Photo of 2010 Studio Tour by Drew Katchen | Photo of Hollingsworth by Steve Gold

This story also appears in the Fall 2011 issue of NEW magazine.

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. When the event began in 1990, it was Downtown-only and centered on individual artists’ studios – many of them at 111 1st Street, which is now gone – rather than the curated group shows that have since become the focus. Charles Kessler organized that first Studio Tour with Pat Donnelly of the now defunct Gold Coast Magazine, and four years later Kessler co-founded Pro Arts, which has co- sponsored the tour ever since. The idea behind both the tour and Pro Arts, he says, was to bring artists together, provide them some support and build up the city’s arts community.

Over the next 17 years, Pro Arts has persevered and become an elder statesman of the city’s art scene. It has seen the city through plenty of tough years, but has also been derided at times as unfocused, defensive and ineffective – particularly when compared to the new generation of savvy cultural creatives and DIY types who have pushed the scene forward more recently.

While it remains shrouded in a bit of mystery, the group seems to be at the start of a fresh chapter, and just in time. Pro Arts launched its first new programming in years in 2010: the Art Eat-Up, a recurring public dinner intended to use grassroots financial support to fund art projects.

Meanwhile, the current recession has hit everyone hard, especially in the art world. Money is tight. Resources are gone. Faced with a massive budget gap, the Jersey City Museum closed its doors in December. The opportunity for the public to engage in art and experience culture is being threatened at an alarming rate, with museums and galleries closing their doors all across the U.S. due to declining revenue.

Into this complicated fray steps Sean Hollingsworth, Pro Arts’ new executive director (seen at right). 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.

Before taking a career break to help raise his twin daughters, who will turn 5 this October, Hollingsworth worked for more than 15 years in event production. He spent more than half of those years in the nonprofit sector, working the rest of the time for Fortune 500 clients. He has worked with a diverse array of nonprofit groups, including the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center, Brooklyn’s Pratt Institute and the Main Street Theatre in Quakertown, Pennsylvania.

He is also the co-founder of B2: Productions, a special-events production company focused on serving urban, ethnic markets. The organization produces Black 2: Broadway, a regular concert event in New York featuring celebrity performers of color in a variety show format, as well as an annual Salute to the Tony Awards event spotlighting performers of color.

Like most Jersey City residents, Hollingsworth, who lives in the Harsimus Cove neighborhood, says he became aware of Pro Arts by attending the Studio Tour, the annual two-day showcase of the art and artists of Jersey City. He started to research the group’s history, speaking to several members of the board “to see if I could provide the leadership and time Pro Arts needed,” Hollingsworth says. “I was very impressed with the longevity and legacy Pro Arts has built.”

While Pro Arts certainly has longevity, its legacy may be a trickier concept to pin down. Conversations with dozens of local artists and arts organizers revealed some mixed opinions on the group. (Disclosure: I have worked with Pro Arts in my roles as an employee of the Jersey City Museum and as a local artist.)

Michelle Mumoli is co-founder of Pop-UP Art, a new group of artists coming together to organize art exhibitions and musical performances in temporary spaces across Jersey City. She suggests that Pro Arts embrace the changes in the city’s arts community and stay current.

“Organizations that label themselves as art organizations have to stay up-to-date on what is going on in their immediate community,” says Mumoli. “They cannot solely rely on the vision of yesterday. That stifles everyone and does not bring about change.”

Others who have worked closely with Pro Arts in the past echoed this concern.

One person who recently worked directly with the group says it was time to end the relationship because there was too much resistance to, and anxiety about, change. Instead of reaching out to and partnering with other like-minded arts groups, says the artist, who requested anonymity so as not to further damage the relationship with the group, Pro Arts has hunkered down and tried to go it alone.

With the current economic state of Jersey City and the broader art world, this is not a recipe for growth, but in fact the exact opposite. And it showed, with what the source says were sagging enrollment numbers and low member involvement.

Hollingsworth counters that despite having “weathered time and economic decline,” Pro Arts has succeeded at its mission of serving its members and “is clearly not in need of fixing,” adding what he sees as the group’s legacy – its survival and very organic growth over the years.

“[It's] the fact that Pro Arts has survived as a volunteer-driven organization for almost 20 years,” he says. “It has grown to include a part- time paid staff member and continues to look to the future and evolve. This is no small feat. Through this, Pro Arts has remained dedicated to its artist members and core values.”

Still, Hollingsworth concedes that ProArts should do more.

“Working with the board of directors, we will next identify new needs within our community and expand our services and programs to include our new generation of professional artists living and working in Jersey City,” he says.

Clearly, the time is right and there are plenty of possibilities. While Jersey City’s arts groups mostly play nice together, they often work on separate, parallel tracks. An organization that could somehow harness all of the energy and creative thinking of Jersey City’s arts community, and present it to the rest of the metro area and beyond, would certainly be a welcome addition to the scene, particularly with the closure of the Jersey City Museum.

“I think that [Pro Arts] is in a prime position to step up as an umbrella arts organization in Jersey City,” says Thomas John Carlson, the painter who founded the thriving Jersey City Art School in December 2009.

Heights-based artist Ann LePore agrees.

