The Tamaqua Safety Initiative, Tamaqua Community Art Center, and Dear Tamaqua Leadership Committee announce a new collaborative venture aimed at drawing attention to, awareness of, and hope for the future of the Tamaqua Community. Entitled Dear Tamaqua, the project will encourage community-wide participation reaching all segments of the population, building toward a more complete ownership of Tamaqua’s unique identity.
The Dear Tamaqua project will occur in two phases. In the first phase, current and past residents will be encouraged to share personal memories, experiences, and hopes for the future life of Tamaqua.  Phase two will host a large-scale public spectacle in the streets of Tamaqua in August 2015, bringing to life the stories gathered during phase one.
Leona Rega, Tamaqua Safety Initiative Coordinator, shares the inspiration for the project: “Through our efforts over the past two years, the initiative has noticed an interesting disparity in those who love and appreciate their community, yet have deep concerns about its future because of crime, safety, jobs, family, lack of neighborhood connections, and more. The project aims to bring the ‘behind the door,’ private conversations of how people feel about and what they envision for their community to light, and serve as a catalyst for change.”
Dear Tamaqua seeks the good and bad perspectives of all the community to be penned to paper or submitted online, as original music, video, poetry, visual art, etc. All of Tamaqua’s citizens are encouraged to contribute material to be used in the project; any medium that communicates a personal memory, a unique Tamaqua experience, or hope for the future will be accepted, reviewed, and archived for future generations.
The venture is joined by Tamaqua native and local arts professional Kathy Odorizzi who is employed by the Allentown Arts Museum. She has encouraged the Dear Tamaqua project to answer; “Why is this community unique and special to so many people, and how do each of us fit into it?”
Knowing the scale of this community-based project, Odorizzi connected the Dear Tamaqua leadership with Touchstone Theatre, a Bethlehem-based group with a long history of creating powerful, original, community-based art. Touchstone company members will participate in an Artist-in-Residency program to assist in the story gathering and final performance. Touchstone’s Artistic Director, James P. Jordan, is also a Tamaqua native. “If you would have told me,” says Jordan, “as a graduating senior at Tamaqua High, that almost two decades later, I would be coming back to lead a project like this, I would have thought you were crazy. But it feels as if I’ve come full circle, and now it’s my chance to do something positive for a place that is such a part of me.”
Complete community participation is encouraged from local social clubs, schools, businesses, bars, etc. and past and present residents. “It’s the voice of the people who make a difference in the future direction of any venture,” adds Rega. “All we ask is for respectful communication for a better, safer, more connected tomorrow.”
A public meeting on Wednesday, April 16th, 2014 from 6 to- 7 PM, will be held at the Tamaqua Community Art Center (125 Pine Street) for anyone who wishes to learn more about the project, lend assistance, or participate in future development needs.
Entries submitted before May 1, 2014 will be eligible for inclusion in a public presentation at the Tamaqua Summer Fest 2014 on June 15, 2014 and the National Night Out on August 5, 2014.  All entries will help serve as inspiration for the large-scale public spectacle presented in the streets of Tamaqua on August 4, 2015. Physical letters may be mailed to Tamaqua Safety Initiative, c/o Dear Tamaqua, 125 Pine Street, Tamaqua, PA 18252. Electronic submission may be entered through the project website at www.deartamaqua.com or via Facebook at www.facebook.com/pages/Dear-Tamaqua/530284830422222. For more information on the project, including how to get involved or to make a monetary or in-kind donation, contact Leona Rega at (570) 668-1192 or email: leona@tacp.info.
Dear Tamaqua is funded in part by the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts through a partnership with Jump Street of Harrisburg, a community based arts incubator and LISC, Local Initiative Support Corporation.

Click HERE to read a related story in the Times News newspaper.