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Jersey City Arts Awards Lack Clear Standards

December 2, 2020/in Diversions, Eye Level, header, Latest News, News, Visual Arts /by Tris McCall

The pandemic closed the doors to White Eagle Hall, home of the Jersey City Arts Council’s 2019 annual awards ceremony (and so much more). So, on Monday night, the JCAC was forced to take its festivities to the Internet. The occasion: the 2020 Jersey City Arts Awards ceremony, an annual bestowal of prizes that began in 2018.

But while the scale of the event was smaller, the stakes felt higher. Jersey City has just voted to create a million-dollar fund to serve the arts. The Jersey City Arts Council, as we were reminded several times during the stream, was the foremost organization pushing for the passage of the referendum. I supported the initiative and wrote and spoke out in favor of it.  After watching this presentation, I’m left with a creeping feeling that we made a mistake.

The problem wasn’t the recipients, many of whom are worthy of recognition and a wider audience for their art. The trouble with the awards was the Council itself. Although representatives of JCAC took up a startling percentage of the screen time allotted, not one of them articulated any rationale for the judgments they made. Much can be said about the work of Visual Arts prize winner Theda Sandiford: the fine line between comfort and destabilization that her sculptures walk, her repurposing of materials, her use of pastiche, her affection for yarn, her place within Hudson County’s long post-industrial tradition. Instead, we were assured by the JCAC presenter that she was “really awesome” (ugh) and “ever-changing and really dynamic.”

Representatives of the organization testified, in vague management-speak, to the social utility of art — fostering wellness and equality, inclusion, sustainability, and many other laudable things. What they did not talk about: good paintings, good music, good writing, and what exactly made the work honored artistically superior to the work that was not.

The presenters would not tell. Even more worryingly, they would not show. The move to videoconferencing should have given the JCAC an opportunity to present the artworks they’d deemed exemplary. Yet very little of the stream was devoted to exhibition. Young Artist award winner Tyler Ballon has developed an impressive style: He specializes in painted portraits of great intensity and in images of children who look like they’ve seen way too much. The camera captured a partial view of his canvasses, rendering them impossible for the viewer to fully appreciate.

Hip-hop fans are surely familiar with the legendary photography of Legacy Art award winner Ernie Paniccioli, the confrontational and accusatory tenor of his shots, and the role they played in the formation of the public image of rap music. It would have been a simple thing to show a few of those pictures. JCAC barely spoke to the artist’s significance, which is considerable, and had nothing to say about his characteristic style, which is not difficult to describe.

Why did these presenters seem so intimidated by the art they chose to praise? Why did they refrain from any sort of critical engagement with their own honorees? I am left with the feeling that the Jersey City Arts Council is simply not a confident organization. Not only are they uncertain about their aesthetic valuations, they prefer not to use the language of aesthetics at all. Normally, this would not be too troubling: Many people find it hard to talk about art, even those who are moved to support it. Yet there is good reason to believe that the JCAC board members are the very people in town who will have the most influence over the disbursement of the trust fund. Both the mayor and the director of cultural affairs appeared on camera during the ceremony and took pains to link JCAC’s efforts to the passage of the initiative. The JCAC has the attention of City Hall. Their judgment felt inscrutable.

At times, it was unaccountable. Consider, for instance, the selection of the city’s latest poet laureate, Susan Justiniano, who writes as “RescuePoetix.” Her poem was the low point of a show that was often a mess. The piece that Justiniano chose to read contained no audacious use of language, no unusual rhythms or images, nothing surprising, compelling, or unexpected. Instead, it was laden with inspirational platitudes and empty, new-agey phrases like “the serenity of mind and spirit” and “the gears of hatred and war.” It is no exaggeration to say that there are scores of Jersey City punk bands and rappers who are writing at a much higher level than this — writers using the English language in marvelous ways, steering clear of shopworn phrases, penning words that sing. (The complete absence of punk, folk-rock, electronic music, and hip-hop at a show dedicated to Jersey City arts suggests strongly that the JCAC awards givers are sharply out of phase with art in Jersey City as it is currently made and appreciated.)

