Headlining the evening will be Rose & The Nightingale, a quartet of musicians whose extensive CVs are littered with names of famous musical collaborators and internationally renowned concert halls (from Grammy winner Esperanza Spalding’s Chamber Music Society to Jay-Z; and from Carnegie Hall to Tokyo’s Cotton Club). The classically trained musicians of the quartet, whose musical sensibility run the gamut of genres, can be heard here.

Opening the night will be Double-Breasted, a self-described “couture rock” ensemble based in New Jersey and consisting of Kristy Chmura on harp, Ardith Collins on cello and percussionist Josh Bicknell. Trained at the College of New Jersey’s music program, Double-Breasted, whose music can be heard here, will perform songs from its upcoming release Suit Yourself. The album debuts February 11.

Carolyn Light and Ceallaigh Fogonogelo Pender of Jersey City will also be performing at the beginning of the show.

“Normally, one would have to travel to NYC or to NJPAC to hear music of this caliber. It’s very exciting to have these talented musicians coming to perform for us for free right here in Jersey City,” event organizer Beth Achenbach said in a statement.

For more information, visit the Facebook page or contact Beth Achenbach at bethseye@aol.com

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TODAY

The Landmark Loew’s Jersey Theatre starts off a weekend of “Movies about Movie Theaters” with Cinema Paradiso, which won the 1990 Oscar for best foreign film (8 pm, $7).

Jersey City Slam is sending a female representative to the Women of the World Poetry Slam for a second year and tonight is the second preliminary round to choose who she will be–there’s also a brief open mic before the slam (9 pm, $5).

TOMORROW:

The Landmark Loew’s Jersey Theatre continues it’s movie-movie theater weekend with Woody Allen’s Purple Rose of Cairo (6:30 pm, $7) and a double silent feature — Sherlock Jr. and The Play House (8 pm, $10) with live organ accompaniment.

Art House Productions presents the 6th Annual SNOW BALL, a “black tie creative” gala to benefit its innovative arts programs (8 pm, $80).

SUNDAY:

Made with Love hosts The Great Jersey City Soup Swap 2012, where you can share soup with friends and strangers. It’s also a food drive for St. Matthew’s Food Pantry (3:30 pm, free or soup).

Jersey City Art School hosts its weekly Sunday Night Film Forum. Learn about the works of new, independent, foreign, and avant-garde filmmakers, as well as historical classics (7:30 pm, donation).

Today is your last chance to pick up discounted tickets for Art House Productions’ 6th annual Snow Ball Gala, the “Black Tie Creative” event benefiting the local arts group. The gala will be held at Art House Productions space at 1 McWilliams Place on Saturday, January 21st, at 8pm.

Tickets for the event are on sale here and support one of the first independent art spaces for theater, poetry and gallery exhibits in Jersey City. Through the day tickets for the event will be a measly (and tax deductible) $70. Tickets for the event will remain on sale at $80 for the rest of the week. Learn more about the good work Art House Productions does here.

The event will include a silent auction, music from the One and Nines, and a set by DJ George “Soul” Fernandez, and will honor The Hudson County Office of Cultural & Heritage Affairs/Tourism Development Bill LaRosa, Director & Staff.

The Schedule:
8:00 Welcome and Hors d’Oeuvres
8:30 Silent Auction and Live Music by The One and Nines
9:15 Presentation to Honoree
9:45 DJ George “Soul” Fernandez of Global Soul Project

Art House Productions, Inc. is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization. A portion of your ticket purchase will be tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.

Sponsored by
CHOPIN VODKA
FIZZY LIZZY
HAMILTON INN
HAMILTON SQUARE
JERSEY CITY INDEPENDENT
KANE BREWING CO.
LITM
MADE WITH LOVE ARTISAN BAKERY AND CAFE
NEW MAGAZINE
SATIS BISTRO
SILVERMAN: BUILDING NEIGHBORHOODS
WINE SISTERHOOD

Jersey City Installs Red Light Camera at Newark and Tonnelle Avenues: The camera, the fourth in the city, comes as part of the city’s ongoing efforts to rein in reckless driving.

