On Friday, January 16th of 2026, CRI’s own Erica Newsham spoke at Rowan College on the importance of art for building community and for societal change. Please take a moment to watch or read the speech below:

Hi everyone, my name is Erica Newsham. I’m one of the artists in this show, and I’m also here on behalf of Cooper River Indivisible, an organization right here in South Jersey advocating for progressive policy at the local, state, and national levels.  At its core, Cooper River Indivisible is about community, and art is one of the ways we build and sustain that community.

The piece I have here tonight is a giant puppet head that had a bit of a short-lived, whirlwind of a life before he made it here, taking part in our protests and peaceful actions leading up to New Jersey’s elections last November. He’s just one example of the many ways we create art that intersects with resistance and action.

So many of us on the Creative Team at CRI have found that making in that shared space has been not only deeply cathartic, but also deeply empowering. The Creative team is open to everyone, because art is for everyone, and everyone possesses creativity It is a muscle that you exercise. Our team is made up of a teacher, a therapist, a plumber, a customs broker, an engineer, an auctioneer —  the list goes on.  We’re not a great team because we think we’re all the best artists,  we a great team because we all show up. The same way you all showed up tonight.

I think we’re all here because we believe art has a place in this fight, that it belongs in this fight. Just surviving is not enough. We need belief in a better future. Visions for Change is about possibility. It’s about hope, unity, and imagining a future that doesn’t exist yet, but could.

And that’s why art matters in times like these. Not as decoration. Not as an afterthought. But as something essential, something so deeply human. Because we need to remind ourselves what it is we’re fighting for.

So thank you—thank you to those who put this event together, thank you for being here, and thank you for making the space to let art do what it does best: move us, challenge us, and remind us who we are.

If you’re interested in learning more about the Creative Team, or any of the other work we do at Cooper River Indivisible, please come see me or visit our table tonight, we’d love to chat with you about getting involved. There is literally something for everyone.