The Jersey City Independent "

photo by Laura DeSantis-Olsson (LDOphoto.net)

Smiling attendees in modern formal wear, vintage throwbacks and more unclassifiable fashion choices raised glasses of champagne at the Snow Ball on Jan. 24, toasting the partnerships that have supported the arts in Jersey City.

Despite drained corporate profits and personal checking accounts nationwide, the Art House Productions fund-raiser was a success, according to Christine Goodman, the group’s founder and executive director. The organization oversees the regular citywide arts festival known as JC Fridays as well as other theater, visual art, poetry and music events.

But even in the festive atmosphere, signs of the tough economic times were a conversation away. Singer/songwriter David W. Jacobsen said he has fewer places to play in the region as coffee shops and other smaller venues go out of business.

Tony Susco, who coordinates and promotes events at the 58 Gallery on Coles Street, said artists are cutting their prices and buyers are being more frugal. Susco added that his own gallery’s budget has largely remained the same.

“We’re doing OK. We’re like every other gallery — we’re struggling,” Susco said.

Businesses and households throughout the state are feeling the recession, now more than a year old with no sign of waning. New Jersey’s unemployment rate in December — 7.1 percent — was the highest it had been since March 1994. Consumer spending has shrunk with swaths of the public out of work, shouldering cutbacks in hours or generally tightening their belts amid declining home prices and investments.

The challenge for cultural institutions is staying vibrant as the downturn threatens corporate sponsorships and eats away at the disposable income of patrons. Some Jersey City arts organizations are indeed reporting cutbacks because of the recession, but the overall picture remains hazy, with entities finding mixed results or success with fundraising and productions.

The Jersey City Museum has cut back the hours it is opened to the public, ending its Sunday hours on Nov. 1 of last year, and closing on Thursdays at 5 pm instead of 8 pm. The later hours on Thursday had been sponsored by Target, but that funding did not come through this year, according to Rita Salpietro, the museum’s communications manager. She said that many of the museum’s public programs were held on Thursday.

Museum officials hope to return to the old hours with the start of its new fiscal year in July.

Diane Dragone, executive artistic director of the Kennedy Dancers, said the 33-year-old organization has reduced administrative hours and combined some classes. She said the company has seen a decrease in corporate grants, especially from the financial sector, and fewer students.

“If anyone says they’re doing exceptionally well, I really don’t believe that because the arts get cut quickly, unless there’s government funding,” Dragone said.

Dragone said the company has worked to tighten its budget so it can continue to afford four clerical staffers and five teachers. Tough choices have also included a roughly three-month period last summer during which Dragone didn’t take a salary.

Performance-wise, the organization’s teen company is performing across the region, and the professional company’s already-scheduled regular season of shows remains intact. Dragone said one Bayonne venue may fall through, but it’s beyond her control.

“I don’t think we’re in danger of going under or anything, but I know we’re going to have to work differently as far as finding outlets for performances,” Dragone said.

The longest-running freeform radio station in the country, Jersey City-based WFMU relies entirely on donations from its listeners.

Station manager Ken Freedman said the results from recent fund-raising efforts have run the gamut. The annual record fair in October did almost as well as 2007, the station’s best ever. And while a direct-mail fund-raiser brought in more money than in 2007, a benefit art sale in December raised just five percent of its goal, Freedman said. The pledge drive that plays a large role in the station’s operating budget is just around the corner.

“We will be doing a lot of things differently for the big pledge drive in March,” Freedman said. “I am worried, but we’ll see what happens.”

Art House’s Goodman was also worried going into this year’s Snow Ball, but the event ended up selling out and raising $1,000 more than last year’s. The event generates most of the funding for the organization’s programs.

“I think everybody started to get a little nervous about ticket sales, so we really planned it out as far as spending,” she said.

Goodman noted that Art House has always had to “make something out of nothing.” It doesn’t have a permanent space, with Exeter Properties allowing the group to use the space at Hamilton Square until the building is converted.

J CITY Theater has been active in the city for two and half years. After a break in 2007, the company recently brought back its production of “A Tuna Christmas,” a comedy about a Christmas yard display contest in a small Texas town.

“This year’s production of ‘Tuna’ was even more successful than 2006,” said artistic director Sandy Cockrell. “We moved to a new space, increased our number of shows and maintained a very budget-conscious ticket price of $15.”

Cockrell said one challenge has been developing a local audience, noting that at least half of this year’s attendees were from New York. Another challenge is trying to compete with inexpensive stay-at-home entertainment options such as Netflix, which jumped from 8.7 million subscribers in September to 9.4 million by the end of 2008.

“That works against us,” Cockrell said. “We’ll probably do some more things like two-for-one night. It really is a challenge, and I think it keeps getting greater to get people to come out.”

Cockrell added that no theater exists on ticket sales alone and most of its budget is supplied by private and corporate benefactors in addition to government grants.

“We are in the initial stages of securing such funding and this recession will affect our success,” Cockrell said. “Other theaters in the area are already experiencing this crunch. [There's] no money to be had.”

Many in the arts community were quick to point to the importance of support from public institutions. The Urban Enterprise Zone program, for example, was honored at the Snow Ball. The entity – which uses sales tax revenue for economic development projects – is a major sponsor of JC Fridays.

Diane Dragone said government grants have been helpful for the Kennedy Dancers, including a grant from the New Jersey Council on the Arts and a New Jersey Cultural Trust Stabilization Grant. She speculated that any money from the federal economic recovery package that goes to the National Endowment for the Arts could also help urban nonprofit performing companies.

The city’s Division of Cultural Affairs helps sponsor more than 300 events annually, according to director Maryanne Kelleher, who said she has put more emphasis on seeking grants, corporate sponsorships and in-kind donations in recent years.

“I am committed to reaching out for as much grant and corporate dollars as possible to insure that the arts in Jersey City thrive, despite the recession,” Kelleher said. “In past years, the Division of Cultural Affairs operated on taxpayer dollars alone. That is not acceptable anymore, due not only to the poor economic climate, but to the people’s desire for more and more accessible cultural events for their families.”

She said the division has not had to cut any funding to the groups it works with. Instead, the division raised about $72,000 in fiscal year 2008, surpassing that in fiscal year 2009 with $97,550 thus far.

The Hudson County Office of Cultural and Heritage Affairs and Tourism Development administers block grants from the state Council on the Arts as part of its duties, providing the money to about 25 to 30 local arts groups across the county. Meredith Lippman, program development specialist, said there have been cutbacks in funding from the federal to the state level, but that her office has seen full funding and a bit more.

If the recession poses financial challenges for local arts programs, it may also strengthen the creative output.

“Artists are like cockroaches. After everything is gone we will still be here,” Goodman said. “We thrive on hardship. Actually, the art gets better in difficult times.”

Art House’s artistic director Jack Halpin echoed that sentiment, noting that both he and Goodman have other jobs and that the organization has in many ways become a haven for the city’s cultural community.

“We tend to do a lot of projects that require a lot of people, things we can’t do alone,” he said. “There seems to be something positive about the work this year.”

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