Step into a world of creativity, movement and shared ideas at Express Yourself!, a vibrant day of arts, culture and creative exploration taking place on Saturday, May 9, in partnership with the Montclair Literary Festival. Open to all, this celebration invites everyone to explore creative expression in many forms.
Join us for hands-on workshops and interactive experiences on Saturday, May 9, 2026. All events are open to all and free, but registration is required. Sign up for a single workshop or for the whole day!
Acting Out: Improv Group Style
9 -10:15 a.m., Life Hall room 1200
Crowd Source Acting is about using improvisation to act in the moment.
Participants will be guided in an improvisational game that allows them
to experience dropping into a roll and having the inspiration of those
around them to achieve a common goal. That goal could be silly, serious,
or absurd. Join us for a round or two of a game called Family
Portraits, guided by Theatre department practitioners.
A Moving Experience For All
10:30-11:45 a.m., Life Hall 1210
This session will be a dance class for beginners, emphasizing freedom of movement and some basic dance moves.
Got Art? Take This Workshop
12:00-1:15 p.m., Calcia Hall 245
Participants will explore a visual arts technique such as collage, clay
sculpting, or mixed media and create a unique work. Guided by an artist
educator, attendees will learn simple methods and experiment with
materials during the session.
Snap Snap: Taking Just the Right Picture
1:30-2:45 p.m., Feliciano School of Business Lawn
This digital photography workshop will start with a presentation on the
powerful choices available for capturing and documenting the world with
your camera. Each participant will be given directions for taking a
photograph from a specific location on campus. Jenelle Covino, Adjunct
Professor of Art and Design, will guide participants to utilize basic
photo retouching principles to bring each digital photograph to life.
You can bring your digital camera or use your cell phone to photograph
for this workshop. This workshop is suitable for all ages and all
experience levels of photography.
Drumming Up a Crowd, the West African Way
3:00-4:15 p.m.; Feliciano School of Business Lawn
The Montclair State University West African Drumming and Dance Ensemble
will perform and engage everyone to participate in traditional West
African recreational music. We play a strong weave of polyrhythms on
traditional drums, bells and rattles, and those in attendance will drum
with us, sing with us in call and response in a West African language,
and dance traditional movements with us, directed by calls from the lead
drum.
Let’s Get Physical: Writing Poetry about Memory and the Body
4:30-5:45 p.m. Feliciano School of Business Room 140
In this generative poetry workshop, we will begin by bringing our
memories to life on the page. We will then expand to writing about
embodied experiences. Participants will leave this workshop having
written two new poems and having received feedback on one of the poems.
They will also leave with a few additional tools in their writers’
toolbox.