During the gala evening, the Arts Council will also honor Liza and Sky Morehouse, Jon and Robin McConaughy and Mitchel Skolnick for their ‘upcycling’ of the Off-Broadstreet Theatre into the new Hopewell Theatre and its contribution to art opportunities in the Valley.
Salon Redux will be the Hopewell Valley Arts Council’s primary fundraiser and social event of the year. According to Randee Tengi, Arts Council co-president, the organization needs the support of the community to continue its expanding programs.
“In 2016, we participated in or hosted more than 20 different events and, for a second year, awarded scholarships to four Hopewell Valley Central High School graduating seniors. We also held community focus groups to help guide our activities. We hope this fun, unique gala will give the community an opportunity to support us and help fund our future,” said Tengi.
Gala chairpersons Carol Lipson, Liz Bell and Heidi Kahme are working hard to give the event the warmth and creative flair that distinguish the Hopewell Valley community and Arts Council.
“We enlisted volunteers to handcraft the gala invitations and decorations—whimsical giant masks— from discarded materials,” said Lipson.
Bell added, “Community groups, including children through senior citizens, are creating a huge, fantasy tree to welcome party-goers into Prospect House. Plus, our salon artists and boutique contributors all hail from the local area. The Arts Council believes that art helps build a healthy community and that art-making and art appreciation contribute to the well-being of individuals. So it was very important to us that this event actually be a community creation.”
“The community is still buzzing about our 2015 Year of the Ox gala celebration,” said Kahme about the organization’s last gala. “We know how to bring the creativity and the fun, and we love to throw a great party!”
The Hopewell Valley Arts Council is a nonprofit organization dedicated to celebrating “art in the everyday” throughout the Hopewell Valley region of New Jersey, including Hopewell Township, Titusville, Hopewell Borough and Pennington Borough. The Arts Council has blossomed as an art-focused partner for many community institutions and events, and, through its efforts to cultivate art appreciation and participation, aims to nurture a vibrant and engaged community. The organization grew out of the 2014 Hopewell Stampede, a project initiated by a group of art-loving residents who enlisted local artists to decorate 70 life-sized, fiberglass oxen, many of which are still on display throughout the community.