Driving America's Art Scene - Hunterdon County, NJ USA

Great things happening!

If you didn’t already know, a Hunterdon County Creative Team has been formed. We have been almost formally approved by Sustainable New Jersey. This team’s very first goal is to provide active support for THE HUNTERDON ART TOUR! At the next meeting of the Creative Team, members of THAT will be at the meeting with out list of Volunteer Activities that we need to make this tour a success.

Please come!  It will be on Monday October 17 7PM at the new gallery directly south of The National Hotel in Frenchtown – It’s Rita’s place !  It will be great to see you. Feel free to contact me with any questions. valsivilli@gmail.com

A lot is happening now all at once.  We are still waiting on the NJ Tourism grant announcement. Fingers are still crossed – although they are getting a bit cramped!

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LOGO FINALIZED.. finally!

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We had to stop somewhere.

We are still waiting to hear from the NJ Tourism about the grant. Soon… we hope… Fingers Crossed Everybody!

Also, a Creative Team is forming as we speak. It actually looks like it will happen and that it will be an amazing group of folks to get started with. If you want more info about this and would like to be involved, contact me at valsivilli@gmail.com and I will put you in the loop.

 

Progress Report!!!

After much hard work and a lot of meetings, last week the Committee has succeeded in meeting and uploading the deadline for the NJ TOURISM Grant application. It was accepted and it is being reviewed. We have also secured a 25% matching donor which we will announce once we hear about the results of the grant application. We should know in less than 10 weeks. We all needed a little breather – that was a lot of work… so after Memorial Day, we will call our next meeeting.  Fingers crossed y’all!!

Val

update on progress

Good afternoon!

There is so much enthusiasm for THAT is Hunterdon County.  We are moving along at breakneck speed.

The Core Steering Committee is working hard to meet the deadline for applying for a NJ Tourism Grant to fund the first year of THAT. The deadline is Monday,  and it looks really great!  we are getting there.  It’s been a lot of work. We should know if we get this grant by late summer.  A meeting will be called in July to pull together our list of volunteers and try to get a handle on what our logo actually is. A preliminary version of the logo is loaded up on the blog (look up!) for now at least.

I encourage you to PLEASE join you local Green Teams, and contact me to join the Creative Team so that we can apply for funding through Sustainable New Jersey.

CHEERS!!!  val

 

Update

Meeting to create a Project plan.

These are the minutes from the meeting. Project plan to be posted at a later date. 

April 14th, 2016

Jay Raymond, Kathleen Thompson, Catherine Suttle, Val Sivilli

  1.  We have decided on a name :  T.H.A.T.  The Hunterdon Art Tour
  2.  URL is www.TheHunterdonArtTour.com/.org/.net
  3. We have decided to move forward with  THAT (the tour) before pulling together the Creative Team.  We are NOT abandoning Sustainable NJ and the Creative Team, although we felt as if THAT would actually help us to be able to find players in a County Wide Creative Team. We decided this because of the seemingly daunting process of putting 2 teams together.(a creative team AND a studio tour team) So, we are going to begin very simply. A very simple website.Maybe even a mail in check with a pdf downloadable form!  How’s about that!
  4. We will reach out to River Union Stage to act as our 501.C3 umbrella.
  5. We will apply to NJ Tourism Grant for 2017
  6. We will meet with Carrie Fellows to talk about their partnership.
  7. We will schedule an Artist meeting TBA in early summer.

State of the Tour…

Thank you all for a fabulous meeting! It is clear that this Tour will be a huge success! 

Stay tuned for more info. 

The summary of last Monday’s meeting along with a statement to help guide us through our next steps, will be posted by the end of this week. 

Cheers!

Val

The First Meeting! April 4th

MONDAY, APRIL 4th, 5:30 PM at, 71 Main Street, Historic Court House, Flemington NJ 08822 

Hello Hunterdon County Artist,

This is a reminder that we are having our first meeting of the Hunterdon County Artist Studio Tour this coming Monday. Please, put in on/in your Calendar.  A small team of artists have already accomplished quite a bit although there is more than a lot left to be done.  

What we plan to accomplish:

  • Present the concept and give a presentation about it’s structure.
  • Introduce the current players.
  • Welcome new players in the most important roles of the Project.
  • Encourage Residents to be part of the Hunterdon County’s Creative Team through Sustainable New Jersey.
  • Encourage more ideas and suggestions to facilitate a successful event.
  • Share what we have accomplished so far.
  • Listen to new ideas and suggestions. 

You can help facilitate our first meeting by reading through the informational Blog (link below)  if you have not done so already. There are a lot of questions that will be asked that are already answered in the BLOG.  We Artists LOVE to share our opinions and all opinions are valued and necessary.  Being mindful of the work that has already been done will allow the discourse to remains focused thus using our time more efficiently.

https://studiotoursite.wordpress.com/

I am looking forward to a great turnout. The enthusiasm for this project has been remarkable.  AND..  if you can..please bring some snack food to share : small water bottles, cookies, fruit – ez stuff to eat.

 See you Monday.

Cheers! 

Val

ps… If you cannot attend, sign up for this blog and you will receive updates.

So We Begin…

RSVP:  CONTACT: Val Sivilli  . StudioTourVal@gmail.com  .  908-268-2843

Hello!  My name is Val Sivilli. I am an artist and I live in Hunterdon County.

One day, at the Blue Fish Grill, I was having a nice lunch with my friend Catherine. Catherine is a wonderful painter and she also is the coordinator of the Dvoor Farmer’s Market. We talked about my desire to build a “Creative Team” in Hunterdon County under the umbrella of Sustainable New Jersey’s Green Initiative and the newly formed Hunterdon HUB.  I was at a loss as to how to find the members of this “Creative Team.” How would I reach out to these art lovers? Can the Dvoor Farm help me to reach out?  What would our goal be?  Where would we meet?  What projects would we try to create?  All these things….

Catherine said. ” Y’know what this county needs?  An Artist Studio Tour. ”

So,  I started making phone calls.  Every artist or arts administrator that I spoke with was super excited about the idea of this project.  I started looking at websites of other studio tours. I spoke to some organizers of studio tours – the good things, the pitfalls…. etc.

and… YES!  This is EXACTLY what we need here in Hunterdon County.  And the time is right now.  We are all ready.  And I – Val Sivilli – am ready to begin to sojourn this effort into reality.

I’m looking for like minded folks, with talents they are willing to share to make this effort a sustainable reality to help shift the cultural paradigm in Hunterdon County.

We are currently planning the first meeting of the Artists and Art lovers who would like to be involved in the formative stages of this effort.

 

A little About me:

I have lived in Hunterdon County for over 25 years. I am an artist, mother, teacher and business owner. I’ve been involved with many local events, fundraisers, art projects over the years. I see the possibility of something sustainable and rich and interconnected here in Hunterdon County.  Having seen organizations and artists like Robin Staff create beautiful retreats and fundraising events for her local community;  Jill Kearney has had Dance Troops perform at her Barn; so many amazing things happening in New Hope, Clinton, Flemington, Artsbridge continue to serve as a platform for its local artists, Open Mics thrive with local talent everywhere!

I have become hungry for us here in Hunterdon to be more connected with each other so that we can become more connected to our neighbors in Bucks, Mercer, Warren and Somerset Counties.