“With the tragic and ridiculous closing of the Jersey City Museum, organizations like Art House Productions and Pro Arts are now even more integral to filling the cultural void,” she says.

“I’d like to see Pro Arts take a more active role,” arts event producer Sophie Penkrat says, pointing to a member-based multi-purpose arts hub in Williamsburg as a possible example. “It would be great for them to take a leadership role, perhaps using 3rd Ward in Brooklyn as a model, with classes and seminars that are meaningful, and their own events.”

Hollingsworth says Pro Arts is up to the challenge. His aim is to develop a sustainable arts community for Jersey City, Hudson County, and possibly the region. It’s a lofty goal, but Hollingsworth believes it can be done over the long term “[by] expanding public awareness of Pro Arts and our services, expanding our membership and – most importantly – cultivating active partnerships with other artist groups in New Jersey and New York,” he says.

Hollingsworth points to the Art Eat-Up as an example of Pro Arts’ growth and success. Former Pro Arts executive director Rebecca Feranec organized the first one in March 2010, inspired by Brooklyn’s FEAST, a recurring public dinner designed to use grassroots financial support to fund new and emerging artists.

Eat-Up attendees buy tickets to dine or have drinks and vote on a group of as many as 10 art proposals presented by individual artists and arts groups. The community and the artists have an opportunity to discuss the proposal and their work, and the winning proposal receives the money raised.

So far, Pro Arts has organized three such dinners and awarded cash prizes – which have grown each time – to three local arts groups. 4th Street Arts was awarded $1,059 to create a mural on Brunswick Street between 2nd and 3rd Streets and create a documentary film about the Village Neighborhood; Penkrat and Anne McTernan were awarded $695 for their proposed project to create a public art exhibition to heighten awareness of the 6th Street Embankment in Jersey City and highlight its importance to the community; and Carlson was awarded $640 to rejuvenate the Jersey City Art School’s 1,100 square-foot backyard and create a space where artists can draw plants and be inspired by nature.

4th Street Arts founder and director Mike McNamara points out that Pro Arts has a “big role” to play in Jersey City, particularly if it can bridge generational divides in the arts community.

“Pro Arts has contributed to the art tour for many years; currently they are scheduling professional portfolio reviews for artists, giving out grants for shows in town,” McNamara says. “Remember, many of the active members of Pro Arts are old-school Jersey City artists, circa 111 [1st Street] and prior. There’s a lot of wisdom and experience in that.”

Maryanne Kelleher, the director of Jersey City’s Cultural Affairs Division, makes a similar point.

“I respect Pro Arts’ roots and history in Jersey City; they were one of the first arts organizations dedicated to promoting visual artists in our city,” she says. “Several of Pro Arts’ founding members were instrumental in the beginnings of the art tour, which remains an important established annual event in our city, aimed at sustaining our vibrant arts community.”

Hollingsworth says Pro Arts is hard at work at making this year’s Artists’ Studio Tour a success. The event, produced by both Pro Arts and the city’s Cultural Affairs division, is a tour of artist studios, group exhibitions and art in public spaces. This year’s tour, scheduled for October
1 and 2, will be the 21st annual event; last year, hundreds of artists participated in nearly 100 exhibitions all over the city.

And in what may be considered a sign of increasing inclusiveness, Hollingsworth says Pro Arts has been working this year with a number of arts organizers, like Creative Grove’s Uta Brauser and the folks behind Grassroots Community Space, to help increase artist outreach and involvement. He also says that after budget cuts forced the city to eliminate a citywide shuttle bus last year, bus service will return this year to ferry folks to art shows all over the city.

The tour provides an opportunity for artists and other neighborhood residents to come together for and through art. On a simple level, it’s almost like a weekend-long party. It’s also a walking tour of the city’s art scene, offering visitors a glimpse into the lives and workspaces of artists. Like MTV’s Cribs, but with emerging and under-recognized artists (and more often with PBR than Cristal).

True to Jersey City’s character, most of the artists’ studios and showcases exist in alternative spaces, makeshift galleries, and converted rooms in apartment buildings and houses. The official Pro Arts show, and the closing party, will once again be at Parlay Studios in the Powerhouse Arts District this year.

And the tour is not designed to be an insular affair, by artists and for artists.

“It is for everyone,” says Hollingsworth. “The aim of this year’s tour is the same as it has been from the beginning: to provide an audience and focus to Jersey City artists, and Jersey City as a destination for creative people. Our goal is to continue to grow our audiences and our artists.”

The CBA, which has been running in Jersey City for five years, is an 11-week course offering hands-on training in business planning and management, in which aspiring entrepreneurs learn business fundamentals like budgeting, marketing, bookkeeping and financing. Of the 431 entrepreneurs who graduated from the program, 193 have gone on to start or grow a business, encompassing everything from the Jersey City Food Co-op to a nanny placement service. Its inaugural fall session began in Orange on September 22.

“We saw an increasing need for our services outside of Jersey City,” Rising Tide Capital CEO Alfa Demmellash says. “Expanding the CBA to Orange means that we can help even more entrepreneurs, across a greater geographical scope.”