Mall-Stabber Suspect Arrested: A man charged with stabbing a fellow shopper while both waited in line to buy coveted new Nike Air Jordan sneakers at Newport Centre Mall in Jersey City days before Christmas was arrested yesterday.

County Freeholders Elect Chairman: Jersey City Freeholder Eliu Rivera was appointed chairman of the Hudson County Board of Freeholders at last night’s annual county reorganization meeting, receiving a unanimous vote of approval from his fellow county legislators.

Crime Blotter: A Jersey City woman was sexually assaulted by one of two men posing as public service workers who knocked on her door Tuesday evening saying she needed to renew her contract, officials said Wednesday.

Today’s Best Bets:

At the Jersey City Woman’s Club, learn the history of Lincoln Park, largest park of its type in Hudson County, at a talk with John Hallanan, lifelong resident of the area and past president of the Lincoln Association (1 pm, donations requested).

Poet Jacqueline Hallenback stops by the Art House for a night of spoken word, open mike, music by DJ mEgan and baked goods (8 pm, $5).

In Statewide News:

State Assembly Urged to Limit Teen Tanning: Health organizations launched a last-ditch push Wednesday to urge the state Assembly to pass legislation banning anyone younger than age 18 from using indoor tanning beds.

Daily Commute Map: NJ Spotlight maps out average travel times statewide.

Criminal Background Check Law Leaves Some School Board Members in Limbo: According to the state and the New Jersey School Boards Association, more than 300 out of nearly 5,300 board members and charter school trustees statewide did not meet the December 31 deadline to register and complete criminal background checks. They have been stripped of their elected or appointed positions, as the law requires.

To find out more about the play, including the cast of characters to be auditioned for and to read an excerpt, check the website.

Art House Productions is located a 1 McWilliams Place, 6th Floor.

Like boxing king Manny Pacquiao, Jersey City is punching above its weight class — the list includes cultural centers New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles. So how did Jersey City, population 250,000 — a city without a museum, music venue or dedicated bookstore — manage to edge out the likes of Boston and Philadelphia?

Richard Florida, the senior editor of The Atlantic, used data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey to rank cities based on the number of artists who live there compared to the overall population.

“We wanted to examine which metros have the largest concentration of artists relative to their population,” Florida notes. “We use a measure called a ‘location quotient,’ or LQ, which is basically a ratio that compares a region’s share of artists to the national share of artists.”

Jersey City’s LQ is 2.256, which means the city has roughly twice as many artists as the national average.

“It’s time to get over the notion that only large urban cities like New York or LA can make it as artistic centers,” says Florida. “While it’s true that large cities and metros dominate in terms of sheer numbers of artists, smaller communities are home to vibrant artistic communities as well — many with national and international reputations and reach.”

Despite bleak economic realities and a lack of financial infrastructure in place to nurture, support and sustain arts venues, Jersey City residents frequently get together to run galleries, organize shows and display artwork. They transform ground-floor apartments, glass factories and garages into exhibition venues. Notable institutions include New Jersey City University’s Visual Arts and Lemmerman Galleries, 58 Gallery, _gaia, Jersey City Art School, Curious Matter, WOOLPUNKstudios and STUDIO III VII I, to name just a few. And they are why Jersey City came out a winner.

But while many artists took pride in the news, others were skeptical.

“We don’t even have a museum anymore,” says Hiroshi Kumagai, who has a solo exhibition on now at 58 Gallery. The Jersey City Museum went into foreclosure in July of this year and remains closed pending a possible sale to the Jersey City Medical Center, whose CEO has said he would reopen the museum in some form if the sale goes through.

“Local government is neither friendly nor supportive of the scene,” says Kumagai. “I don’t expect Jersey City to be artistic anymore.”

