Stockton University inaugurated its sixth president last week.
There has been a frenzy of events surrounding the celebration of Joe Bertolino, culminating in the elegant Stockton University Foundation Scholarship Benefit Gala last Saturday.
Earlier in the month, BreakingAC reported on the first Regional Arts and Cultural Summit held on April 8, where local arts professionals mingled at the Atlantic City campus.
The summit created by President Joe, as he likes to be called, had BreakingAC curious about the new university captain’s take on the arts scene, how Stockton fits into it and why it is personally important to him.
BreakingAC: You gave the opening remarks at the Arts & Culture Summit earlier in the month. Can you expand on your personal connection to the arts?
President Joe Bertolino: I grew up the child of two musicians and I play the accordion. My father played the trumpet and had his own band. Every weekend he was playing a wedding.
BAC: In a perfect world, what does the arts program at Stockton look like?
JB: Stockton offers robust opportunities for the arts. Whether through our Performing Arts Center, the Noyes Museum of Art, the Noyes Arts Garage, our Art Gallery, or our Performing or Visual Arts programs, Stockton serves as a catalyst for artistic and cultural expression. We offer about 20 arts-related majors, from performance to visual.
BAC: What’s your favorite band?
JB: I listen to a lot of Michael Bublé, Harry Connick Jr. and Janis Joplin.
BAC: What’s your favorite movie?
JB: I love B-rated horror films and I could sit and watch a Twilight Zone marathon over and over.
BAC: What, in your opinion, is the role of a university in a community aside from educating students?
JB: Stockton University is in and of the communities we serve. Stockton is an anchor institution in Atlantic City. Being an anchor institution means something to me. It means that we are a partner taking responsibility for and with the community in which we live. As a public institution, I say it is a moral responsibility to serve the community in which you live.
BAC: What, in your opinion, makes Stockton unique? Or why should Stockton strive to be a unique force in the communities it supports?
JB: Stockton is best known for our unique, interdisciplinary approach to liberal arts, sciences and professional education. We have one of the most significant coastal resiliency programs in the country, as well as environmental science and sustainability. We have a living/learning lab in Galloway and Atlantic City that includes a sustainable farm, greenhouse, Marine field station and coastal research center.
BAC: I heard you singing at your ceremony. Tell us about how that was added to the agenda.
JB: Music has always been part of my life. So, it was only natural to sing with students at my inauguration. The song, “Go the Distance,” is from the Disney animated movie Hercules. It’s about the struggle to fit in with your peers and a plea to figure out where you belong. Which is something I identified with as a teenager.
The black-tie gala, which raises tens of thousands of dollars for scholarship recipients every year, was held at Hard Rock and featured dining stations, dancing, music supplied by the eight-piece band Philly’s Finest, treats from local students and student-led activities like the community mural.
Yep. Guests painted in beaded gowns and tuxes. (Thanks, Noyes Arts Garage!)
But the focus of the event always is to raise money for a good cause.
Isabella Stampone is a Stockton student who is studying dance and who is also benefitting from a foundation scholarship.
“It has helped me financially. Because college is expensive,” Stampone told BreakingAC.
The best part of the arts program at Stockton is “getting to not only work with, but getting to collaborate with amazing people in the dance department,” she said
Stampone went on to say that “there are so many talented, supportiveindividuals that you are surrounded by.”
After graduation, she plans to someday own her a dance studio and teach young children who are passionate about dance.
Graduating visual artists also had their senior show this week at a reception and reverse-networking event at the Galloway campus.
Students displayed their projects and portfolios in an attempt to make plans for the “real world” as they say.
Stockton, founded as a liberal arts school, seems to be invested in the arts and in the cultures of the city the campuses are in. And with an art-lover at the helm, there’s no place to go but up.
