Although SICA has been only been open for 4½ years, it has quickly become a rising center for the arts in New Jersey. SICA has received extensive coverage and support from the press, including an extraordinary seven reviews of our exhibitions in the Sunday New York Times. In 2008 SICA held an astonishing 10 first-rate exhibitions. The exhibitions include an exhibition of recent MFA graduates from NJ; a juried show open to all artists; High Relief , SICA's 2nd Annual NJ High School Sculpture Competition; Sculptoure , our 5 month outdoor sculpture exhibition; and six curated exhibitions.

Although SICA is known for supporting emerging artists there has been many renowned artists whose work has been exhibited here. Some of those artists are Chakaia Booker, Chuck Close, R. Crumb, Philip Guston, Don Ed Hardy, Jasper Johns, Sol Lewitt, Takashi Murakami, Yoshitomo Nara, Ad Reinhardt, Betsabee Romero, Doug & Mike Starn, and Richard Serra.

Our statistics indicate that these events directly engaged more than 1,100 artists, and more than 375 volunteers and interns. Because our exhibitions are open whenever our facility and cafe are open, everyone attending an event at SICA is able to visit the exhibitions. A conservative estimate of attendance at SICA events last year is more than 5,100! This is based on all available data: attendance records, sign-in sheets, and head-counts. This is based on all available data: attendance records, sign-in sheets, and head-counts.

•  Our focus is those arts, which are contemporary in emphasis. Contemporaneous events and influences are continually in flux. Therefore, the arts we choose to emphasize and present will respond to these changing conditions.

•  We recognize the importance and validity of more conventional artistic methods and venues. However, the availability of experiencing and learning about these more traditional forms of art is abundant and adequately accessible to the general public. We, therefore, will avoid these conventions except when used in contemporary applications.

•  We envision expanding upon our associations with major art organizations and institutions, ever seeking to improve and expand our relationships with these collaborating entities. We will always seek new and innovative ways to augment existing educational and experiential programs.

•  Currently there exists an amorphous quality to the boundaries between the artistic disciplines in the contemporary arts. We will continually seek to explore and make available to the public those art forms that expand the definition of contemporary art through cross-disciplinary involvement.

Our goal is to continually pursue new ways to facilitate contemporary artistic endeavors while we explore expansion on the curricular and experiential levels. Developing new and exciting ways to further the contemporary art experience is the vision of the Shore Institute of the Contemporary Arts.