Thursday, October 11, 2012
Plan aims to build on success of Newark arts center
Philly.com: The New Jersey Center for the Performing Arts is the shining star of the state's largest city, something that works in a place that has lots of things that don't.
The arts center, a 10-mile straight line from midtown Manhattan, opened in October 1997 and draws nearly 500,000 visitors a year to its 350 to 400 events. It is a warren of activity, a standout performer in an area dominated by wide boulevards of cars and mostly empty sidewalks, vacant buildings, little retail, and few restaurants.
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This is really interesting to me as an arts center that sparked an urban redevelopment as opposed to the other way around, where we see a theatre being included in a development plan as a requisite way of providing "culture", with the quotes. The NJPAC pulls not only from the North Jersey area, but also from southern New York City, especially Manhattan - and as a touring house, can make itself more financially solvent through bringing high-demand productions to the stage for a wide audience. It's neat that they're trying to kickstart the area around the theatre as a commuter community, again hoping to draw the same crowd for shows on the evenings and weekends. I wish them luck with it and am eager to see what happens - 10 miles out of Manhattan's really not that far, and it's on the train line, so this just might work.
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