Saturday, March 15, 2025
The Long Beach Historical Society opened its doors for “The Art Show,” a two-day community event showcasing the works of six local artists.
The exhibit, which ran Feb. 1 and Feb. 2 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the museum, at 226 West Penn St., featured a variety of artistic styles and mediums from community artists Stu Friedman, Lissette Resnick, Scott Ferrone, Paul Mele, Mitchell Rodbell and Stefani Jarrett.
The historical society has been actively expanding its community outreach efforts, hosting monthly artist exhibits as part of an initiative to bring more visitors into the museum. This exhibit allowed multiple artists to display their work together. The featured pieces included photography, watercolor paintings and other mixed media.
“We have been highlighting one artist a month, allowing them to do an exhibit in here, and they’ve been having their own little receptions,” Historical Society President Jeanne Browne said. “We’ve been doing that for two years, except for the very winter months like January and February. We’ve been doing it for a while, and we did that as an initiative to reach out to the community a little bit more.”
In addition to highlighting local artists, the exhibit served as another way for the organization to connect with the Long Beach locals. Over the weekend, visitors viewed the artwork and had the chance to learn more about the historical society and its work.
“We get memberships, we get donations,” Browne said. “We have people saying to us, ‘I didn’t know this was here.’ They want tours, we did give some tours (Sunday).”
The museum is currently updating and redesigning its exhibit room, with plans to refresh its displays and enhance the visitor experience.
The historical society is now preparing for a busy lineup of upcoming events. On March 8, the museum will host the “Barrier Island Film Festival,” featuring six short films and two music videos, one of which was actually filmed at the museum. The event serves as a fundraiser for ongoing preservation efforts and museum renovations. It also helps raise funds for maintaining and updating exhibits and expanding community programs and historical projects. Tickets will be priced at $30 for non-members and $25 for members.
Later next month, “Notable Women in Long Beach History” will take place on March 13, followed by “Rediscovering Lost Voices of Long Beach” on March 27. This event will showcase newly digitized interviews from decades-old recordings of past residents.
“About 20 years ago, a person named Florence First, who was a notable woman in Long Beach, did some audio interviews with people and we found them,” Browne said. “They had been in the museum, but of course, no one’s doing audio tapes anymore, so we have a gentleman who digitized them and hunted down some of the families of the people. It’s going to be a presentation of their voices, some of their interviews.”
The organization is also in the process of securing additional funding through a grant from the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation. The grant program provides matching funds for new fundraising initiatives, helping the organization expand its programming and maintain its exhibits. After successfully receiving funding last year, the museum is aiming to qualify again for the upcoming year, further supporting its mission to preserve and share Long Beach’s history.
