The Zimmerli Art Museum Celebrates Women’s History Month at Sparknight

The Zimmerli Art Museum held their monthly Sparknight event on Thursday, celebrating Women’s History Month. 

The event had an Urban Eats food truck available for attendees to enjoy on Hamilton Street. Scarlet Arts Rx collaborated for the art activity, which was to decorate a crown with an inspirational quote from an empowering woman in attendees lives. The Zimmerli also hosted a tour of feminist highlights in the Museum lobby, highlighting the inclusivity of the curation.

Barbara Cepeda, Assistant Curator of Community Engagement, spoke to WRSU about the Zimmerli’s approach to highlighting women year-round. “We’re really trying to make sure that everyone is included, and that we are making sure that we are empowering these stories, right,” she said. “It’s not just for show, it’s not just a one day, it’s not a one month. We are doing it 365 days of the year”

To honor Women’s History Month for March’s Sparknight, the evening’s opening remarks included discussions of feminist spaces in art and at Rutgers. Speakers included Museum Director Maura Reilly, Rutgers Douglass Dean Meghan Rehbein and Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Education Nichole M. Garcia.

Dean Rehbein praised Reilly’s approach for showcasing women’s art at the Museum, and added that Douglass was honored to bring their students to the event. “It is these acts of feminism that are embedded in everyday life that will make the difference in the end… We’re still a couple hundred years away from equity for women, but you come to a place like the Zimmerli and feel better.” 

Garcia spoke about women’s contributions to society on a larger scale, and gave away copies of her new book, “Story(ing) Statistical Strategies Using A Critical Race Feminista Quantitative Praxis”. The book was co-authored with Veronica Velez and Lindsay Perez Huber.

The event included women from acapella group RU Deep Treble performing Girl by Destiny’s Child, and was joined by all-women’s acapella group RU Shockwave for an arrangement of Dangerous Woman by Ariana Grande. Shockwave also performed Nobody Love by Tori Kelly. 

Deep Treble member Nitya Busannagari told WRSU,

“I think it’s really empowering to be in a room of such powerful women, and just women that have worked so hard to be here and come together along with, like the people that I work with every single day. And it’s just a really good experience and I hope we can continue to do this.”

Shockwave Vice President Srinidhi Rajamaran in an interview on what it means to be at a women’s history event told WRSU,

“We consider ourselves like a feminist philanthropic organization, so I think being a part of events like this for women’s history month is really important to use because we like to give back to the community.” 

Many student attendees reported their enjoyment of the event. In an interview with WRSU, Rehbein added that the Zimmerli was a great way for students to expand their knowledge. “How do we activate students’ art experience? How do we connect it to what they’re studying, whether that’s biology, or communications, or engineering, or anything.”  

The Zimmerli is a free art museum open to all. People are welcome to stop by at any point in women’s history month to visit. 

Story by Sofia Velez, Keya Raval, and Julia Saker.