Rising Tide COO Alex Forrester says the geographic expansion is part of a broader push by the nonprofit to serve more would-be small business owners.

“Our plan is to double the number of entrepreneurs we serve each year from 250 to 500,” he says. “As the recession continues to take its toll, our mission of supporting local entrepreneurs to pursue business ownership has never been more important. By providing high-quality business management training and consulting to entrepreneurs who would otherwise be unable to afford these services, we are providing paths to economic opportunity — an important part of the American Dream.”

Rising Tide has also opened a satellite office in Orange, at 15 South Essex Avenue, in collaboration with HANDS, a community development organization based there. And it has brought on Keith Dent as an assistant director to oversee the expansion there.

“It’s great to be a part of a program that will benefit the community that I live in,” says Dent, a resident of West Orange for 13 years. “By working in Orange on a daily basis I can see that there is an energy, a viable energy that will be cultivated with the Community Business Academy.”

Meanwhile, Rising Tide has picked up some funding from a few sources lately, including $67,000 from the federal Small Business Administration (SBA) and $15,000 from the Provident Bank Foundation.

The SBA grant, under the Program for Investment in Microentrepreneurs Act (PRIME), is one of 100 given this year to nonprofits in 44 states that help the smallest businesses. The Provident grant supports Rising Tide’s microenterprise development program, which includes the 10-session Community Business Academy covering the basics in business planning and management, and the year-round Business Acceleration Services, which provides consulting and coaching on starting and growing a business.

“As a foundation created by a financial institution, we recognize that small business is the backbone of our economy,” Provident Bank Foundation executive director Kendall Warsaw says. “Rising Tide Capital does an amazing job of providing high quality education and coaching that nurtures new, successful entrepreneurs. We are proud to support this program.”

Here are some of the more notable programs being funded in our area:

The Urban Area Security Initiative will bring $37.3 million to the Jersey City/Newark area to address the unique security needs of high-threat, high-density urban areas and to help them prevent, protect against, respond to and recover from acts of terrorism. Under that initiative’s separate sub-program, the UASI Nonprofit Security Grant Program, nonprofits in the Jersey City/Newark area that have been identified as high-risk for a terrorist attack will receive $1.9 million.

Under the Transit Security Grant Program, The Port Authority will receive $28.6 million, and NJ Transit will receive $16.4 million, to protect critical surface transportation infrastructure and travelers from acts of terrorism, major disasters and other emergencies.

And $42 million will go to port regions in North Jersey and the Delaware River area to implement for the New Jersey/New York and New Jersey/Pennsylvania/Delaware port regions to implement maritime transportation security plans and facility security plans among port authorities, facility operators, and state and local government agencies required to provide port security services.

“These homeland security grants invest in the safety of our communities by providing critical resources to protect against and prepare for potential terrorist attacks,” Lautenberg says in a statement. “Our state is home to the most vulnerable area in the country for terrorism and it is critical that adequate funding is provided to our country’s most at-risk area.”

Maneca says she became interested in the idea of repurposing discarded fabrics to benefit needy individuals about two years ago. Through Peace by Piece, she 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.

We recently caught up with Maneca to discuss Peace by Piece, the role of social consciousness in art and the divide between old and new Jersey City.

You have just started Peace by Piece Studio, right? Tell us a little bit more about it.

Peace By Piece Studio was actually started two years ago in my apartment on 7th Street. As a “long time JC resident” I started to notice and feel a “disconnect” with the newer people moving into the city.

As an employee in the service industry, I often hear newcomers say stuff like “the only reason I moved here is because the price of living is cheaper than NYC” or “I was not ‘sure’ about Jersey City, so I moved Downtown.”

I often hear people expressing a certain fear and intimidation about venturing outside Downtown Jersey City. I frequently here new residents make negative comments about other neighborhoods in Jersey City, whether it’s the Heights, Greenville, or Bergen-Lafayette. I also noticed that many newcomers don’t know of all the wonderful civic-minded and community outreach programs that exist in Jersey City. It was important to me to come up with a “meeting” space where some of these issues could be addressed. However, talking about issues is not enough sometimes. Also, being that I am a shy person, I couldn’t see myself running a forum or leading a discussion group.

I am, however, a hands-on kind of person and I communicate best by simply talking to people one-on-one, thus the idea of a modern-day “sewing circle.” I want a physical space where anyone can drop in and collectively work on a project and meet people they might not normally speak with. I think the action of working together on a project in a friendly, safe environment, knowing that it will be given away to members of our city that are in need, may give people the impetus to strike up conversations and get to know each other.

Sewing circles have played a significant role in the United States. In the 1840s and 1850s, they often combined religious enthusiasm and social conscience to improve their lives and those of their neighbors. Is Peace by Piece modeled on any of these earlier incarnations? If so, how, and in what way?

The history of sewing circles in America are definately an inspiration. However, we are not affiliated with any religious organization and we are not exclusively for women. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to participate.

What is your role in the project? How many people are involved? How is it organized — members, volunteers, duties, etc.?

I am the founder and will also serve on the board of PXP Studio.

Right now we have four board members, including myself, and are looking to increase it to a minimum of seven and no larger than nine.

