STATEWIDE – NJN’s State of the Arts begins its fall season on September 30 with new episodes and a repeat performance of an Emmy-nominated program. The award-winning, half-hour arts magazine will air every Friday at 8:30 pm, followed by an encore presentation each Wednesday at 11:30 pm. The program on September 30 will have an additional airtime later that same evening at 11:30 pm.

NJN gives viewers of State of the Arts the opportunity to begin their weekends with a first-run and first-rate, in-depth focus on the arts. Over the years, the show has earned 23 Regional Emmy Awards and was recently nominated for four Mid-Atlantic Emmys. Awards will be announced in Philadelphia on September 17, 2005.

Many of this season’s programs highlight fascinating places, cultural performances and artworks to tour or visit. Armchair travelers may be entertained in the comfort of their homes, while others will be offered insights into some of New Jersey’s most interesting locations before they venture out and see these for themselves.

The season opens on September 30 (rebroadcast on October 5) with House & Garden, featuring stories that find the artistic elements in four New Jersey homes and gardens. State of the Arts visits Luna Parc in Montague, an environmental sculpture park created and maintained by artist/designer Ricky Boscarino, and the two very different gardens in the Nutley homes of Silas Mountsier and Graeme Hardie. The program also brings the viewer to Morven, the historic house once belonging to the Stockton family that became New Jersey’s Governor’s Mansion and now is a museum. Finally, viewers visit the country garden setting for New Jersey Shakespeare Festival’s current production of The Importance of Being Earnest.

On October 7 and 12, State of the Arts presents Forces of Nature, which focuses on man and his relationship to nature, perhaps the first theme ever to appear in art. The program profiles Robert Smithson and Thomas George, artists whose works show two very different 20th century variations on this theme. Viewers will also see a preview of Miss Witherspoon, a satirical 21st century look at forces beyond our control in a new play by Christopher Durang, premiering at Princeton’s McCarter Theatre.

Classical Ladies, a rare look at four internationally known classical soloists and their music, will air on October 14 and 19. The program features guitarist Sharon Isbin, violinist Leila Josefowicz, mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade, and violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg in stories that relate the passionate connection each has to the music she plays.
The season continues with an encore performance of Out There on October 21 and 26, nominated for two 2005 Mid-Atlantic Emmys. The show itself was nominated for outstanding Magazine Format Broadcast, and one of the stories, “Weird New Jersey,” is vying for Outstanding Feature: Informational. Out There looks at creative work that is devoted to the curious and fascinating — from Weird New Jersey, a magazine and travel guide that has become a cult phenomenon, to a story about artists who make robots that make art.

The month concludes on October 28 and November 2 with an encore presentation of The New American Art, which introduces artists who bring a range of cultural backgrounds and experience to their work — transforming what American art looks like in the process. From the detailed paintings of Jewish Indian artist Siona Benjamin, who puts ancient Hebrew figures into modern day situations, to the fantastically detailed weavings of Armando Sosa, a Guatemalan artist who is taking his ancestral craft into the 21st century, New Jersey is host to artists who are reinventing American art by infusing it with traditions from around the world.

The current episode of State of the Arts can be viewed online at www.njn.net. Individual stories will be available to view online following their broadcast by visiting the program online at State of the Arts.

Funding for State of the Arts is provided by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation. The series producer is Susan Wallner and the executive producer is Nila Aronow.