Aljira Inc

“The form 990 is presented to the governing body of the organization prior to being filed in order to fully review the document”

“The organization makes its governing documents and financial statements available to the public via either direct request or through an intermediary website.”

“Aljira, a center for contemporary art is a not-for-profit organization (founded in 1984) that fosters excellence in the visual arts through exhibitions and educational programs that serve as catalysts for inclusiveness and diversity, promote cross-cultural dialog, and enable us to better understand the time in which we live. Public understanding and support of the visual arts are strengthened through collaboration and community-based educational programming. Aljira seeks out the work of emerging and under-represented artists and brings the work of more established artists to our community. Through the visual arts aljira bridges racial, cultural and ethnic divides and enriches the lives of individuals. Aljira launched its 30th anniversary celebrations during fiscal year 2014 (july 1, 2013 - june 30, 2014). Throughout the year we organized and presented a wide variety of free public programs, exhibitions, educational publications, and performances for thousands of residents and visitors from newark, other new jersey communities, and the greater new york metropolitan area. Funding of aljira's programs and services was provided by major grants from national and regional corporations, foundations and the new jersey state council on the arts as well as contributions from hundreds of generous donors. Highlights of the 30th anniversary celebrations included a wide range of activities: works of art by more than 340 artists, most of whom are "under-recognized or emerging" artists, were presented in a series of exhibitions among them exuberance is beauty - william blake, paintings by jim haba, jazz stripe series, paintings by erica barton haba; schools for the colored, a unique portfolio of photographs by wendel a. White; temporality and objects: new installations and photographs by carl e. Hazlewood and birth of a cypher: works by terry boddie; bending the grid: luis cruz azaceta: dictators, terrorism, war and exiles, a major, critically-acclaimed survey exhibition of the cuban-american artist's paintings and sculpture, accompanied by a scholarly publication, guest- curated by alejandro anreus, phd; photographs of jazz artists, by bill may; aljira at 30, dream and reality, an unprecedented retrospective exhibition celebrating aljira's 30th anniversary collaboratively organized by and presented over a six-month period at the new jersey state museum, trenton; viewpoints, studio montclair's national competitive exhibition of 100 artists. Hundreds of visitors enjoyed many diverse, free public programs including: new jersey poets laureate family reading by gerald stern and amiri baraka; artists talks by wendel a. White and terri boddie; panel discussions (dr. Clement price, greg tate, hakim green, et al) with the screening of the documentary film a place out of time; a panel discussion with curator dr. Anreus, for the screening of the film el super, a look at the life of cuban exiles; and voices of the caribbean, readings by latino poets and writers. Other events included a book signing with author barbara j. Kukla for america's music: jazz in newark, in conjunction with an exhibition of photographs by bill may; hycide magazine issue release event for the golden triangle publication; performances in the galleries by two dance companies on two evenings -- carolyn dorfman dance and nai ni chen dance company; newark street installation by akiko ichikawa presenting her limited, limited edition project for residents of the city; and gallery tours in collaboration with newark arts council's annual open doors gallery crawl. During the year, aljira presented, in collaboration with creative capital, its eleventh series of renowned seminars for emerging artists. Twenty-one artists, winners in aljira's national competition, were recipients of fellowships, enabling them to attend aljira's three-month intensive professional development seminars, and learn from experts about a range of subjects and skills critical to their careers and cultural practices.”