The organization will also have sustaining members. If you pledge a certain amount (to be determined) a month for the year, you will receive free admission to our textile-oriented workshops and will be encouraged to be part of our fundraising committee.

The running of the daily operations of the studio space, as well as the production of the soft goods, will all be done by volunteers (myself being the head volunteer). For every hour of volunteer work an individual gives, they will receive 15 minutes toward studio time to work on their own sewing projects, using their own materials but with access to our sewing equipment.

Are the board members artists as well or do they come from other lines of work?

The board consists of myself (artist/curator, community activist), a computer programmer, a real estate agent/artist and a Jersey city Planning Division employee. I would love to include a lawyer and an accountant to the board.

How many workshops has Peace by Piece organized to date?

This is the first time that we are participating in an outdoor event and our first workshop. The workshop will consist of two sections. There will be DIY sewing stations (adults only) equipped with sewing machines. For a $5 donation, craft fair attendees can make their own tote bags out of recycled fabrics. The other workshop is an actual “sewing circle” where people can take a break from shopping, have a seat under our tent and help hand stitch a quilt that I have started (this one is free). It will give them a more accurate idea of what the PXP Studio experience will be like.

The primary goal of Peace by Piece is to make handmade and hand-stitched goods from repurposed materials for citizens living in homeless shelters, hospices, domestic violence centers as well as homebound citizens in Jersey City. Why is it important to reach out to the needy people in our community?

I firmly believe that the city (any city) is a living, growing entity and that all parts of this living, growing community need to be nurtured and acknowledged.

I believe that receiving a gift of warmth – whether physical or symbolic – gives people the feeling that they are not forgotten, that they are cared about and that they are part of the community even if they don’t participate in it the way the rest of us do.

Your project distributes the handcrafted goods to homeless shelters, hospices, domestic violence shelters, and other locations. Do you have any official partners as of yet? How important is it to develop strategic partners within the community?

One of our main intentions is to reach out to other nonprofit organizations. We do not have any official partners as of yet, however we look forward to it, and recognize the need to build strong bonds with other charity and civic-minded organizations. It is our intention to survey the homeless shelters, domestic violence shelters, hospices, etc. to asses their needs in the way of quilts, pillows and other “soft” goods.

You are currently looking to secure a studio space. How will a studio space benefit Peace by Piece? Do you have any locations on your radar?

Securing a studio space is crucial to the growth of our organization. Right now my apartment is full of donated clothing and sewing supplies and is only set up with one sewing area. We need more space to grow and to have room for the increasing number of people that want to volunteer their time. We are actively looking at studio spaces and/or storefronts, but we need to raise more money to acquire a space. We are hoping that once we achieve our 501(c)(3) status, someone would be willing to donate a space for us, or at least rent it to us at a reduced rate, in return for the tax deduction.

How did Peace by Piece Studio become involved in the Not Yo Mama’s Craft Fair? What do you hope to get out of your involvement in the fair? Why is this an appropriate venue for the organization?

I feel that Not Yo Mama’s Craft Fair is the perfect venue to introduce Peace By Piece Studio to the community because of the number of people and the diversity of people that attend the fair. Jersey City has such a close-knit artists’ community and the Not Yo Mama’s organizers have heard me talking about PXP Studio as well as hearing others talk about this project that I have been cultivating for two years now, and they wanted to help the organization grow. The crossover between the two organizations is that we are both about and encourage craft. Whether it’s textiles, jewelry, etc., the demographics of the vendors and attendees, are people who love handmade, hand-crafted goods.

A portion of proceeds generated at Not Yo Mama’s Craft Fair will benefit Peace by Piece Studio. How will Peace by Piece Studio use the proceeds? Do you have a specific project in mind?

We intend to use the proceeds towards everything that it takes to start a studio, ie.; securing a space, purchasing equipment (sewing supplies, sewing machines,etc), fees needed for 501(c)(3) application.

The sooner we get a space the sooner we can open our doors to the public and start sewing. In the meantime we will continue our outreach surveys to asses how much and what type of soft goods are most in demand at the shelters, hospices and other locations.

THE DETAILS

Not Yo Mama’s Craft Fair; Saturday, June 25 from 11 am to 7 pm; at the Morgan Lot, 107 Morgan Street.

Middle School 7 students at an after-school rehearsal (Photos: Melanie McLean)

This story also appears in the Summer 2011 issue of NEW magazine.

In the era of standardized testing, every struggling public school has prioritized learning the three Rs (that’s reading, ‘riting and ‘rithmetic). While these are undoubtedly the cornerstones of education, the new emphasis on testing has often led to an either/or situation, in which art and music are cut back in favor of additional resources dedicated to meeting testing goals.

With this in mind, it’s surprising to find a video on the web of Jersey City 5th grader Jade Adams performing “Change,” a song she wrote and sings with backing from several classmates. She would later perform the song live in front of 2,000 people at Montclair’s Wellmont Theatre during a show by Michael Franti.

While Jersey City does still have some basic music education in its schools, Adams’ performance was actually the result of the program Little Kids Rock, a New Jersey-based nonprofit that provides free guitars (and occasionally keyboards, bass and drums) as well as teacher training to schools in underprivileged areas.