No explanation was given for the selection of RescuePoetix; instead, we were simply assured that she’d been in the arts community for a long time, which, while commendable is not slightly salient to the question of her merit as a poet.  As elsewhere, the presenters seemed determined to confuse good citizenship with good art. Seats on boards of arts organizations were treated as unmitigated positives, rather than the political and institutional compromises they sometimes are.

Many of the best artists in Jersey City are reclusive people. They don’t engage in public controversies because they’re busy refining their crafts. Yet their work is present all over town: in galleries, on albums, in basement studios and sometimes on city walls. The JCAC might have singled out the outstanding art exhibitions that have been mounted in Jersey City over the past twelve months or commended some of the excellent curation that has been done on behalf of that artwork. They might have honored an exemplary rap verse or an unforgettable rock chorus and explained exactly what distinguished that writing from other writing like it.

That would have required an application of a coherent artistic standard. If the Arts Trust Fund initiative is going to work as it was intended, we’re going to need to develop one in a hurry. The “new funding stream ahead,” as it was called during the presentation, is no small trickle; we’re about to dedicate quite a bit of public money to the arts. Our gatekeepers and leaders have a responsibility to show us that they’re arbiters with good taste and clear aesthetic criteria. Jersey City passed that ordinance and submitted to a new tax because we’d like an artistic voice of our own. We know there’s quality work here, and we’d like the world to hear our story. But that’s never going to happen until we stop being afraid of words, until we find our voices and speak clearly about what we value, and why.

For more on coverage of the Jersey City Arts Trust Fund, click here.

Featured image by Theda Sandiford

Courtesy Jersey City Arts Council

News Analysis: Arts Trust Fund

February 13, 2020/in header, Latest News, News, Performing Arts, Visual Arts /by Tris McCall

Hey there, Jersey City resident. Do you support your local arts institutions? You do, huh? Would you be willing to pay to keep them solvent?

The municipal government is wagering that you would. Last Wednesday, the Fulop Administration declared its intention to create an Arts Trust Fund designed to channel public money to Jersey City arts organizations. Unless the government reverses direction, there’ll be a question on the ballot this November, and you’ll get to decide whether a Fund like that is something the town needs.

Make no mistake about it — this is a tax. To be specific, it’s an incremental bump in property taxes, and property taxes are already a site of considerable local controversy. The exact rate of the tax hasn’t been fixed, but according to the City, it won’t exceed two cents per hundred dollars of assessed property value. Should voters approve this measure, the municipal government expects to take in $800,000 to $1,000,000 annually, all of which will be dedicated to arts organizations.

That is, to put it mildly, a lot of paintings. For an arts organization working with narrow margins, an infusion of money from a Fund as substantial as that could mean the difference between survival and extinction. Yet there are thousands of artists in Jersey City. Who will decide which ones merit public financial support, and which ones are unworthy?

So far, the City has been inexact about this. According to a statement from the press office, the municipal government intends to form a committee that includes “local leadership, community members, artists, and other stakeholders,” which could mean anybody. It’s likely that the municipal government hasn’t figured it out yet. Nevertheless, seats on a board like that are going to be coveted. The chair of a committee with a million dollars to distribute will instantly become a power broker. Jersey City has long maintained an office of Cultural Affairs, but it isn’t a centralized authority with genuine grantmaking capacity. This would be.

The proposal is modeled on the city’s Open Space Trust Fund, which has raised, through taxation, millions of dollars for local park improvements. Last year, the City began spending that money, allocating $3,000,000 to greenspace projects around town, including La Pointe Park, Van Vorst Park, and Reservoir 3 in the Heights. There’s no sign that these projects aren’t popular, or that most Jersey City residents regret giving the City the authority to use tax money like this.

