JOY Lives Here is the story engine of Newark Arts Festival 2025: JOY. Through film, photography, and collaboration, the campaign celebrates artists for whom joy is not just a theme but the source of their inspiration, nurtured within Newark’s creative community.
Meet the Voices of JOY
Lalea Raymond
Photographer, author of Joy, and the visual foundation of the campaign.
Lalea Raymond, better known as “Lea,” is a photographer based in Jersey City, New Jersey. She began her photography career by capturing products and events. Capturing this prompted a strong desire to capture more! She now specializes in portraiture, events, and product photography. She captures photographs that evoke emotion. Her work is vivid, cheerful, and inviting.
She has collaborated with a number of notable businesses and organizations, including Nike, Essence Fest, Adidas, Ebony Magazine, MIC Magazine, and FCYO. She is also inspired to photograph common folks on the street and at events. She also planned her first photowalk in Jersey City in October of 2022, which has gone on each year.
Reis Chester (Reisfields)
Artisan and collaborator behind the Illuminating JOY candle collection.
Reis Chester is founder of Reisfields, a design studio launched in 2016. Originally from Brooklyn, NY, Reis has lived in Newark, NJ with his husband for 10 years. With a background in design and wellness, his hand-crafted creations blend high-quality ingredients with intentional design, celebrating artistry, community, and culture.
Reisfields’ products have been featured in Architectural Digest, People Magazine, and named one of Oprah’s Favorite Things 2024.
Jeffrey Osborne (The Joy Collective)
Founder, leading the “How Do You Find Joy?” community video series.
Meet Jeffrey Osborne – Dedicated community artist and educator, born and raised in Newark, New Jersey. Currently involved in the development of social, educational and community arts and culture organizations. He specializes in youth centered workshops & programming alongside his non-profit, Join our Youth INC, which focuses on career readiness within the film and television industry.
Genesis Tramaine
Painter and mentor, guiding Newark high school students in the Genesis Tramaine Youth Mentorship Program with Newark Arts which culminates in a student art exhibition on October 9th.
Genesis Tramaine is an expressionist devotional painter who creates abstract portraits of men and women who transcend gender, race, and social structures. She digests the everyday and regurgitates it as work that evokes déjà vu, beckoning memories of past lives and glimpses of undiscovered futures.
You can view work from the youth mentorship program at the opening reception for Camp Revival on October 9th at Ahavas Shalom. RSVP at this link: Camp Revival
JOY Lives Here: Reis Chester (Reisfields)
As part of the JOY Lives Here campaign, Reis Chester of Reisfields NYC (@reisfieldsnyc) shares why collaborating with Newark Arts Festival 2025: JOY matters to Newark and to the creative community that calls it home. This partnership blends intention, design, and joy to spark connection across the city.
Get the limited edition JOY Illuminated candle collection at reisfieldsnyc.com
JOY Lives Here: Jeffrey Osborne (The Joy Collective)
Jeffrey Osborne’s journey began in Newark, NJ and led to Hollywood where he’s worked as a set artist on some of the biggest films in the world. Today, he’s brought his expertise back home, shaping Newark’s creative future through The Joy Collective and mentoring young people to step into the film and television industry.
JOY Lives Here: Genesis Tramaine
“The dream was not fed to me. The freedom to dream was.” – Genesis Tramaine
NAF Alum, Genesis Tramaine, joins us this year with more than her world-renowned art – she’s launching The Genesis Tramaine Youth Mentorship Program with Newark Arts as part of Newark Arts Festival 2025: JOY, guiding young artists to dream, create, and thrive.
You can view work from the youth mentorship program at the opening reception for Camp Revival on October 9th at Ahavas Shalom. RSVP at this link: Camp Revival
This JOY Lives Here feature highlights the Genesis Tramaine Young Artist Mentorship Program with Newark Arts, where Newark students spent a full day guided by Genesis through an intensive workshop followed by a private gallery viewing in New York City and a shared dinner. She challenged them to push their artistic practice beyond their comfort zones and discover the power of their own voices.
