is a creative, community-building response to the negativity and hate being perpetuated in today’s media landscape,” said founding co-organizer Cassandra Oliveras Moreno, administrator of Communications & Collaboration of Mason Gross’ Visual Arts Department.

“My vision for this project has been to transform our ‘main street’ spaces into literal windows of understanding — spaces in which the community can learn about the positive strides being made by local organizations that don’t make daily headlines. Our belief is that through visual language, artists can communicate methods of understanding in powerful ways that cut across cultural boundaries. The masterpiece at the core of the project is solidarity, not any single work of art.”

This work by Muslim Feminists for the Arts will be among those on display in New Brunswick and Highland Park storefronts during the monthlong "Windows of Understanding" project.

New Brunswick participants in the project’s “Main Street” transformation into windows of understanding include Starbucks, Harvest Moon, George Street Camera, Hub City Brewhouse, Kilmer Square Gates, New Brunswick Chamber of Commerce, New Brunswick City Market, Amboy Bank, Las Cazuelas, Costa Chica, Gaby's Bakery, Delicias Bakery, Gallo Felix, The Taco House, Punto y Coma, Downtown Printing and Kim's Bike Shop.

Highland Park will be presented by Main Street Highland Park, Rite Aid, Pura Vida Boutique, Greehouse Loft, White Lotus, Tiger Arts Supply and Robert's Florals. 

Organizers said they also seek to promote awareness about an array of social justice issues addressed locally, connecting organizations with the wider community and each other.

Nonprofit partners include New Brunswick Public Library, New Brunswick Tomorrow, Coming Home of Middlesex County, Elijah’s Promise, Churches Improving Communities, The Art Club of New Brunswick Middle School, Middlesex County Regional Chamber of Commerce, Lower Raritan Watershed Partnership, PhotOvoiceS, Saint Peter’s University Hospital, coLAB Arts, Lazos America Unida, PRAB, Esperanza Neighborhood Project, Raices Cultural Center, Muslim Feminists for the Arts, NAACP Rutgers Student Chapter, Paul Robeson Cultural Center, New Brunswick Parking Authority, New Brunswick Development Corp., Rutgers Collaborative, Rutgers University, and its Bildner Center for the Study of Jewish Life, Asian American Cultural Center, Center for Latino Arts and Culture, Rutgers University, and Center for Social Justice & LGBT Communities.

Together with the County of Middlesex and Johnson & Johnson, they will focus on homelessness, hunger, anti-bullying, faith-based initiatives, Latino life, Islamic Life, environmental justice, water conservation, youth development, LGBTQ issues, immigration and Jewish life.

The young talent of the New Brunswick Middle School Art Klub will be on display during "Windows of Understanding."

Daonne Huff, the project manager for Brooklyn’s Artstory Month, led the artist facilitator training for all participating artists in “Windows of Understanding: We See through Hate.”

In addition to the storefronts of the participating businesses, the “Windows of Understanding” artwork can be seen on Instagram at @WindowsofUnderstanding or #WeSeethroughHate. The website www.windowsofunderstanding.org/ goes live on Jan. 8, according to New Brunswick Cultural Center. 

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Staff Writer Bob Makin: 732-565-7319; bmakin@gannett.com