Since David Wish founded the organization in the Bay Area in 1996 (that’s long before the Jack Black movie, folks), he, a small staff, and an army of volunteer teachers have been bringing their message of music education to more and more of America’s children each year, at a time when budget pressures are forcing districts to scale back or eliminate “non-essential” programs like arts and music.

“Music programs are rapidly evaporating, and nobody is more alarmed about this than schoolteachers, a constituency that has already dedicated their lives to serving children,” says Wish, a former elementary school teacher himself. “Little Kids Rock provides these teachers with the tools they need to do just that.”

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, Wish says the organization hopes to completely revitalize music education (and perhaps education in general) in our nation’s public schools.

“Little Kids Rock approaches music as if it were a language,” he explains. “Infants learn to speak before they are formally introduced to the written language. Traditional music education often takes the opposite course. Instead of first teaching children to produce music on instruments through imitation and approximation, students are immediately taught how to read music before they can play. Little Kids Rock’s approach allows kids to play and improvise within minutes of their first lesson. We also stress composition, because putting children in touch with their creative sides will help them develop academically and emotionally.”

The group’s success can be partly chalked up to its ability to woo star power to the cause; Jade Adams’ Montclair hook-up with Michael Franti was no lark. Little Kids Rock has received support from a number of prominent rock stars, including Slash, Bonnie Raitt, Paul Simon, Ziggy Marley and B.B. King. Fender Guitars provides instruments, the Dr. Phil Foundation has kicked in support, and a variety of other organizations have stepped up as well.

The group, which Wish dubs “a grassroots, teacher-led educational movement,” currently offers music lessons and instruments to nearly 75,000 K-12 students across the U.S., including over 2,000 in Jersey City. After launching its chapter here in April 2008 with help from a $20,000 grant from the Horizon Foundation for New Jersey, Little Kids Rock has grown to offer its curriculum in 19 schools all over the city. The program’s teachers either create after-school programs built specifically around Little Kids Rock, or try to weave the ideas into existing curricula.

“I had been introduced to David Wish at a jazz club and thought his ideas had merit and could be applied to the urban school districts around the country,” says music teacher Carl Botti of Downtown’s Middle School 4. “I especially liked the ‘famous’ sponsors associated with Little Kids Rock, providing a ‘realness’ to pop/rock music instruction. Plus the addition of many instruments made it all possible.”

Botti is a keyboard teacher who teaches in a 16-instrument lab as part of the general music requirement to graduate middle school; he also oversees a “Little Kids Rock” band featuring keyboards, guitars and vocals. Yet as any parent will tell you, Jersey City is faced with more than its fair share of challenges when it comes to the general student population.

John Flora, who teaches music at Middle School 7 in the Heights, has tried to integrate what he’s learned during Little Kids Rock into his regular classes, but has had difficulties teaching the principles to the general population of his school. The main reasons, he says, are lack of parental support, behavioral problems and class size. He team-teaches the district’s general music class, which leans heavily on theory and history as well as listening and ear training, yet at times there are up to 55 students in a class.

“It’s a discipline nightmare if we don’t crack the whip as soon as they come in the room,” Flora (pictured at right with students) says. “So to take the time to give out the instruments, tune them and then collect them at the end of class doesn’t really give you much time. We try to integrate it more with certain classes that we think can handle it and it works to a degree, but not a hundred percent.”

Students who want to join the Little Kids Rock program must go through an audition process. They are accepted on the basis of commitment to the program, and if they have a musical background (though the latter is not required). Flora is currently working with 20 students, but the total for the year is 35. Parents have to sign off on a series of permission slips that cover what’s expected of kids, including praticing after school at least once a week.

Little Kids Rock also shows how music can transcend cultures and languages in the ethnically diverse Jersey City public schools, although questions do arise: What kind of connection do children of Dominican immigrants have to country music? Who is Elvis? Why do they have to learn some old song their parents like? Flora had his doubts early on, but he’s been converted.

“In half the cases you have students who are so kinesthetically moved to touch something [or] hit something that strumming a guitar offers a lot of forgiveness when it’s a song by Katy Perry or a song by the Allman Brothers,” he explains. “All of a sudden it stops being an ethnic thing: They have something in their hand and they are doing something right now. They learn an A chord and suddenly they are playing along to a CD.”

Flora and his students practice what they call “Derockracy.” They name the band together. They agree on the songs they want to learn, practicing a brand of give and take that will serve the students if they end up being in another band or some other group activity. One recent success can be found on YouTube. It’s not quite up to the standards of Jade Adams, but it’s nonetheless an inspiring version of the Guns N’ Roses hit “Sweet Child o’ Mine” by a group of students with ethnicities ranging from African-American to Egyptian to Puerto Rican to Dominican.

“I showed them the video for the song and explained that Slash was a benefactor to Little Kids Rock who visited schools in California,” Flora recalls. “When I played the riff they thought it was cool, but they thought it was their parents’ music. But once they got the assignment of learning the riffs, the chords and the lyrics (and how to imitate Axl Rose and his stage moves) it became a whole different thing. I had 20 kids committed to Guns N’ Roses.”

