March to Rutgers Gardens Project

March2RUGardens

The first project of the Arts Integration Research (AIR) Collaborative, the March to Rutgers Gardens was a choreographed walking intervention acknowledging the desire for safe and inclusive access to nature for the diverse constituents of Rutgers–New Brunswick and its surrounding communities. On September 25, 2021, 500 participants joined a two-mile walk from the Cook-Douglass campus to Rutgers Gardens, a 180-acre resource currently accessible only by car.

March to Rutgers Gardens – AIR Collaborative

A short documentary providing glimpses of the March to Rutgers Gardens.

March to Rutgers Gardens – AIR Collaborative

This short documentary video provides glimpses of the March to Rutgers Gardens, a choreographed walking intervention acknowledging the desire for safe and inclusive access to nature for the diverse constituents of Rutgers–New Brunswick and surrounding communities. On September 25, 2021, over 500 participants joined a two-mile walk from the Cook-Douglass campus to Rutgers Gardens, a 180-acre resource currently accessible only by car.

Credits

March to Rutgers Gardens Directors: Anette Freytag and Julia M. Ritter
Cinematographer: Demoie Montego
Camera Operators: Capri Leone and Tamara Tinawi
Post production: Demoie Montego
Sound: Demoie Montego
Original Sound: Watershed, composed by Scott Ordway, performed by the Rutgers Voorhees Choir, directed by Brandon Williams
Additional Sound: Rutgers Marching Band, directed by Todd Nichols and Julia Baumanis

Images from the March to Rutgers Gardens

People with March 2 RU Gardens event sign

Brandon Williams, ISGRJ Early Career Faculty Fellow and director of the Rutgers Voorhees Choir, with choristers in the Cow Tunnel under U.S. Route 1 on the Rutgers–New Brunswick campus. Williams led the choir in a performance of "Watershed," a sound installation for vocal ensemble composed by music professor Scott Ordway. Image credit: Brandon Williams

Local members of GirlTrek participating in the March2RUGardens. GirlTrek is the largest public health nonprofit for African-American women and girls in the United States, pioneering a health movement grounded in civil rights history and principles through walking campaigns, community leadership, and health advocacy. Image credit: John Evans

Encircled by March2RUGardens participants, B.F.A. acting majors Lux McCastle (left), Ellen Valencia (center), and Grace Issacs (right) perform "The Allegory of Water, Land, and Air," written by Christopher Cartmill, associate chair and head of dramaturgy, Mason Gross School of the Arts theater department. Image credit: John Evans

Movement installation by Camille Moten, M.F.A. alumna in dance, performed by members of the Company of Collaborative Artists (www.cocamoves.com). Moten’s choreography is a response to the forced labor of bodies, specifically those that were enslaved, impoverished, homeless, and unfairly policed. Image credit: John Evans

Young participants of the March2RUGardens converse with B.F.A. actors Grace Issacs (AIR), Lux McCastle (WATER), and Ellen Valencia (LAND), following their performance of "The Allegory of Water, Land, and Air," written by Christopher Cartmill, associate chair and head of dramaturgy, Mason Gross School of the Arts theater department. Image credit: Elizabeth Calderone

Participants of all ages joined the March2RUGardens on September 25, 2021. This publicly engaged, arts-integrated event offered opportunities to discover and celebrate the resources of the university while building collective awareness of the benefits of walking and community connectivity. Image credit: John Evans

About the March to Rutgers Gardens

A March of Learning and Performance: As they walked, participants encountered live performances of Fluxus scores, dance, music, and storytelling and learned from guest and faculty speakers about the many layers of history held by the land upon which Rutgers is built.

Participants: The march attracted 500 participants, 150 of them involved as performers, speakers, or volunteers. Participants included members of Rutgers and surrounding communities, including students, faculty, and staff of the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, Mason Gross School of the Arts, School of Arts and Sciences, and Douglass Residential College, as well as Rutgers University Libraries faculty and staff.

Sponsors: Institute for the Study of Global Racial Justice; School of Environmental and Biological Sciences; Mason Gross School of the Arts; Douglass Residential College; Division of Diversity, Inclusion, and Community Engagement; Center for Women in the Arts and Humanities; Collaborative Center for Community-Engaged Learning and Research; Rutgers Gardens; Zimmerli Art Museum.

Organizers: Led by Anette Freytag, Department of Landscape Architecture, School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, and Julia M. Ritter, Department of Dance, Mason Gross School of the Arts

View the day's program
Learn about the AIR Collaborative

March to Rutgers Gardens Project

March2RUGardens

March to Rutgers Gardens – AIR Collaborative

About the March to Rutgers Gardens

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