TUCKERTON – If you live in or around Tuckerton, you might be noticing more live music lately. It could be a new group of artists you’re hearing coming from the streets and porches of the quaint town.
The Tuckerton Arts Community has been providing much welcomed live performances since early this summer, just in time for beautiful weather and outdoor vibes. Many of the performers have been playing music for longer, but the TAC officially came about this year. With larger towns like Seaside, Point Pleasant, and surrounding LBI, the live music scene can become overcrowded, expensive and sometimes out of control quickly. This new artist community wants their music to be a more intimate experience.
Amy McLain, President of the Tuckerton Art Community spoke to The Southern Ocean Times about the new group’s creation.
“It initially started when we started doing Tuckerton Porchfest,” she said. “We wanted to expand Porchfest and do other programs that are geared towards the same idea, which is expanding the arts and access to arts and music in the local community.”
Porchfest is annual music and arts festival that started about four years ago. The idea was to have it be a walkable music experience with most locations on or near Main Street in Tuckerton. Each porch used to be its own “festival,” but this year the Tuckerton Arts Community went all out including food trucks, music acts, live art, and vendors throughout the small community. McLain said she thinks that their Porchfest event has grown each year and hopes to continue its growth as the years come.
McLain, who performs under the name Amy Elizabeth, said the group wants to expand from live events into a full artist collaborative. This would mean including other forms of art, such as poetry, painting, and other mediums.
“We’re just getting on the ground rolling with it. The first official event was held at the Lizzie Rose Music Room, a charity event that featured live music,” said McLain. “The next thing we are taking on is we are partnering with the Ocean County Sanitation Department, and we are adopting a ‘sewer shell’ to paint, which will be located at the Tuckerton Seaport.”
After the third Porchfest this summer, McLain and the group wanted to turn the collective into a nonprofit organization, which is what the Tuckerton Arts Community is right now.
McLain said the group isn’t holding any live events soon. They are instead focusing on getting paperwork to apply for state grants, so they can get funding to provide monthly events in the future. McLain spoke about the Listening Lawn event in Toms River, which is billed as “a family friendly backyard concert series.” She wants her artist community to focus on including more than just live music at its events.
“Were trying to keep it small right now,” said McLain. “We’d like to grow at a pace we can handle. Something that can keep the community going throughout the year.”
The group collaborates with other organizations in their town, to provide great live music and as fundraising for causes. The Tuckerton Chamber of Commerce is one such organization. NJ AMP Alliance (New Jersey Arts, Music, and Poetry Alliance) is another organization – a nonprofit dedicated to expanding access to free creative education, local cultural programming, and community mutual aid across New Jersey, according to their Facebook page.
McLain said the group is excited about starting the public art project at Tuckerton Seaport. She is also excited about planning for next year’s Porchfest, their largest event of the year.
“Our organization was established to expand access to arts, music, and poetry,” said McLain. “I think we are lacking in the spoken word poetry events. I’m a big community-based person so I’d like to host more free events where people can come, bring their families, in and around the Tuckerton Area.”
McLain also mentioned Women in the Arts events that she’d like to see grow. She also hopes the Tuckerton Arts Community can grow to include a weekly concert in the park.
“I think we’re sleeping on a lot here; with the funding we can get we can really amp up the arts for this area,” said McLain.
If you are interested in learning more about the Tuckerton Arts Community, please visit their Instagram page: instagram.com/tuckertonartscommunity. The Porchfest Instagram page is: instagram.com/tuckertonporchfest.
