About Us

About Us

NJAC - Cultivating Art in the Garden State

Dr. Kimberly Burja, President

Dr. Kimberly Burja is a percussionist, composer and educator, whose strength lies within the diversity of her experience. As a musician, she has been deeply committed to the creation and performance of Contemporary Classical music. She is co-founder and Executive Director of the New Jersey Arts Collective, an organization whose purpose is to promote the art and artists of New Jersey. Dr. Burja is currently the principal percussionist with the Ionisation New Music Ensemble and has previously performed with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Royal Ballet of London Orchestra, the Artichoke Dance Company (NYC) and Wide Open Arts at the 2000 Philadelphia Fringe Festival. In 2003, she served as musician / composer for the American Dance Festival (Durham, NC) and her commissioned score for the play, The Yellow Boat, was performed by the Wellington School (Columbus, OH) at the 2004 International Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, SCOTLAND. Other musical commissions include music for The Three Musketeers, The Jungle Book and most recently, An Act of Genesis, a multi-media collaboration for orchestra, dance and visual art. Dr. Burja has also studied many musical cultures from around the globe. Her study of Ewe music culminated in a summer-long residency in Ghana, AFRICA, where she studied with Master Drummer and Dancer, Godwin Agbeli. Additional studies include the Zimbabwean mbira with Erica Kumdidzora–Azim, the Ghanaian gyil with Bernard Woma and the Senegalese djembe with Doug Floyd. Most recently, she studied Newari music with Buddhalal Manandhar at the University of Kathmandu, NEPAL. On the subject of World Music, she has been a guest lecturer at William Paterson University, New Jersey School of the Arts and at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC), where she presented a performance lecture with World Music Percussion Ensemble Mbiradinda, on the amadinda xylophone from Uganda. As an educator, Dr. Burja has taught at Rutgers University and the University of Miami, as well at several High Schools in Texas, Florida and now in New Jersey. She recently served as Director of the Passaic Valley School for the Performing and Visual Arts, developing and implementing curriculum in Music, Theatre, Visual Art and Dance. Dr. Burja is currently the Band Director at Tenafly Middle School and is a longtime summer faculty member at the Interlochen Center for the Arts (Interlochen, MI). She has degrees from the University of North Texas (B.A.), University of Miami (M.M.) and Rutgers University (D.M.A.).

Darren Gage, Vice President

Darren Gage is a composer, arranger, music educator and percussionist. He and his wife, Kimberly Burja, co-founded the New Jersey Arts Collective in 2001. Darren currently serves as the group’s Artistic Director, as well as Director of NJAC’s New Music ensemble, Ionisation. His compositions have been performed by ensembles that include Helix! (New Brunswick, NJ), the Society of Chromatic Art (NYC), the Interlochen Faculty Chamber Ensemble (Interlochen, MI), and the faculty at American Dance Festival (Durham, NC). Mr. Gage is a member of the Music Theory faculty at William Paterson University and has studied with Charles Wuorinen in the Music Composition Ph.D. program at Rutgers University. Gage is currently completing his doctoral thesis project, a large-scale work for Symphony Orchestra based on the sketches of Dutch graphic artist, M.C. Escher.

Dr. Christian Carey, Secretary

Christian Carey is active as a composer, performer, and writer. He has received degrees from the Juilliard School (B.Mus.), Boston University (MM), and Rutgers University (Ph.D.). His compositions have been performed by the New York New Music Ensemble, the Cassatt String Quartet, the Atlantic Chamber Orchestra, the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, Ionisation, and the Helix! New Music Ensemble, at Lincoln Center, the June in Buffalo Festival, the Music Academy of the West, the Aspen Music Festival, Two River Theater Company, the Montclair Art Museum, the Progressions Series in Baltimore, Maryland, and Music ‘99 at the University of Cincinnati. He recently fulfilled a commission for the Society for Chromatic Art and is currently at work on a song cycle. He has been involved with the NJAC as Artistic Advisor and program note annotator, appearing in several pre-concert talks. This past spring he gave a lecture on Morton Feldman and Samuel Beckett at Monmouth University as part of Two River Theater Company’s festival commemorating the Beckett Centennial and was one of the judges for NJAC’s first composition competition. Dr. Carey is Coordinator of the Aural Skills Program and is on the music theory faculty at the Manhattan School of Music. His articles and reviews have been published in various online and print publications, including Signal to Noise, All About Jazz, Copper Press Magazine, Sequenza 21, and Musicworks."

Judy Stanton, Treasurer

Judy Stanton is both a musician and an accountant. Originally Judy attended Oberlin College in Ohio where she studied piano performance with Sanford Margolis. She then continued her studies at the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago, Illinois, under the tutelage of William Browning. After marriage and children Judy returned to school, became a Certified Public Accountant and received her BSBM in Accounting with honors from Roosevelt University in Chicago, Illinois. Six years, ago, after a long hiatus, Judy rejoined the theatre and music community. She has been the Musical Director for shows at Montclair High School and Montclair Kimberley Academy, as well as being involved in shows at Bloomfield College, Paquanack High School, Passaic Valley Summer Theatre in Little Falls, and The Arts Trust in Ramapo. As a Musical Director and Pianist, Judy has also directed and performed at local New Jersey community theatres including the Montclair Studio Players where she is a Board member, Montclair Operetta Club, Nutley Little Theatre, Gaslamp Players in Glenridge, and Teaneck New Theatre. She spent several years accompanying for David Singer’s pre-college clarinet students, as well as working with and accompanying for local New Jersey high school students preparing for and performing in college musical theatre auditions. When she is not directing or performing, Judy runs her own systems and management consulting firm that has served clients in both the New York and Chicago metropolitan areas for the last fifteen years. She now hopes to apply her combined business acumen and musical talents to promote and serve the New Jersey Arts Collective.

L. Patrick Gage, Board member

L. Patrick Gage, Ph.D., is a founding board member of the New Jersey Arts Collective. Dr. Gage has enjoyed a successful career as a research executive in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry with Hoffman-La Roche (VP), Genetics Institute (President), and Wyeth Research (President). He is currently a Venture Partner at Flagship Ventures and serves as a Director of several private and public biopharmaceutical companies. Dr. Gage received his Ph.D. in biophysics from the University of Chicago and his S.B. from MIT.

Guy Gsell, Board member

Guy Gsell is Managing Director of the Two River Theater, Red Bank, NJ.

Benjamin Dineen, Board member

Benjamin Dineen is currently the President of St. Dominic Academy in Jersey City, NJ. Previously, he served as a Vice President of Fleet Bank and has been a member of many Boards of Directors for Educational and Cultural institutions.

Victoria Sollecito, NJAC 2006 College Intern

Victoria is currently a student at Kean University.

Zach Abramson, NJAC 2005 College Intern

Zach Abramson was born in 1983. He is an active composer, pianist, bassist and educator. Raised in New Jersey, he now resides in New York City and attends the Manhattan School of Music where he is pursuing a Master’s Degree in composition under the tutelage of Richard Danielpour. He is the recipient of the 2005 Claremont Prize and the 2005 TACTUS commission from the school. He has had music performed by Yes in a World, the TRANSIT Contemporary Music Collective and the New Jersey Arts Collective among others. Past teachers have included Nils Vigeland, Darren Gage and Tom Parente.

Last updated on: 05/19/2008