Christine Goodman, the founder and head of Art House Productions, disagrees. “We have our own Division of Cultural Affairs which a lot of cities don’t have,” she says, “and the Special Improvement Districts are providing programs like Groove on Grove and the Central Avenue Mural Project. Local businesses exhibit art. There’s a new wave of dance, music and theater programs for youth and adults.”

Although Goodman did rattle off a list of reasons why Jersey City deserves to be on the list, she is still not satisfied. The city, she says, needs to grow. “The question becomes: where do we go from here?” she asks. “How do we ensure its survival? Where are our theaters, our museums, our art centers, our cinemas? How do we take this to the next level?”

Michelle Mumoli of Pop-UP Art is also looking to the future. “I can only speak for myself when I say that I would like my art organization to be a bridge to the Manhattan market and the New York art buyers,” Mumoli says. “The time has come for the buyers and collectors across the Hudson, to start taking that 10- to 20-minute train ride into Jersey City, and even Newark, to start buying up-and-coming work from talented, dedicated artists who are busting their rumps to make a living doing what they love.”

Performance artist and Jersey City native Nyugen E. Smith feels that artists are living here because of cheap rents, not because of a supportive environment. “[Artists] are staying probably because of the space they have to work for less money, close to NYC,” he wrote in an email.”DEFINITELY NOT because we have financial or exhibition opportunities for artists.”

Proximity to New York seemed to be a common factor in Jersey City’s success among many artists we interviewed. Eugene Lemay, the CEO of Mana Contemporary Art Center, says he has noticed many artists moving their studios from Manhattan, Brooklyn and Long Island City.

“They are drawn to the sense of community we are able to provide,” he says. “By having all of the services artists and art collectors need under one roof — studios, framing, shipping and storage, for example — we’ve created an ideal working environment for artists. And there’s no big warehouse space like this left in New York City, so we have an advantage by being off the beaten path.”

Dancer Megha Kalia, who founded the Indian performing arts company Sitarrey, jumped the fence from Queens to Jersey City this past year because of the commercial spaces the city offered to the creative community.

“Residents can find anything from Indian arts to photography clubs and guitar classes in Jersey City,” Kalia comments. “There are studios for bands that provide space to rent that is a very important resource for aspiring artists.”

Painter Jon Rappleye, who currently has a solo exhibition at NJCU, appreciates the “cheap rent” in Jersey City, as well as the “peace of mind” the city provides its artists.

“Also the fact that it is more isolated,” says Rappelye, “I personally find it helpful to be away from the distraction of the city.”

Poet Jackie Clark, author of the chapbooks Office Work and Red Fortress, agrees. “Being so close to New York is great, but it is also great to leave the city and get some perspective on things, and as a writer, perspective is important,” says Clark. “There is still a sense that you are leaving ‘the city’ when you head home to Jersey City, even though my commute is quicker than certain friends of mine who live in Brooklyn.”

Plus, says Clark, “There isn’t the same kind of competitiveness that haunts indie/arts events in Brooklyn.”

Photographer Karina Aguilera Skvirsky, who recently organized the community-based art project Ask Me: Tell Me at Lucky Laundromat says she was “in shock” that Jersey City made the list.

“When I ride the PATH I always feel like the majority of Jersey City residents work in business contexts. Clearly what I seem to see tells me nothing,” observes Skvirsky. “It actually makes sense that artists would make Jersey City their home. While Jersey City is not NYC, it has a decidedly urban sensibility and I believe that appeals to artists.”

Artist Tom McGlynn, who began showing his work at Jersey City Museum prior to its move from the main branch of the Jersey City Public Library in 2001, noted that even with the absence of the museum, the arts in Jersey City are thriving.

“The Jersey City Museum closing was a real loss to the community,” says McGlynn, “but it’s interesting how resilient the community remains nevertheless.”

Coach Pushes to Bring Intercollegiate Sports Back to HCCC: Some 15 years after the men’s basketball team he coached at Hudson County Community College last competed in a Garden State Athletic Conference game, former coach Rich Corsetto is campaigning to have the two-year college offer intercollegiate sports to students once again.

