Blue Butterfly Arts & Media (BBAM — A NJ Nonprofit Corporation), our 501(c)3 organization was formed in early 2022 and is the umbrella organization for The Wynona Lipman Project. The mission of BBAM is to create, develop, advocate for and produce visual and performing, literary and media arts and history programs, and to provide creative opportunities for artists working in these genres. The organization also serves as an umbrella agency for our other creative ventures including ELMART Theatre Service, Five Women Performance Ensemble and our film projects. The Wynona Lipman Project encompasses a documentary by filmmaker Celeste A. Bateman currently in post production, the community forum on April, 22, 2023 and a year end exhibit and public tribute to the Senator who would have turned 100 on November 17, 2023.
Thank you to the many who joined us at the Wynona Lipman Community Forum on Saturday, April 22, 2023. The event opened with a reception which featured live music and poetry produced by Off the Rock, LLC.
We’re in the throes of our second documentary, a film about the late Sen. Wynona Lipman (1923-1999), titled Stronger Than Steel: The Senator Wynona Lipman Story. “During a political career that spanned three decades, she proved herself a talented legislator, securing passage of more than 145 bills championing the interests of people of color, women, inner-city residents, children and families, and small business owners.” – Stephanie R. Sims, In Profile: Senator Wynona M. Lipman
We’re exploring Senator Lipman’s life and her remarkable achievements, highlighting legislative initiatives and accomplishments. Through oral histories, we will examine the times in which she lived. Did she gain strength from suffering the ‘slings and arrows’ of gender and racial discrimination? How did her relationship(s) inform her work? We will examine her legacy and provide a historic context from which other women, students and political aspirants can learn and incorporate into their own goals and objectives.
The Wynona Lipman Family Courthouse
On May 18, 2023, the County of Essex unveiled plans for the new Wynona Lipman Family Courthouse slated to open in 2025 in downtown Newark, NJ. Numerous County and City officials were on hand to lend support to the project and to express the importance of this facility and how it’s going to be a game changer for families in distress. We were there to film it.
The Essex County Wynona Lipman Family Courthouse, which is estimated to cost $177.2 million…is scheduled to be completed in 2025, Essex County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo Jr. announced. The new building will include 22 courtrooms, 19 of them for family court and three for children-in-court courtrooms…” The plans call for waiting rooms with child play areas for child support, space for a domestic violence unit and offices for the Prosecutor’s Office and Court Appointed Special Advocates for Children (CASA), according to the county. Source: Tap Into Newark
(Video: Lipman Courthouse Press Conference & Groundbreaking)
Or send donations to Blue Butterfly Arts & Media, c/o Celeste Bateman & Assocs., LLC, P.O. Pox 4071, Newark, NJ 07114-4071. We also accept Venmo using (@
Blue Butterfly Arts & Media (A NJ Nonprofit Corporation)
EIN 87-4504131
Additionally we want to thank the artists, vocalist Mercedes Alexus, poet Mia X and Carter “Roc” Mangan, Jr. on guitar/keys.