Appel Farm Arts & Music Center, located near Elmer, New Jersey, United States, is a multifaceted nonprofit regional arts center founded by musicians and art educators Albert and Clare Rostan Appel. Appel Farm Arts & Music Center is South Jersey's leading Arts Education organization. The center was founded in 1960 as a summer camp, became incorporated in 1978 and has since expanded its programming to include on-site arts retreats, arts classes, outreach in the schools, professional development for teachers, and the South Jersey Arts Fest.
Mission
Appel Farm's mission and programs are built on the philosophy of its founders: to provide people of all ages, cultures, and economic backgrounds with a supportive, cooperative environment in which to explore the arts. This mission is rooted in the belief that the arts are an exciting and essential part of the learning process, and that artistic talent is innate and waiting to be developed in every person.
History
The Arts and Music Center traces its beginnings to 1959 when musicians and arts educators Clare, a German-born refugee and her husband, New Jersey farmer Albert Appel, decided to turn their former farm into a day camp, merging their love for their children and their friends with their interest in music. The first group of campers arrived in the summer of 1960.
Over the years, as participation grew, a series of small wooden cabins were constructed in an area around the Appel home. Albert, a violinist, invited guest artists to perform and to instruct the children. Gradually, these activities expanded and full-time professional staff, as well as seasonal instructors, were hired and the camp became a residential program. The original camp bunks were converted chicken coops, and art instruction was held in a barn.
Appel Farm was incorporated as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in 1978 and, in 1987, Mark Packer, then Camp Director, became Appel Farm's Executive Director. Albert Appel officially became Director Emeritus but still actively participated in the organization's operations. An annual arts and music festival was introduced in 1989. While Clare Appel died in 1990, the legacy she and her husband founded continued to grow and diversify. Albert Appel died in 2020. In 2014, Cori Solomon was promoted to Executive Director after a year of interim directors that included Loren Thomas and Larry Schmidt. Ms. Solomon's vision to bring the organization back to its original roots as being an Arts Education organization came to fruition when the New Jersey State Council on the Arts reclassified the center as an "Arts Basic to Education" classification in their grant funding. With this status, Appel Farm has developed more partnerships with arts organizations, educational institutions, social service organizations and school systems. On-site arts education programming has since flourished to include multiple arts retreats for mothers/daughters, families and Girl Scouts. Annually, Appel Farm's programs serve a combined audience of approximately 25,000 people, including schoolchildren. It receives funding from a variety of public and private sources, including the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, New Jersey Cultural Trust, Salem Health & Wellness, Giving Opportunities to Others (GOTO), and individuals, among others. The landscape of the former farm has evolved as well with improved structures and facilities to accommodate the growth in programming.
Today, Appel Farm's facilities include the 250-seat Clare Rostan Appel Theatre; a Fine Arts Building with studios and gallery space; modern bunkhouses that serve as residential accommodations for conference and summer camp participants; classrooms; a dance studio; a dining hall; two outdoor stages; a swimming pool; practice rooms; photography darkrooms and video studios, and the main administration building. Appel Farm is also home to a wood-fired anagama/noborigama kiln, which was built in partnership with the Perkins Center for the Arts in 2000. Recently, the Center acquired additional land through New Jersey's Green Acres program, which enables this land to be preserved in perpetuity.
Appel Farm has received numerous commendations and awards for its work. It has been accredited by the American Camp Association for 39 years. For twenty consecutive years, it has been recognized by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts as a Major Presenting Organization for its remarkable contributions to the cultural life of New Jersey. Twice, in 2004 and again 2008, Appel Farm was awarded a Governor's Award for Tourism for accomplishments associated with its annual Arts and Music Festival.