This plenary brings together regional leaders from Mural Arts Philadelphia, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Artworks Trenton, Newark Arts, and Camden FireWorks, whose work demonstrates that art and culture are not peripheral to public life, but are, in fact, constitutive of it. From large-scale mural initiatives and citywide arts advocacy to arts-and-wellness programming and neighborhood-based creative placemaking, the panelists will explore how cultural institutions function in systems of care that respond to the needs of individuals and communities alike. Grounded in the Summit’s theme of Community, Culture & Care, this session will show how artists move beyond programming toward long-term cultural production and stewardship while building resilient cities where creativity serves the public good.

---

Panelist: Michael Chovan-Dalton

Michael Chovan-Dalton is a photographer, educator, curator, and podcaster. He is the creator of the podcast Real Photo Show and the co-creator and producer of PhotoWork with Sasha Wolf, he also consults for podcast startups. He is a professor and coordinator of Photography at Mercer County Community College in New Jersey and is the Director of the JKC Gallery in Trenton, New Jersey. He is a founding member of the Homecoming Biennial and a media partner for the Chico Review. Michael is also an occasional juror, and he collaborates on many photographic projects and shows with other artists and curators. His work is in the permanent collections of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and The Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art at the University of Oklahoma.

Chovan-Dalton received his BFA from the School of Visual Arts and his MFA from Columbia University.

Panelist: Lauren LeBeaux Craig

Lauren LeBeaux Craig is Executive Director of the Newark Arts Council and a cultural strategist dedicated to building sustainable creative infrastructure for artists and communities. A cum laude graduate of Spelman College and a graduate of Rutgers School of Law–Newark, she spent a decade practicing law before transitioning into arts leadership, where she now brings more than twenty years of experience across marketing, media, community engagement, artist advocacy, and cultural programming.

Since joining Newark Arts in 2016, LeBeaux Craig has played a key role in shaping Newark’s creative economy. She founded the organization’s marketing department and now leads initiatives that support artists, expand cultural access, and strengthen the city’s arts ecosystem. Under her leadership, the Newark Arts Festival has grown into the largest arts festival in New Jersey and a major driver of cultural tourism and artist opportunity.

A former gallery owner and past Executive Director of Art in the Atrium, she is also the author of 100 Things Newark, a cultural tourism guide featured in The New York Times, AP Travel, and The National. LeBeaux Craig integrates creativity, cultural stewardship, and wellness into her leadership, grounded in the belief that thriving cities are built by investing in artists and the communities that sustain them.

Panelist: Aly Maier Lokuta

Aly Maier Lokuta, MA (she/her) is the Assistant Vice President of Arts & Well-Being at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC), where she leads innovative programming, research, evaluation, and education at the intersection of arts and health, serving communities in Newark and across New Jersey. A multidisciplinary artist, Aly stays well through creating visual art, writing, and playing guitar. Learn more about NJPAC Arts & Well-Being, Aly’s art and consulting work, and her Arts in Health blog.

Panelist: Jazlyne Sabree

Jazlyne Sabree (b. 1990, New Jersey) is an interdisciplinary artist based in the Greater Philadelphia area. She received her Bachelors in Art from Clark Atlanta University, an HBCU in Atlanta, GA where she studied art and journalism. She then went on to become an art educator, returning to college to receive her Masters in Art Education at Boston University. She received her Masters in Fine Art at Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art. She is a recipient of the Clark Atlanta University Art Guild Award, the Linda Lora Pugliese Award for Excellence in Art Education, the PAFA Venture Fund Grant, MassMoCA Artist Residency, the AACC Fellowship at the Montclair Art Museum, and most recently the Mural Arts Fellowship for Black Artists. Additionally, she has been featured on platforms such as News 12, WHYY, several podcasts such as The Truth in this Art, and in many publications. She was also awarded a teaching artist residency in Monrovia, Liberia in West Africa at the Cachelle International Creative Arts Center, as well as the Casa Na Ilha Artist Residency in Ilhabela, São Paolo, Brazil. Her work is in the permanent collection of the Waldemar Belisário Museum in Ilhabela, São Paolo, Brazil, and the PAFA Museum in Philadelphia along with many other private collections.

Panelist: Craig Shofed

Craig Shofed has been a resident of Trenton, NJ for 20 years. Introduced to Artworks in 2007, he has remained actively involved with the organization. Following his second kidney transplant in 2011, Craig transitioned from a 20-year career as a Project Troubleshooter in IT to pursue his passion as a full-time artist, creating under the name C.a. Shofed. In 2018, he was appointed Managing Curator at the BSB Gallery in Trenton and joined the Artworks board. In 2022, Craig became the Managing Director of Artworks.

This session explores how artists, nonprofits, and higher education institutions function as civic infrastructure using creativity not simply to create programming, but also strategically to promote community care, economic vitality, identity-building, and belonging. Drawing from grassroots activism in Camden, Newark, and Atlantic City, socially engaged artistic practice, and Stockton’s academic leadership, the conversation will examine how artistic ecosystems can move beyond cultural events to sustain cultural stewardship. The discussion will focus on how creative placemaking becomes a form of care while supporting neighborhoods, empowering artists, and positioning universities as anchor institutions within regional cultural networks.

This breakout session will explore how arts organizations, artists, and institutional partners are redefining public health and community care through creative practice. Drawing on NJPAC’s work at the intersection of the arts, health, and healing; Camden-based artist Eric Montgomery’s community-grounded practice; and Michael Chovan-Dalton’s cultural leadership perspective, this session will examine how art functions as preventative care, trauma response, neighborhood stabilization, and social connection. The panelists will show how cultural programming can intentionally support mental health, civic belonging, intergenerational healing, and long-term community resilience.

Framed within the Summit’s theme of Culture, Community & Care, this session will consider how public art serves as both creative and communal expression. Our panelists, working artists, alongside leadership from Newark Arts, will examine how murals, installations, and socially engaged practices transform public spaces into platforms for storytelling, representation, and community dialogue.
 

This interactive session explores the musical lineage of hip hop and its deep roots in earlier Black musical traditions, including Jazz, Gospel, Disco, Soul, and Rhythm and Blues. Rather than emerging suddenly in the late twentieth century, hip hop developed from a long continuum of Black musical innovation that emphasized rhythm, improvisation, storytelling, and community participation.

Through guided listening, discussion, and brief demonstrations, participants will trace how elements such as jazz improvisation, gospel call-and-response, soul’s emotional expression, and disco’s dance rhythms shaped hip hop’s sound and performance style. The session will also incorporate audience participation through call-and-response exercises and musical examples, illustrating how these participatory traditions remain central to hip hop culture. Together, participants will experience how hip hop reflects a living continuum of Black musical creativity.