**The Honorable Mayor Ras J. Baraka,**, Newark Community Economic Development Corporation President and**CEO Aisha Glover**, and **Celeste Banks,** today cut the ribbon to open **The Painter’s Palette** located at 1-9 7th Avenue in Newark’s Central Ward.
“One of our strategies in the revitalization of Newark is to bring the arts to every neighborhood. The arts help to create vitality, community pride, and a better quality of life. The Painter’s Palette, with its Lower Broadway area location, community painting and dancing classes and programs for children, is a valuable addition to Newark’s art scene” said Mayor Baraka at the ribbon cutting.
The Painter’s Palette, located in the Lower Broadway neighborhood, offers daily art classes, paint and sip events such as “Wine Down Wednesdays,” art exhibitions, classes for private, corporate and social events for children, family and friends.
"My lifelong purpose is not to create art itself but to facilitate and inspire creativity in others. With the opening of the Painter’s Palette, I am one step closer to achieving that purpose,” said owner Celeste Banks.
After teaching over ten years for Jersey City Public Schools, Ms. Banks served as an Adjunct Professor of Fine Arts at Essex County College, and a Professor in Residence at William Paterson University.
Her experiences working in the City of Newark impacted her significantly. Recently, her non-profit, Activism Through Arts (ATA), was awarded the ArtStart Grant from the Newark Arts Council. Beginning September 2017, ATA will host "Lower Broadway Creative Mondays" at The Painter's Palette NJ. This program will offer Free Fine Arts and Dance classes to all Newark residents from 6-7pm each Monday.
"In such an arts-rich city, it's no surprise that more opportunities to live, work, play and entertain are growing in Newark," said Aisha Glover, President & CEO of the Newark Community Economic Development Corporation. "We are thrilled that Painter's Palette found a home here and is offering creative outlets to Newark's residents, workforce, and neighboring communities.
Through our business development services, Painters Palette owner Celeste Banks was able to acquire space and her business license, adding to cultural richness to the Lower Broadway neighborhood and serving as a centerpiece for the area's redevelopment."