IMMINENT BREAK OUT
Art All Night in Trenton continues to be a massive success >>
Yep. Nothing, nada, bupkis. It didn’t even rate a mention. It was not news fit to print.
A lot has changed since then, as this weekend, Art All Night celebrates its 11th annual show, and this year — like every year preceding it — is bigger and better.
Over 30,000 people are expected to come to the Roebling Wire Works at 675 South Clinton Avenue from 3 p.m. Saturday straight through to 3 p.m. Sunday (and if you’re reading this in the paper on Sunday, put it down and head on over right now!) to witness over 1,500 pieces of art, listen to over 65 bands (on three stages) and eat at one of the 24 food trucks.
A far cry from that first event, where about 1,500 people stopped by to hear a band and look at about 300 pieces of art. Food trucks weren’t even a thing.
But today? Art All Night has become the single annual event in Trenton that generates the most buzz. Quite frankly, at this point, I’ve got a bit of a ho-hum attitude about it: “Oh yes, of course, another Art All Night. How lovely.” And I don’t mean that as a dig; honestly, it’s a high compliment. Art All Night is part of the fabric of the city. It’s expected at this point. It’s gone from hare-brained scheme to massive success.
Even Joe Kuzemka, who’s been the event director for six years, was unsure about the viability of the idea when he was first asked to sign on back in 2007 to handle the marketing.
“When the idea was first presented to me, I was like, ‘Are you serious? I don’t think it’s going to work,” Kuzemka said. “And then when we got 1,500 people? I was blown away.”
The years went by, Art All Night — a free event, by the way — got bigger and bigger, and now, it takes Kuzemka and a team of 20 other people a full nine months to pull the whole thing together.
And it’s worth every second. “We love proving that Trenton is more than just a negative headline,” he said. “That’s something we’ve always prided ourselves on.”
Without question, the arts community in Trenton is thriving to the point of imminent break out. It feels about ready to pop at any given moment. And if you look at other cities that have “come back,” the arts is usually the point where it all begins. And the near-breakoutedness of the Trenton art scene definitely has Art All Night to thank. It was the first event that brought these likeminded people together. From there, relationships were forged, new ideas happened, new partnerships developed.
“When we first started, it was a struggle to find bands and artists local enough,” Kuzemka said. “The scene has grown so dramatically over the last 10 years. There is so much local talent willing and able to donate their time.”
And local fans willing to do the same, as over 400 volunteers will help work at Art All Night to make sure it runs seamlessly.
“It’s a true community event,” Kuzemka said. “People from all over the city and surrounding areas help make it so.”
This year, Kuzemka said, there was a big push into Trenton’s Latino community in an effort to get them into the fold. He said all the marketing materials were translated into Spanish in hopes to draw more interest from Trenton’s fastest-growing population.
And Kuzemka never plans to stop trying to draw more and more people into the city.
“My next step? Well, I’m focused on this weekend, but going forward? We haven’t yet hit our potential, haven’t come close to hitting our ceiling. And neither has the city of Trenton.”