ORANGE — The Jennifer Nathan Memorial Arts Fund (JNMAF) celebrated its one year anniversary with a showcase of talent at the Cleveland Street School in Orange on Tuesday, May 19.
The show featured some after-school clubs including: the Kindergarten/1st Grade Dance Ensemble, the Senior Dance Club, the Drama Club and the Step Team.
“The clubs receive funding – either in part or whole – from the JNMAF which is dedicated to enriching arts education at the Cleveland Street School where I have been a teacher for 20 years,” said Joe Nathan, founder and director of the JNMAF. “The Fund supports our arts-related after-school programs and seeks to provide transformative field trips and school-wide assemblies. In April, we took 71 students to Broadway to see Tony-nominated “Juliet.” For most of our scholars, it was their first Broadway show. I established the Fund to honor my late wife Jennifer and her love of the arts. As research indicates, I believe we are enhancing our students’ social, emotional and academic growth through a variety of immersive programs.”
The JNMAF has also sponsored two, first time after-school clubs at the Cleveland School.
“We are especially proud of our kindergarten and first grade dance ensemble which has been led by Bri Henry, a graduate of East Orange’s Cicely Tyson School of Performing Arts and a junior education major at Kean University,” said Nathan. “Ms. Bri focused on teaching our young dancers the fundamentals of dance and movement and they have already performed six times this year.”
The Jennifer Nathan Memorial Arts Fund also funded Cleveland’s first ever drama club led by Luna Stage Teaching Artist Natasha M. Gallop.
Gallop was a 2025 N.J. Theatre Alliance Fellow and was affiliated with the Paper Mill Playhouse, The NJ Theater Alliance, and the Vanguard Theatre Group of Montclair.
Gallop spoke prior to their March 30 show about how much the club members learned and how proud she was of their personal growth.
“This is a big feat,” Nathan said. “The students have learned a lot of lines and have gone through the process of auditioning for parts and ultimately rehearsing for several weeks in preparation for tonight. They’ve learned a lot of theater technical terms and what it means to do a cold read. They have accomplished all of this while also doing school work and being part of other clubs too.”
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