The Jersey City Independent "

When the annual Artists’ Studio Tour kicks off this weekend, Pro Arts will be at the helm – as it has been almost since the very beginning. But this year it will be led a new executive director, Sean Hollingsworth. An event producer with a deep love for the arts, Hollingsworth’s job is to build on the group’s existing work and, he hopes, make the nonprofit an even more vital part of the arts scene.

Jersey City nonprofit Rising Tide Capital, which provides entrepreneurship training and coaching in underserved urban communities, is expanding beyond Hudson County and bringing its Community Business Academy (CBA) program to neighboring Essex County for the first time this fall. The CBA, which has been running in Jersey City for five years, is an 11-week course [...]

Jersey City will get a share of $158 million in federal Homeland Security money being allocated to programs all over New Jersey, U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg, the vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security, announced yesterday. Here are some of the more notable programs being funded in our area: The Urban Area [...]

Through Peace by Piece, Tina Maneca hopes to bring community members together to make stuffed animals, pillows, and quilts for needy people in homeless shelters, domestic abuse centers, hospices, and homebound residents.

The idea behind this organization is that all children are born composers and improvisers who can draw upon the materials and knowledge of their teachers. Not only does Little Kids Rock attempt to restore a creative outlet that was taken away from students, the organization hopes to completely revitalize music education (and perhaps education in general) in our nation’s public schools.

Jersey City real estate developer Paul Silverman and the nonprofit agency New City Kids will be honored tonight at the 21st Annual Distinguished Service Awards Dinner of the Hudson County Child Abuse Prevention Center (HCCAPC). They will both receive the Hon. Thomas F. Cowan Distinguished Service Award, named after the late Thomas F. Cowan, the [...]

The committee, which would be created by the City Council and chaired by Cultural Affairs director Maryanne Kelleher, would include a museum-appointed representative, one council member, and a member of the city’s Law Department. Each council member would also be allowed to appoint one person “familiar with museum best practices” to the committee.

The Jersey City chapter of Rebuilding Together expects more than 500 volunteers to turn out this Saturday as the group rehabilitates eight Jersey City homes and community facilities. Since the local chapter was founded in 1991, it has made more than $2.9 million worth of improvements to over 300 homes and community facilities in Jersey [...]

“The art world has a problem with women,” _gaia founder Doris Caçoilo says. “We need to fix this.”

The United Way of Hudson County no longer plans to purchase the Jersey City Museum building and the museum’s Montgomery Street headquarters is facing “imminent” foreclosure by Sovereign Bank, according to a memo obtained by JCI. In addition, two of the museum’s board members have resigned in recent months as a result of the turmoil.