Camden Night Gardens (CNG)

Cooper's Ferry Partnership (CFP)

Funding Received: 2014
Camden, NJ
$475,000
Funding Period: 1 year and 5 months
https://twitter.com/coopersferry
https://instagram.com/connectthelotscamden/

Camden Night Gardens is a series of nightime public arts festivals  and inititiatives fostering community vibrancy through the arts in Camden, New Jersey.  

In recent years, Camden, New Jersey (population 77,000) has earned the dubious distinction of being among the most poverty-stricken and unsafe cities in the county.  With violence, poverty, and unemployment on a steady rise, a sense of despair has been growing among our citizens.  The arts works as a driver to combat this phenomenom; to instill pride among Camden's residents through arts and culture.  

Camden Night Gardens is being piloted in the North Camden and Cooper Grant neighborhoods as a compoenent of the Connect the Lots Initiative.  These two waterfront neighborhoods are physically divided from one another by the construction of the Ben Franklin Bridge and that both differ wildly from the demographics and economy of center city Philadelphia, which is a 10-minute drive away.

Cooper’s Ferry Partnership, in partnership with the City of Camden, has implemented the Camden Night Gardens, an community-led initiative to transform vacant and underutilized open spaces with temporary light, sound, and projections in an effort to visually connect these two neighborhoods, and also would draw visitors from Philadelphia across the bridge. Residents of both Camden and Philadelphia are often even less likely to explore these neighborhoods at night, so works of art that can only be experienced at night would serve as an incentive for inter- and intra-city exploration.

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See below for recent updates, press, and events from this project

press
Sep 2, 2020
As of mid-September residents will begin to notice art installations throughout Camden, spotlighting not only familiar faces in the city but bringing more attention to... Read More
press
Oct 15, 2016
A vacant New Jersey home where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once lived has dodged the wrecking ball and will soon receive some much-needed repairs. Read More
press
Sep 9, 2015
This summer, Camden residents had the opportunity to enjoy outdoor yoga classes, drive-in movies, concerts and a youth musical workshop. “When you think about Camden,... Read More
blog
Last month, ArtPlace Program Assistant Leila Tamari visited The Cooper’s Ferry Partnership team to learn more about their Camden Night Gardens project. In this post,...Read more