With role models like Michael Franti, Bootsy Collins (who recently stopped by Flora’s class) or pop stars like Ciara and Colbie Caillat (who have attended area events) to inspire the kids, the days of piano lessons from the little old lady down the block or learning “Puff the Magic Dragon” on acoustic guitar from the “cool” music teacher in school are long gone. Instead, it’s hands on and star-studded.

One thing that doesn’t change is that music is an avenue for learning. Learning how to play an instrument is part of it. Learning how to work together is part of it. Even learning how to learn is part of it. While it obviously won’t work for everyone, the approach certainly opens doors for those willing to give music a chance.

“Kids are performing and learning music while staying focused on their studies in other areas of academia,” School 4′s Botti points out with pride. “Self-confidence, self-esteem and personal pride is developed in the children as the year progresses – students are speaking more effectively and becoming leaders among their peers.”

JERSEY CITY’S LITTLE KIDS ROCK SCHOOLS:

Academy 1 Middle School
Alexander D. Sullivan School (Public School 30)
Alfred E. Zampella School (Public School 27)
Chaplain Charles Watters School (Public School 24)
Dr. Michael Conti School (Public School 5)
Ezra L. Nolan School (Middle School 40)
Frank R. Conwell School (Middle School 4)
Franklin Williams Middle School (Middle School 7)
Gladys Nunery School (Public School 29)
Joseph H. Brensinger School (Public School 17)
James F. Murray School (Public School 38)
James J. Ferris High School
Jotham W. Wakeman School (Public School 6)
Julia A. Barnes School (Public School 12)
Liberty High School
Martin Luther King, Jr. School (Public School 11)
Rafael de J. Cordero School (Public School 37)
Ronald E. McNair Academic High School
Whitney M. Young, Jr. School (Public School 15)

They will both receive the Hon. Thomas F. Cowan Distinguished Service Award, named after the late Thomas F. Cowan, the noted New Jersey legislator from Hudson County who advocated for child abuse prevention funding and programs.

“Both honorees contribute to our mission of keeping children safe,” HCCAPC board president John Sullivan says in a statement. “Paul generously supports our agency and other community efforts. New City Kids provides great programs for Jersey City youth. They are both well deserving of this award.”

Silverman, along with his brother Eric, has developed a number of properties in Downtown Jersey City, including the Majestic Theatre Condomiums, and, most recently, Hamilton Square. He’s been working in Jersey City development since 1981, and has been on the HCCAPC board since 2001.

New City Kids, which provides leadership development and performing arts opportunities to at-risk children and teenagers in Jersey City, was founded in 2000 and is based in McGinley Square.

Tonight’s event is at 6:30 pm at Puccini’s Restaurant (1064 West Side Avenue), and it includes a commemorative journal, silent auction, music, balloon raffle, buffet dinner and open bar. Tickets, which help fund HCCAPC’s programs and services, are $100 per person ($75 for nonprofit employees).

Now, as the latest plan to keep the museum afloat — the purchase of the building by the United Way of Hudson County — has fallen apart, Ward E councilman Steven Fulop is introducing a measure that would create a new committee charged with obtaining a full inventory of the museum’s work by the summer.

“History has shown that during times of transition in museums is when artwork and valuables are most at risk of potential damage or theft,” Fulop says in a statement released today. “By appointing a group of experts from the Jersey City area to facilitate an inventory process, we can ensure that no individual has too much access to the collection without the necessary checks and balances.”

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 idea, Fulop says, is to use the arts community’s resources to make sure the work is protected.

“Leveraging the city’s art community will act as a good check and balance, as we will have professional artists who are essentially strangers working for the same goal of securing and protecting [the collection],” he says in an email to JCI.

But Kelleher says her involvement in this proposed committee came as a surprise, and furthermore, she seems to think the idea isn’t the best way to handle the situation.

“I was unaware that councilman Fulop had created the resolution to create an ad-hoc committee to review the art collection until its release this morning. I also was not advised that I was being recommended to chair the committee until the time of release,” she tells JCI. “Although I appreciate the confidence placed in the Division of Cultural Affairs, I think the ad-hoc committee proposal needs further review.”

In an email that Kelleher sent to Fulop hours after she became aware of the proposal, she says the city is “moving forward” in its efforts to work with the museum and Sovereign Bank, which is apparently set to foreclose on the museum’s Montgomery Street headquarters soon.

“My gut reaction is that creating an ad-hoc committee at this moment might take us off track,” she writes in the email, adding that the matter has largely transitioned into something being handled by the lawyers for both the city and the museum, and that the creation of this committee “might interfere with legal proceedings.”

Kelleher’s boss, Mayor Healy, echoes her point and contends that Fulop’s idea is counterproductive and will only delay what it sees as an urgent process.

“Perhaps councilman Fulop is not aware, but at my direction, the Division of Cultural Affairs in conjunction with the Law Department, has been working with the museum board for several months to develop a process to inventory and protect the city’s priceless art collection during this time of transition for the museum,” Mayor Jerramiah Healy says. “To create a bureaucratic committee now consisting of nine council appointees who are required to have highly specialized credentials would take months to accomplish and will not facilitate our mutual goal of creating a comprehensive inventory as expeditiously as possible, but would rather stymie it.”

