UNMASKED: The Camden Edition

In partnership with the Trust for Public Land and funding from the National Endowment of the Arts, Superior Arts Institute is excited to invite you to “Unmasked,” a series of performative arts and a community storytelling project centered around resident experiences and Camden city’s particular vulnerability to environmental hazards like high rates of air pollution, extreme urban heat, and sewage filled stormwater seeping into homes. 

As a Camden-based non-profit dedicated to bringing awareness to social injustices through interactive artistic experiences, Superior Arts Institute offers Unmasked: Open Mic and Blackology Table Read I & II to serve as a mechanism for amplifying and documenting black and brown voices through artistic expression, expose systemic injustices, and promote inclusive solutions to half a century of environmental racism in cities like Camden.

Historically, Black and brown communities have been disadvantaged by racist and unjust environmental policies, having direct implications for the health, safety, and wellbeing of its residents. Superior Arts is working to raise awareness and encourage the community to raise their voices as agents of change to restore Camden’s green spaces, reduce pollution, and ensure that residents of the city have safe places to live, work, and play.

Join us in unccovering the naked truth about the air we breathe, the blocks we walk, and the startling facts that pose a great risk to public health and safety in the city that over 73,000 residents call home.  

The Trust for Public Land is a national nonprofit that creates parks and protects land for people, ensuring healthy, livable communities for generations. To learn more about tpl's GREEN AND HEALTHY TOOL, visit https://web.tplgis.org/camden_csc/ 

To find out more about how National Endowment for the Arts grants impact individuals and communities, visit www.arts.gov.

Superior Arts is proud to partner with The Trust for Public Land in the creation of “Town Hall: Resolution 50,” made possible through funding from the National Endowment for the Arts Our Town grant. "Town Hall" will premiere on October 23, 2021 2-5 pm at North Gate Park. All are welcome, especially the residents of Camden.

“Town Hall: Resolution 50," follows the personal journey of four Camden City high school students who share their experiences as young people of color affected by systems of injustice that ultimately challenge their quality of life. The play depicts the lived experiences of environmental racism in Camden, based on resident stories of living in extreme urban heat, breathing in polluted air, wading through contaminated flood water and gathering concerns about what is to come when climate change accelerates these hardships.

“Town Hall,” offers a guide to navigating advocacy through the arts. By joining the audience, you are asked to think critically about personal, community and governmental responsibility, and to collectively make sense of environmental injustices that are difficult to reconcile with the popular and historical American messages of equality and democracy.

For more information visit  www.tpl.org.