Nurse Offers Pedestrian Safety for Students in Greenville: To help bring down the number of traffic-related incidents, Jersey City Medical Center trauma nurse Marissa Fisher ran a three-day pedestrian safety program at School 15 on Stegman Street last week.

One Jersey City School a Candidate for Standardized Design:Schools Development Authority officials last week presented their board an outline of the “model school” designs that it is using to start the first dozen new projects to be launched by the Christie administration in two years.

The Laundromat as Community Space: Dislocations discusses Karina Aguilera Skvirsky’s Laundromat Project, Ask Me: Tell Me.

Jersey City Firefighters Douse Blaze at Laundry:
A fire inside a clothes dryer created heavy smoke yesterday afternoon at a public laundry on Communipaw Avenue, officials said.

Crime Blotter: A 19-year-old Bergen Avenue man was robbed of his “Beats by Dre” headphones by a knife-wielding 15-year-old who later confessed to the crime; a man shot several times, mostly on the right side of his body, was taken to the hospital early Saturday in critical condition, Jersey City police officials said yesterday; an employee at a Jersey City pizzeria was shot at four times early yesterday by a masked man driving a car, police reports said.

In Statewide News:

Sick-Leave Payout Battle Intensifies Governor Chris Christie said that he’s looking to cut the accumulation of unused sick-leave for retiree payouts beginning now and into the future.

Medicaid Waiver Could Take Several More Months: New Jersey’s request to overhaul its $11 billion Medicaid program via what’s known as a “comprehensive waiver” from the federal government is on track but could take several more months to complete, according to a federal official overseeing the waiver request.

Experts Say NJ is Headed for Government Contraction: A bipartisan group of former officials and academics presented a dark view of the state’s future that included widespread government consolidation, worker layoffs, service cuts and tax increases. Experts said that future was nearly certain to come to pass, even with a rosy economic scenario.

State Unemployment Fund Goes Broke: New Jersey has gone into debt to cover unemployment benefits for people who lost their jobs in the Garden State.

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TODAY

Holiday theater abounds this weekend, with performances of J City Theater’s A Tuna Christmas (8 pm, $20); the Attic Ensemble’s It’s a Wonderful Life (8 pm, $10); and the Actors Shakespeare Company’s Christmas With Dickens & Dylan (7:30 pm, $10).

For more holiday spirit, stop by the Historic Jersey City & Harsimus Cemetery for a Christmas Tree Lighting and Caroling with the Hudson View Carolers (7:30, donations accepted). Watch Laurel and Hardy’s The March of the Wooden Soldiers at the Loew’s Jersey, part of a series of “Holiday Traditions” movies (8 pm, $7). Or mingle at Art House Productions’ Holiday Party at Lucky 7 Tavern (8 pm, $20).

Embroidery exhibition Touching, Seeing, featuring embroidered works by J Carpenter and Agnieszka Wszolkowska, opens tonight at Dames Coffee & Espresso Bar (7 pm, free). Check out our preview of the exhibition, then see it in person.

TOMORROW:

Kids can meet Santa himself at the Loew’s Jersey today (12 pm, free, digital photo $3), and then make their own Santa from arts and crafts materials compliments of Hudson County Art Supply at the Santa Snap Event at the Lamp Post (2 pm, $25).

Tap your feet at Made With Love, when Adam Lomeo and Melaena Cadiz perform at a Jazz Brunch (12 pm). Sing out in full force at the holiday carol organ concert and singalong screening of The Wizard of Oz at the Loew’s Jersey (concert starts at 6:30 pm, film at 7:45 pm; $10, $7 for film only). Or get up and dance when local punk-rock band Robbin’ Pain is joined by the Omatics for a free show at the Lamp Post (10 pm).

SUNDAY:

Ten performers from Bulgarian folk troupe Gorana Dance invite audiences to watch, listen and join in at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church Parish Hall (12:30, $10).

