NJ SEC OF STATE WELLS VISITS CAPE MAY



New Jersey’s Secretary of State, Nina Mitchell Wells, visited Cape May at the invitation of the Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts (MAC) and Center for Community Arts (CCA) on April 26, 2006.

Her stay included a tour of Franklin Street School and the CCA Community History Program exhibit, “A Feeling of Community: Education and Segregation on Cape Island, 1860-1954,” at the Carriage House Gallery on the Physick Estate.

The exhibit is at the Carriage House through May 14, and will re-open in West Cape May Borough Hall on May 24, where it will remain through the summer.

Among the Secretary’s responsibilities are supervision of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and the New Jersey Historical Commission, both of which support CCA and MAC through grant funds.

Impressed with the work of CCA’s Community History Program, the Secretary predicted that once restored, the Franklin Street School Community Cultural Center will attract thousands of new visitors to Cape May, comparing its potential to the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee. CCA is raising funds to transform the School into a Center that will house CCA’s community history and art exhibits and programs, the John and Janet Nash Archives of African American History, and programs and archives of other area nonprofit organizations.

Pictured are (l-r) CCA’s Program Committee Chair Yvonne Wright Gary, Board Chair Shirley “Becki” Wilson, Secretary of State Nina Mitchell Wells, and CCA Board Vice Chair Hilary Pritchard, Co-founder Emily Dempsey and Executive Director Steve Bacher.

For further information call 884-7525 or see www.CenterforCommunityArts.org.