The Rancocas Project Crankie Performance blends one of the oldest storytelling art forms with shadow puppetry, live music, visual art and local residents’ voices to explore the local impacts of climate change.
The Perkins Center for the Arts in Moorestown invites the community to experience the Rancocas Project Crankie Performance, a family-friendly outdoor event that blends one of the oldest storytelling art forms with shadow puppetry, live music, visual art and local residents’ voices to explore the local impacts of climate change. The free performance will take place on Saturday at 8 p.m. Guests are encouraged to arrive by 7:30.
Created by interdisciplinary artist Jin Jung, the Rancocas Project features a crankie performance – a hand-cranked moving picture show projected onto a large screen – set to an original score composed and performed live by Julian Cartright. It showcases deeply personal stories from Burlington County residents, reflecting the toll of flooding inland, where climate related disasters are often unexpected and underreported.
Stories were gathered from local residents over the past year and include the experiences of flood survivors, a creek’s self-appointed guardian and a family whose bond with nature was tested by disaster.
“The key messages: it is on each of us to be available for our neighbors in times of crisis, to come together and share our differences, share our experiences and find solutions together,” said Allison Hunt, Perkins’ director of education. “It is also about appreciating nature and the importance of conservation.”
Jung, who was inspired by her own neighbors’ struggles during Hurricane Sandy, sought to amplify voices that are too often unheard.
“People see photos of floods,” Jung notes, “but they have no idea how it feels when you lose all of your things. Many people freeze emotionally and physically when faced with the devastation. The only way to prepare for the possibility is to bear witness to the suffering of our neighbors, and to discuss it. I wanted to use my art to facilitate that conversation.”
The Grant Process
The New Jersey State Council on the Arts (NJSCA), in partnership with the New Jersey Coastal Management Program, called for NJSCA arts grantees to participate in a project within a designated watershed and Perkins demonstrated its capability within the Burlington County Rancocas watershed. NJSCA also invited artists to submit project ideas, receiving 60 proposals, including one from Jung.
This program is presented by Perkins and Jung and is funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the New Jersey Coastal Management Program, Department of Environmental Protection – in partnership with the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.