At St. Aedan’s Parish, the Saint Peter’s College Church Christmas Concert features a capella group Moderately Bright-Four, followed by a holiday singalong led by Sarah Anfora and Mark Dalio, accompanied by Tom Carton on the organ (3 pm, $10).

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TODAY

Arts and music fest JC Fridays is back today with a killer lineup of mostly-free events. Here are a few highlights:

Some events do you the service of both introducing you to local artists and taking care of your holiday shopping lists. Not Yo Mama’s (Happy!) Holiday Craft Fair brings together vendors of everything from leather to baked goods under one roof (Art House Productions; 6 pm). And Grigory Gurevich and Alexander Gurevich present Miniature Gifts, a party and exhibition of acrylic and watercolor miniatures for sale (282 Barrow Street, 6 pm).

At Bistro La Source, check out the opening a double photo exhibit: Paris Skyline by Michael Steele and Saving Decay by Brooke Hansson and Dennis Whittinghill (6 pm). And at Cosi Café and Restaurant, an exhibition of Nancy Mace‘s collage art opens.

Join BrightMoment and No Gas Pipeline for a screening of the Oscar-nominated documentary Gasland at City Hall (8 pm, $5 suggested donation).

Dance the night away between live music with Kapa Prieto at WoolpunkStudio (6 pm) and the JC Fridays Band Bonanza at 58 Gallery (5:30 pm). The latter’s lineup include The One & Nines, the MiCKS and the Orion Experience.

For more of our picks, check out our preview of JC Fridays.

TOMORROW:

Several JC Fridays events continue today, including Not Yo Mama’s (Happy!) Holiday Craft Fair (11 am). Check out JC Fridays for more.

Chris & Albie Manzo and Chris Laurita of Real Housewives of New Jersey will be on hand for a Levendi bottle signing and wine tasting event at Super Buy Rite (1 pm).

Animal lovers have two events today: the opening of Hound About Town in Hamilton Park, which celebrates with a Bark & Wine Social (12 pm); and National Mutt Day adoption event at Liberty Humane Society (11 am).

The Lamp Post welcomes Cicada Radio, Holy City Zoo, They Had Faces Then and Meet/Pause (9 pm, free).

SUNDAY:

For more holiday shopping, Jersey City Medical Center is hosting a craft fair with proceeds to benefit the hospital’s auxiliary (11 am, $2).

And it’s the final Sunday of the Autumn Harvest of Kittens at Grace Church Van Vorst (12:30 pm). The first three adopters get a free lint roller.

Anti-Fracking Documentary Gasland at City Hall – 280 Grove Street, 8 pm

BrightMoment and No Gas Pipeline will be screening the Oscar-nominated documentary Gasland Friday at 8 pm in the Council Chambers of City Hall (280 Grove Street). The film, directed by John Fox, investigates just how dangerous fracking is, and just how close to home it can be found (spoiler: the Delaware River).

About the Film: “The largest domestic natural gas drilling boom in history has swept across the United States. The Halliburton-developed drilling technology of “fracking” or hydraulic fracturing has unlocked a “Saudia Arabia of natural gas” just beneath us. But is fracking safe? When filmmaker Josh Fox is asked to lease his land for drilling, he embarks on a cross-country odyssey uncovering a trail of secrets, lies and contamination. A recently drilled nearby Pennsylvania town reports that residents are able to light their drinking water on fire. This is just one of the many absurd and astonishing revelations of a new country called Gasland. Part verite travelogue, part expose, part mystery, part bluegrass banjo meltdown, part showdown.”

For More Information visit the website, watch the trailer.

Pro Arts Jersey City’s Art Eat-Up: Democratically Chosen Art Proposal Takes Home Cash – 39 Erie Street, 7 pm – 10 pm UPDATE: This event has been canceled and is being rescheduled for February.