Fulop, however, says this is just another case of the mayor not taking input from the city’s residents.

“The mayor shouldn’t always say ‘no’ to community involvement, as often that is where the best input comes from. It is never a bad thing to involve the community of professionals to ensure accuracy, to protect against theft,” he says. “The committee has a deadline, so this would be completed by the summer. We have a strong arts community and should use it here for skills that neither the Law Department nor Cultural Affairs have familiarity with.”

The committee idea came about organically, explains Distillery Gallery founder Irene Borngraeber, who advised Fulop on the professional standards for potential committee members outlined in the resolution. With concern about the collection coming from both the administration and the arts community, the thinking was: if the museum doesn’t have the resources right now to inventory the collection, then why not have arts professionals who live in and around Jersey City help out?

“Everyone in the arts community is really concerned about what the state of the collection is,” Borngraeber says, adding that a lot of local artists also have work in the museum’s permanent collection.

She points out that the committee will be tasked with more than “just making a list” of the museum’s work.

“There are standards and protocols that must be followed in order to make sure that the collection is properly identified and protected during this uncertain period,” she says. “Jersey City has an extensive professional arts community whose help and expertise should be enlisted in order to protect these cultural assets.”

Borngraeber says creating the committee is in no way antagonistic to the museum, but rather is an honest and legitimate offer of help in order to keep the museum’s community contribution alive, even if the museum itself ceases to exist.

“This shouldn’t be seen as an attack on the Jersey City Museum,” she says. “It’s an opportunity for the artist and professional communities to help the museum move forward and take proactive steps to ensure the continued safety of its collection.”

Fulop plans on introducing the resolution at next week’s City Council meeting.

Proposed Resolution Creating a Committee to Inventory Jersey City Museum’s Collection

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 City. It works towards the goal of helping homeowners continue living in the homes they worked their whole lives to own “by mending those things that add to their quality of life.”

Although volunteers and laborers are already preparing for Saturday’s big event, using the St. Patrick’s School cafeteria as a staging ground, the group is still looking for volunteers.

Anyone over 18 years old can volunteer, and all volunteers should plan to spend the entire day and are urged to wear work clothes and sturdy shoes. All volunteers will receive a Rebuilding Day T-shirt and will be treated to a light breakfast, lunch, and refreshments at the end of the day.

To register to volunteer, call 201-222-2636 or simply show up at the St. Patrick’s School cafeteria (509 Bramhall Avenue) on Saturday between 7 and 8 am, when assignments will be given out.

The women of _gaia’s most recent Wonder Women residency (All photos: Steve Gold)

This story also appears in the Spring 2011 issue of NEW magazine.

More than half of artists working today in the United States are women. Despite these large numbers, many female artists live on the fringe, eking out an existence in relative obscurity. The hallmarks of art world booty – museum retrospectives, solo exhibitions in blue-chip galleries, private and public commissions – go mostly to men, not women.

Just how bad is it for women in the art world?

According to an encyclopedic demographic and employment study released in 2008 by the National Endowment of the Arts:

• 5 percent of works in museums are by women.
• 17 percent of works in galleries are by women.
• 30 percent of Guggenheim grants go to women.
• 33 percent of art-faculty members are women.
• Women artists’ income is 30 percent that of the income of men.

This does not sit well with Newark native and Downtown Jersey City resident Doris Caçoilo (seen standing at right). So in 2002, she and longtime friend Amie Figueiredo brought together a group of women to begin organizing around women’s issues, activism and art. They named their organization _gaia, after the Greek goddess of Earth.

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

_gaia works to fix this through a number of avenues. It operates as a collective of member artists and activists who “actively promote and support the work of local women artists,” as the group’s statement reads. _gaia also puts together intensive artist residencies each year, runs a studio space for its members, hosts monthly art openings, and partners with other local groups for shows and projects.

“Women are underrepresented in the art world,” Caçoilo says. “As an organization, [_gaia] is looking to create equality. _gaia wishes to promote equality and access to artists and audiences to make and experience art.”

_gaia spent the first six years of its existence in Hoboken’s Neumann Leather Building, a sprawling factory space over 250,000 square feet, before moving its headquarters to Jersey City, where it operates out of a 1,000 square foot workspace studio in the converted basement apartment of a brownstone on 3rd Street. The equipment available is as diverse as it is plentiful: a dry-erase board, photography darkroom, printing press, light table, sewing machines, flat file storage, communal storage space, benches, chairs, and work desks. Unlike the individual artist working alone in the studio, _gaia members share resources, materials, and expenditures. Overhead is sharply reduced by shared membership dues. Weekly meetings help individual artists establish priorities and develop the necessary approach to accomplish their goals.

“_gaia is an organic logical structure,” Caçoilo says. “You get people together, put them in a room – add snacks – set a deadline.”

Her observation is funny but true. Contrary to the time-worn cliché of the lone artist interpreting the world, many artists need the structure of a community to thrive. Like other successful grassroots organizations in Jersey City, _gaia rallies behind the ethos of DIY culture – collective action, shared responsibility and self-reliance – to create a strong community.

