Newark Happening

🌈 Grab a paintbrush and help us refresh Sound the Rainbow, Newark’s community Pride mural!

Join us Wednesday, July 15, from 10 AM–6 PM for a day of community painting as we repaint this public artwork together. Community members of all ages are invited to volunteer in 2-hour painting shifts throughout the day—whether you join us for one shift or stay longer, everyone is welcome! RSVP at repainttherainbow.eventbrite.com

📍 Treat Place (between Branford Place & Williams Street), Newark, NJ

Led by the Office of the Mayor – Newark LGBTQ Concerns Advisory Commission, this year’s community paint day is made possible with support from the City of Newark Division of Arts and Cultural Affairs ,
Project for Empty Space (),
Femme Curator Arts ()
Corners Public Arts () / newarkgrounds (),
Garden State Equality (gsequality),
Newark Pride (),
Equal Space (), and many additional community partners.

About Sound the Rainbow:
First painted in 2023 and refreshed annually since, Sound the Rainbow has become a powerful symbol of Newark’s commitment to visibility, inclusion, and belonging. Stretching 550 feet across two city blocks, the community-painted mural celebrates the full spectrum of Pride, with the Trans Pride flag proudly centered at Maiden Lane.

Come paint and help keep this community tradition alive. 🌈✨

Now on view as part of A CITY OF CREATORS!

MIRRORS OF SELF: ECONOMIES OF CARE & STYLE by Shoshanna Weinberger

📍 707 Mayor Kenneth A. Gibson Blvd.
This citywide initiative transforms more than 20 vacant storefronts into an immersive arts corridor featuring work by 25 local artists and organizations. Through window-based installations, A CITY OF CREATORS connects artists, small businesses, and neighborhood stories, reimagining vacant retail spaces as sites of creativity, visibility, and opportunity.

🪮 Born in Kingston, Jamaica, raised in 🪮 Born in Kingston, Jamaica, and raised in Montclair, New Jersey, Shoshanna Weinberger (Shoshanna Weinberger) is a Newark-based artist whose abstract work explores Caribbean-American identity. She earned an MFA from Yale School of Art and has exhibited widely, including at the Newark Museum of Art, the Bronx Museum, and the National Gallery of Jamaica. She teaches at Rutgers University–Newark.1

💈MIRRORS OF SELF: ECONOMIES OF CARE & STYLE explores how, in Newark, style is identity, ritual, & cultural expression. Hair salons, barbershops, jewelry stores, & beauty supply shops are spaces of gathering, transformation, & community rooted in Black & Brown cultural traditions shaped by migration, heritage, & resilience. 

✂ Scan the QR code to learn more about the artist and featured businesses.

Nearby businesses (within a 5-minute walk):
Amina Hair Braiding Salon – 358 Washington St.
At the Pillars: Pooka, Pure & Simple Healhaus (The Pillars) – 33 Washington St.
Bella Nails (𝐁𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚 𝐍𝐚𝐢𝐥 𝐋𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐠𝐞 & 𝐁𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐲 𝐁𝐚𝐫) – 41 Maiden Ln.
Tommy’s Wig (TOMMY'S WIG) – 98 Market St.
UrBestUnisex LLC (UrBestUnisex LLC.) – 45 Halsey St.

A CITY OF CREATORS is presented by the City of Newark Division of Arts & Cultural Affairs, Newark Arts & Education District, Invest Newark, Newark Urban Enterprise Zone, Newark Alliance, Newark Downtown District, and Project for Empty Space.

Whether you want to march, dance, reflect, laugh, sweat, or just show up and be seen — Newark Pride 2026 has a moment for you. 🌈💛

The 21st Annual Newark Pride Festival Week runs July 9–19, and the lineup is everything. We’re talking sunrise wellness runs, drag shows, community dinners, a legacy ball at , a film screening with the legendary Rodney Chester, the Pride Parade & Freedom March from Lincoln Park straight to Mulberry Commons — and a full Festival in the Park to close it all out on July 19. 🎊

This is what it looks like when a city truly shows up for its LGBTQ+ community. Newark has been doing this for 21 years, and this week? It’s showing out like never before.

Swipe through all slides for the full schedule 👆🏾— and if we missed your event, drop it in the comments or scan the QR code on the last slide to get it on our calendar!

📍 Various locations across Newark, NJ
📅 July 9–19 (+ Picnic in the Park at Branch Brook on July 25!)