Mayor Steven Fulop, the City Council, and the Arts and Culture Trust Fund Committee have announced nearly $900 thousand in grants to 89 artists and arts organizations throughout Jersey City. The grants were made possible through the creation of The Arts Trust Fund, which was approved by voters in November 2020.
“Jersey City’s investment in the arts is an investment in our entire community. The short- and long-term social, educational, and economic impacts generate a wide range of opportunities for our residents and businesses,” said Mayor Fulop. “We recognized the need for sustainable funding early on, and Jersey City voters understood the magnitude of our burgeoning arts community, so it is especially exciting to award these much-needed grants to so many talented artists and arts organizations so that they can further expand their positive influences in our society.”
The brainchild of the Jersey City Arts Council and Mayor Fulop and then promoted by a wide range of artists and organizations, the fund can draw on a property tax levy of up to 2 cents per $100 dollars of assessed value for every home in Jersey City. In 2021, the assessment was a much lower quarter cent.
Robinson Holloway, founder of the 14c Art Fair and one of the original proponents of the fund, was cheered by the announcement. “I’m really pleased to see so much money going into the arts. I hope it will be transformative.”
Grant recipient Cynthia Renta, Executive Director of The Educational Arts Team, said “The Educational Arts Team is honored to receive an award from the Jersey City Arts Relief Fund. This award will allow us to offer our Family Literacy and arts education programming to more children, specifically from low-income communities, who might not otherwise have access to the arts.”
The grants of up to $25 thousand included 38 Program Grant Awards, 8 Arts Education Grant Awards, 23 Operating Grant Awards and 20 Individual Artist Fellowship Grant Awards.
Christine Goodman, Director of Jersey City’s Department of Cultural Affairs called the grants “a historic moment for our arts community, one that we’ve been working towards for several years.”
The Jersey Journal has posted a list of the recipients.