(HACKENSACK, NJ) -- Do you want to see more art and culture in Hackensack?  Participate in 'The Hacktivator' project, a unique live and interactive art installation opening and launching at the NJ Transit Bus Station on Atlantic Street in Hackensack on Monday, November 4.  The public can also contribute to and activate 'The Hacktivator' booth on November 5, 7, and 8.  

The temporary art installation will be open at these peak commuting times:  November 4 from 4:30pm to 6:30pm, November 5 from 7:30am to 9:30am, November 7 from 7:30am to 9:30am and 4:30pm to 6:30pm and November 8 from 7:30am to 9:30am.

The project's purpose is to collect community input to create the 'Art Walk' at Demarest Place using arts and culture, lighting, landscaping, seating, events, and activities.   The 'Art Walk' is a permanent, interactive public space and walkway spanning from the Hackensack Performing Arts Center (HACPAC) to the Atlantic Street Bus Terminal.  The 'Art Walk' will enrich and develop Hackensack's Transit Village and connect the HACPAC, Main Street, and the bus terminal with an arts destination site and experience to attract visitors, interest passersby and residents and reflect the community's character.  The walkway space will also serve as an area to provide programming and activities.

The 'Hacktivator Press', seen at the Main Street Alliance's Music Art Brew and Fare in October, returns.  A set of three actors, made up of award winning choreographer/performer Claire Porter, Annemarie Hagenaars, and Bill Atwood, will survey and gather information from passersby about Demarest Place to inform plans for the walkway.  Pedestrians can interact with 'The Hacktivator' booth by answering the question, What brings you back to life?.  Once the answer is submitted into the booth and an active button is pressed, the booth and a sleeping performer awaken and the participant receives a performance of dance, rap, skit, or another art form.  The information collected will be used to develop future art installations reflecting Demarest Place and NJ Transit users' ideas and engage the community about Demarest Place.

'The Hacktivator' is a collaborative effort of the Main Street Business Alliance, the Hackensack Creative Arts Team (CAT), the City of Hackensack, and the Northern New Jersey Community Foundation's ArtsBergen (NNJCF) initiative.  The Hackensack CAT is a group of artists, merchants, organizational leaders and public officials collaborating to implement Creative Hackensack, a creative placemaking initiative to make the City of Hackensack an arts destination and a place where the arts thrive.

Creative placemaking integrates arts and culture into a neighborhood, town, or region to build community and livability and boost the local economy.  'The Hacktivator' is among several projects CAT identified to implement the Creative Vision Statement developed with input from various members and sectors of the community.

"The work of 'The Hactivator' project is to engage the community using the arts and to provide a creative platform for members to express their voices in imagining their city.  Our collaboration views the arts as a tool not only to make Hackensack more vibrant, but also to encourage pride and investment by reflecting the character of the community in what is happening with the city’s redevelopment," said Danielle De Laurentis, Associate Director, Northern New Jersey Community Foundation.

Established in 2004, the Hackensack Main Street Business Alliance is a public private partnership between the business community and the City of Hackensack.  The organization’s mission is to address the issues facing the business community with the goal of improving the local economy and the City’s overall business climate.  Since its inception, the Main Street Business Alliance has provided Main Street with aesthetic improvements, clean and green programs, merchant grants, and marketing.

Founded in 1998, the Northern New Jersey Community Foundation (NNJCF), a not-for-profit 501(c) 3 organization based in Hackensack, New Jersey, focuses primarily on civic engagement, education, public health, the environment, philanthropy, and the arts.  NNJCF works with local governments, school districts, businesses, non-profit organizations, and citizen groups in Northern New Jersey to improve community life.  The Foundation's partners identify and resolve regional problems and opportunities by talking and learning from each other and sharing ideas, best practices, services, and resources.

ArtsBergen, an initiative of the Northern NJ Community Foundation, is an emerging arts alliance in Bergen County, New Jersey, supporting and encouraging creative placemaking, the practice of integrating arts and culture into a neighborhood, town, or region to build community and livability and boost local economy.  The initiative's mission is to energize and unify artists and arts organizations and connect the Bergen County community to the arts.