Newark Renaissance: A Living Archive is a free, all-ages community celebration built around a simple and powerful idea: Newark’s story belongs to the people who lived it. And tonight, we’re writing it together.

When you walk in, you immediately become more than an attendee. You become a contributor. The Scrap Up’s Community Memory Lab will digitize your photos, flyers and keepsakes on-site, adding them directly to a growing public archive housed at the Newark Public Library. Your grandmother’s birthday photo. That flyer from the block party. The ticket stub you never threw away. All of it belongs here.

During the event, a live DJ will keep the room moving all night, weaving the soundtrack of the city into every corner of the space. On the walls, a curated photography showcase celebrates Newark’s creative culture in full, featuring local artists, neighborhood moments and live captures from the North to Shore Festival. It’s a gallery, a party and a time capsule all at once. The photo exhibit will be open to the public to view from June 26th – July 10th, 2026.

And before you leave, the Marked in History activation gives every attendee a Polaroid portrait — yours to keep, and yours to give to the record.

Free. Open to all ages. Built by this community, for this community.