Jersey City Community Song
Modeled after the Jersey City Community Poem, Art House has created an original, digital, crowdsourced community song to capture and express Jersey City's collective experience one year into the pandemic. Jersey City songwriter and educator Carol Lester curated the song.
In April 2021, Art House Productions embarked on the Jersey City Community Song, seeking submissions from New Jersey-based poets and writers of lines about the theme, "Life in the Pandemic and Beyond: Reflections of Yesterday, Dreaming of Tomorrow." After receiving submissions from 18 talented writers, local songwriter and music teacher Carol Lester, curated and produced the original, crowdsourced song titled “Stronger” using lines from each submission. Six local singers and three musicians are featured on the original recording.
This project is presented in partnership with the City of Jersey City and Office of Cultural Affairs.
Contributing writers include Stephen Cole, Danielle Dadamo, Stephanie Daniels, Chris Garrahan, Deirdre Garrahan, Jack Halpin, ShrujanaIyer, Steve Kulberg, Carol Lester, Linda Nassaney, Leonora Obed, Genesis Pierre Louis, Hara Rola, Thais Sherell, Megha Sood, Sara Welch, David Williams, and Alicia Wright.
Singers include Meredith Burns, Max Di Biaggio, Lola Castellano, Carol Lester, Bertram Okpokwasil, and Alishia Taiping. Musicians include Carol Lester, Peter Moffitt, and Vivian Warfield.
CAROL LESTER (Songwriter) is a self-published, performing songwriter, producer and artist rep, who hosts “Sunday Songwriters in The Round” to showcase local and international self-published songwriters & sync speakers. Ms. Lester has had music licensed in TV, Film & Ads. Ms. Lester also represents a catalogue of String Ensemble Re-Imagined Pop and is happy to make connections for up and coming talented self published Artists. During quarantine, Ms. Lester got the entire String Ensemble Collection and many of her own tracks accepted to be pitched for upcoming TV, Film & Ads projects by companies including mVibe, Vice Media, Sync Summit, LHM, Indie Sync House and Music Supervisor/We Get Artists. Ms. Lester served as an IMA, Independent Music Awards, Industry Judge in Children’s Music and Cover Music Categories for the Six years she served as VP to MamaPalooza Records. In her role at MamaPublooza Music Publishing, Ms. Lester represented music licensing for 80 ‘Moms Who Rock’.
Please direct any questions to Art House Producing Director Courtney Little at courtney@arthouseproductions.org.