Opportunities like these are vital for our city’s youth. They remind us that Newark is not only a place where art is made, but where future artists are nurtured, supported, and given the space to imagine boldly.
Their work will be unveiled at the Camp Revival exhibition at Ahavas Shalom on October 9, as part of Newark Arts Festival 2025: JOY.
Learn more about the campaign and The Genesis Tramaine Young Artist Mentorship Program at Camp Revival
JOY Lives Here: Lalea Raymond
When we discovered her book Joy, we knew Lalea was the perfect voice to help bring the Newark Arts Festival 2025 campaign to life. Her lens captures not only beauty, but the heart of a community that invites, supports, and challenges artists to grow.
Through her portraits, Newark’s creative spirit shines – bold, diverse, and rooted in joy.
Watch as Lalea shares her vision and connection to Newark’s artistic heartbeat.
Carry JOY Home
Exclusive collaborations that extend the spirit of Newark Arts Festival beyond October.
Lalea Raymond x Newark Arts Festival
Joy (the book)
Joy is a luminous body of work by photographer Lalea “Lea” Raymond, a celebration of everyday moments where light, love, and presence converge. This beautifully crafted book is a 5″ × 7″ softcover edition, featuring 120 pages printed on rich glossy stock. Within its pages, Lalea offers bold portraits, reflective stories, and powerful imagery that capture the many ways joy can heal, transform, and anchor us.
Newark Arts chose Joy as the visual foundation for this year’s festival because it already embodied the spirit we sought to uplift. Most of the portraits featured in our campaign are licensed works from this remarkable collection, created by Lalea prior to our collaboration. Her artistry resonated so deeply that it became the perfect lens through which to tell our own story.
Reisfields x Newark Arts Festival
Illuminating JOY candle collection
Discover joy in every flame. Created in collaboration with artisan candle maker Reisfields NYC for Newark Arts Festival 2025: JOY, this limited-edition trio of candles transforms the many faces of joy into unforgettable scents.
From the warmth of community (Communal JOY) to the spark of creativity (Creative JOY) to the freedom of resilience (Liberating JOY), each candle is crafted with layered notes, original labels designed by Newark-based artist Samantha Treadwell, and a story that celebrates what joy means to us all.
Light the essence of JOY by collecting this limited edition release before they’re all gone.
Samantha Treadwell x Newark Arts Festival
Label Design for Illuminating JOY
Samantha Treadwell is a Newark-based artist, curator, and graphic designer whose work transforms whimsical fantasy into layered narratives of everyday life. Through painting, mixed media, and design, she explores themes of family and imagination – blending childhood motifs, repurposed materials, and vibrant colors into emotionally resonant art. For the past three years, she has created murals through community collaboration, curated exhibitions that create accessibility for emerging artists, and designed graphics and branding to amplify the voices of local creatives. Samantha’s work has been featured in the Newark Museum and highlighted in The New York Times, reflecting both her artistic vision and her deep commitment to the Newark community. She has worked with Newark Arts as an Assistant Graphic Designer, contributing to design and email communications. She is also on the Board of Directors at Artfront Galleries. Samantha continues to expand her reach – creating art experiences that turn everyday spaces into places of joy and connection.
Danté Laughlin x Newark Arts Festival
JOY Lives Here campaign videos
Danté Laughlin is a New Jersey-based multi-disciplinary artist rooted in documentary-style filmmaking, Danté’s work captures moments that feel both intimate and expansive — from commercial campaigns with organizations like Newark Arts, Phillips Academy, and Good Black Art, to deeply personal projects exploring family, faith, and the Black experience.
Drawing from his own history of balancing art and sustainability, he has built a practice dedicated to creating spaces, physical and cinematic, where overlooked stories can be preserved and celebrated. His projects often blur the line between personal and collective memory, whether that’s highlighting Newark’s cultural community, documenting his own family’s rare generational gatherings, or crafting immersive film installations.
Joy Lives Here. So Should You.
Join us October 6–12, 2025 for Newark Arts Festival and experience joy as power, joy as resistance, and joy as Newark.
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