PRESS RELEASE: Rialto Spotlight Series Welcomes Legendary Rock Photographer Jay Blakesberg
The March 19 event explores Blakesberg’s New Jersey upbringing and his career documenting rock and roll history.
WESTFIELD, NJ – February 2026 – The Rialto Center for Creativity’s Spotlight Series continues with an evening featuring Jay Blakesberg, a photographer, filmmaker, and public speaker whose work has shaped how generations experience rock and roll. The event will take place on Thursday, March 19, 2026, at 7:00 p.m., at the Rialto Center for Creativity.
Blakesberg will share how he fell in love with photography while growing up in Clark, NJ, and how that early passion evolved into a career capturing some of the most influential musical artists of our time. His work spans decades of music history and includes extensive experience documenting live performances, backstage moments, and life on tour.
Over the course of his career, Blakesberg has worked with legendary artists including the Grateful Dead, Neil Young, Carlos Santana, Tom Waits, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and The Flaming Lips. Blakesberg’s photography has been widely published in thousands of books and magazines around the world, as well as in album artwork and documentary films over the course of his lengthy career. He has released 17 coee-table books, including 14 published through his self-publishing imprint, Rock Out Books.
In November 2024, Blakesberg opened his third solo museum exhibition, RetroBlakesberg: The Music Never Stopped, at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles.
During his Spotlight Series appearance, Blakesberg will reflect on his creative journey, from photographing local New Jersey concerts with his father’s Pentax camera to joining the Grateful Dead on tour and becoming one of rock music’s most celebrated photographers.
Event Details
• Date: Thursday, March 19, 2026
• Time: 7:00 – 8:30 p.m.
• Location: Rialto Center for Creativity, 250 East Broad Street, Westfield, NJ
• Tickets: Tickets are sold out.
• Recording: A digital recording will be available after the event.
Audience questions may be submitted in advance via Instagram and Facebook for consideration during the conversation.
Spotlight Series: Showcasing the Vision for the New Rialto
The Rialto Spotlight Series brings the community together for intimate conversations with artists, thinkers, and storytellers connected to Westfield and the surrounding region. Each event highlights the creative journeys that shape culture while building momentum for the Rialto Reimagined campaign, supporting the opening of the Rialto Center for Creativity in fall 2028.
Past Spotlight Series guests have included journalist Mike Emanuel, playwright Marc Acito, touring drummer Lucy Rier, and scholars Tanya Birl-Torres and Monica L. Miller.
About the Rialto Center for Creativity
The Rialto Center for Creativity is transforming Westfield’s historic Rialto Theater into a vibrant hub for cultural conversation, live performance, and hands-on learning. Guided by values of creativity, inclusion, and community, the Center will host performances, film screenings, exhibitions, workshops, and classes in a welcoming, flexible space designed to inspire.
The project is part of the Rialto Reimagined campaign, which will fund construction and operations through government support, private donations, and future earned revenue streams, with construction anticipated to begin in 2026 and a grand reopening anticipated in fall 2028.
Visit www.rialtowestfield.org for more information.