Pro Arts Jersey City, the arts umbrella group, is holding their fourth Art Eat-Up, a fundraiser dinner with a democratic sensibility. For a small donation you can cast a vote on the artists’ proposals you find most deserving of funding. $20 gets you a meal, a beverage and a ballot, $10 a drink and a ballot, and $5 just a ballot. The votes will be counted at the end of the night and a winner awarded. In previous Eat-Ups, winning proposals have received upwards of $600.

Not Yo Mama’s Holiday Craft Fair and Art House Productions Fundraiser 1 McWilliams Place, 6 pm – 10 pm (Friday); 11 am – 6 pm (Saturday)

The 3rd annual Not Yo Mama’s Holiday Craft Fair brings together local artists and artisans for a two-day crafts fair starting Friday, at 6pm to 10pm, and running through Saturday, December 3rd, from 11 am – 6 pm. Featuring over 50 vendors (partial list: Bag the Habit, the Jersey City Craft Ma#a, Sassy Sweet Treats, The Craftmen, Bonnie Gloris, Kudu-lah Kritters (Brooklyn), and many more), the crafts fair gives you the opportunity to shop early and local for your holiday gifts.

The Fair will continue Saturday with craft tutorials such as a free ornament-making workshop and “holiday how-to’s.” The fair encourages a $5 donation to benefit Art House Productions.

4th Street Arts Presents Round Two of “Take Your Chances” – 371 4th Street (and surrounding area), 7 pm –10 pm

4th Street Arts wants you and whatever instrument / noise-maker you have nearby to swing by for a night of music performance and participation on and around 371 4th Street. The group’s positive message to those on the fence: “Scratch the surface and find it inside you. It’s okay, we’re right here.” It’s as “posi” as music gets.

Dynasty December Gallery Opening / Costume Party – 315 3rd Street, 7 pm – 10 pm

Wealthy affectation, 80′s hair stylings, champagne and caviar, all to the backdrop of a screening of exclusively the “cat-fights” from ABC’s soap opera “Dynasty.” Jersey City arts collective _gaia’s costume party and gallery opening is going to have “big hair, big shoulder pads, and power dress attire… Dress to impress!” So wear your costume of dated affluence and watch as political correctness rolls over in its grave for the night. Oh, and there will be hors d’oeuvres, and cocktails along with art on the walls in case you grow tired of mud fights and face slaps (we’re thinking unlikely).

Jersey City Art School Workshop – 313 3rd Street, 1 pm – 8 pm

JC Fridays wants your budding and/or latent talent to (re-)emerge and is offering the tools for you to do this. Visit the Jersey City Art School Workshop to get your art skill sets back on track.

JCAS, the downtown for-profit artist collective and studio space, is looking to pair your visual arts skills-in-progress with one of their artists. Whether it’s portraiture, poster design, T-shirt design, or just about any other visual medium, you’re going to find an artist’s guidance at the JCAS workshop. There are 7 studios in the 1,800 square-foot facility, as well as an event space and screen printing/etching studio. While you’re there learn about their weekly illustration seminars and film screenings, not to mention the plethora of other visual arts taught at JCAS.

A Sound Start / Winter Open House 489 Jersey Avenue, 10 am

A free day of music lessons for children is being offered at A Sound Start every hour on the hour (from 10am until 2pm). Founded by Kindermusik Maestro Andi Gunden, A Sound Start’s interactive demonstration will give a look at how the school works and the classes offered throughout the year such as Kindermusik, Itsy Bitsy Yoga, and a Percussion Workshop. For more information on the school visit the website.

Pianoland @ Morgan Junction, After-After Party, 196 Morgan Street, 11:30 pm – 6 am

Because why stop when the bars do? Live music and DJs spinning at this free to all event that will “bring you safely to the morning sun,” according to the organizers. Of course at that point you’ll probably want to get your 5 hours of sleep in before Not Yo Mama’s Craft Fair continues at 11:30 am on Saturday.

Too many to choose from? There are dozens more listed at the JC Fridays website, so check the schedule and plan accordingly.