But the park system is a public utility. In order to make the case for an Arts Trust Fund, advocates are going to have to argue that cultural organizations are something similar. This is a treacherous path for artists to walk. By no means is it a universally accepted position, even by artists, that the arts can or should have social value. Many of our municipal cornerstones — including the schools — are currently in the midst of a funding crisis. Those in favor of the Trust Fund may need to convince voters that local arts, too, are in peril, and that public intervention is warranted.

Perhaps it is. Many of Jersey City’s best-known arts organizations are growing; some of them are moving into newer and bigger digs in parts of town where the property values aren’t cheap. The municipal government has an incentive to create a nexus of arts institutions that would reinforce the city’s claim to be a worthwhile destination. Yet a cultural center like that comes at a high price. Heather Warfel Sandler of the Jersey City Arts Council points out that there are only a limited number of corporate donors in town. Supplementary municipal support, she believes, would allow arts organizations to thrive, and create free programming that would be directly beneficial to the community. Arts, says Warfel Sandler, contribute to the economic stability of the city.

Longtime residents will recognize that argument.  It’s the same one that was used by arts advocates during the debate over the institution of the Powerhouse Arts District. The PAD was meant to anchor arts activity in the Warehouse District, and create a Downtown haven for creative people and a magnet for visitors. The ordinance passed, and the PAD was instituted, but the neighborhood never developed in the manner in which its advocates hoped it would.  Notably, the social utility of the arts was also an argument used by those who sought to preserve the community at 111 First Street.  Jersey City residents weren’t moved to make an intervention. The building was leveled, and its tenants were scattered.

That was fifteen years ago. Jersey City has changed and grown.  It may be easier to convince residents that a small sacrifice made on behalf of arts groups is worthwhile. Artists, too, might have put aside some of their skepticism about the intentions of the municipal government, and they may be less afraid of concentrating power in the hands of a committee selected by City Hall. But before we journey further down the twisting road from proposal to reality, we’re going to need more communication, and more clarification.

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News Briefs

Hudson County Community College has been named the recipient of a one-year, $850,000 investment from the JPMorgan Chase. The investment will be utilized for a program the College developed to address the challenges of the economic crisis in Hudson County that were brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. The program is designed to provide lasting improvement in the County’s workforce ecosystem.

Mayor Steven Fulop and the Jersey City Economic Development Corporation (JCEDC) have launched the latest round of emergency funding to provide over $2.5 million in direct aid and support to Jersey City’s neediest residents, regardless of immigration status. The city will partner with  York Street, Women Rising, United Way, and Puertorriqueños Asociados for Community Organization (PACO). 

Darius Evans, age 45, of Jersey City was arrested  on Monday by The Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office in connection with the stabbing death of 39-year-old Tyrone Haskins early New Year’s morning. The charges include Murder and two counts of Possession of a Weapon for Unlawful Purposes.

Mayor Steven Fulop is joining forces with Uber to announce a new agreement that will expand residents’ access to COVID-19 vaccinations with free Uber rides to and from Jersey City vaccination sites. Phase 1B includes essential frontline workers and seniors 75 years old and over.

According to a report in the Jersey Journal, Jersey City received its first shipment of COVID-19 vaccines Monday and plans to begin vaccinating eligible residents later this week at the Mary McLeod Bethune Center.

The federal Paycheck Protection Program, which offers businesses loans that can be forgivable, reopened on January 11th. The revised program focuses first on underserved borrowers – minority- and women-owned businesses.

Jersey Art Exchange (JAX) has merged with Art House Productions effective January 2021 to help improve and expand arts education and opportunities for the Jersey City community. JAX Founder Jacqueline Arias will remain Director of the program at Art House.

Christmas trees will be collected citywide every Wednesday night throughout the month of January. Pickup resumes this Wednesday January 13th.

Keep abreast of Jersey City Covid-19 statistics here.

Governor Murphy has launched a “Covid Transparency Website” where New Jerseyans can track state expenditures related to Covid.  Go here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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