“As a designer, I need inspiration, encouragement and a place of belonging,” fashion designer Anjelika Krishna says. Krishna, who is the founder of a.d.o. (anjelika dreams organic), an eco-friendly textile company in the Indian tradition of natural herb dye, says she found all three traits in her _gaia residency.

“When you are working alone in a studio, it is very hard to critique your work,” she says. “You need someone to bounce your ideas with, a partner in a way. _gaia provided just that and more.”

Artist and former _gaia member Amanda Thackray is currently working on her MFA at Rhode Island School of Design. Like many artists before her, she experienced a void upon graduating from art school.

“I joined the _gaia ladies about a year after I had graduated from Rutgers University. The collective changed many things for me,” Thackray says. “I was presented with an animated support network that fostered creativity and cared about my success. For me, it re-created one of the most important things that I had lost by graduating – a group of talented peers who were active and challenging.”

Many young artists, especially recent undergraduates, flounder in this void. All of a sudden, a thriving community – with peers, studio space, critical feedback and direction – vanishes. This loss is quickly compounded by the typical, yet stressful, post-collegiate concerns: finding a job, making the rent and paying back student loans.

For these young women and plenty of others, _gaia provides a platform for emerging artists, and a meeting place for female artists to gather together, create, exchange ideas, talk shop, eat and drink.

But _gaia is not just a place for emerging artists. Older female artists, many of whom fell out of art-scene circles while raising families or tending to careers, find that _gaia helps satisfy their need to commiserate with like-minded folks.

“I’ve been an artist for a long time and lived in the suburbs raising my family,” says veteran artist Aileen Bassis, who joined _gaia in March of last year. “I enjoy the Jersey City arts community and I moved here to be around people who understand that people make art because that’s what they must do, whether or not they get money or praise for their work. But a supportive, like-minded group is great. I think if you’re a woman and an artist, you must be a feminist, and I appreciate and support _gaia’s outreach to women artists and women’s causes.”

The Wonder Women

The biggest program in _gaia’s arsenal is the annual Wonder Women Residency, a three-month residency that brings together a small cadre of artists once a week to develop artwork inspired by feminism, women’s issues, and the art world.

For Holly Pitre, who has been a resident in two Wonder Women programs, the residency provided the perfect mix of comfort and critique.

“During my time in each residency, _gaia provided a rigorous and critical yet nurturing atmosphere,” she says. “The length of the residency requires rapid development of a project. The women involved, the artists chosen, and the curators each year compiled such an enormous wealth of resources and experience that it made the production of a work of art – from concept to finished piece – possible in six short weeks.”

Artist Vandana Jain, co-curator and coordinator of WW$: Money, Money, Money!!, says she enjoyed watching the resident artists learn from each other.

“Camaraderie is quite important. For a lot of women, it can be difficult to prioritize art over the other responsibilities in life, including children and making a living,” she says. “I strongly feel that a group of women artists meeting over time can relieve some of the pressures that build up due to these conflicts, and can help women artists continue creating and find time to make art.”

_gaia’s current Wonder Women Residency program is tackling the concept of real-time media and the ramifications of our evolving relationship with news. New News Is Old News, which is being curated by Caçoilo and Maya Elise Joseph-Goteiner, got rolling in January and wrapped up in late February, ultimately resulting in group exhibitions in two galleries in New Jersey and New York City in May and July of 2011 (the former will open on May 7 at Newark’s Gallery Aferro).

“Contemporary art is at a crossroads. As traditional media is dying, journalism is in flux, and there are new platforms for innovative and creative people,” Joseph-Goteiner says. “Art no longer has to be limited to being exhibited in museums and galleries; it can become a part of our social fabric. Public art can become the dominant form of art in the digital landscape.”

_gaia’s DIY ethos is clearly an underlying theme of the residency as well; instead of decrying or even simply analyzing the changes, New News Is Old News is pushing its artists to do something about it.

“Instead of lamenting that art is being cut from the public school curriculum, and focusing on the sad reality that the government support for the arts has hit its nadir, it is time for artists to create new opportunities,” Joseph-Goteiner explains. “New News Is Old News intends to do just this – encourage artists to actively engage with the current conversation about the changing nature of news.”

Larysa Myers, a Brooklyn-based classically trained artist, is one of the current residents; she became interested in _gaia when she saw a call for entries for New News Is Old News. Myers says she found a striking similarity between the residency’s premise and the media circus surrounding Julian Assange and Wikileaks, adding that she’s “fascinated by this new model of publishing, and the power it has to give a voice to people.”

_gaia and the Wonder Women residencies act as residencies should – as a kind of art-school extension.

“Everyone is so supportive, and the atmosphere is very conducive to creating and making artwork, and being an active participant in the art community of Jersey City,” says former resident Roxana Marroquin, a photographer who lives in Union City. “I have always admired that they create opportunities for women artists where there are none, and that definitely has a reflection on how I see the art world now … if there aren’t any doors open, you create your own.”

At the conclusion of Marroquin’s residency, Caçoilo invited her to stay on as a resident artist in order to maintain the traditional black and white photography darkroom. In addition, she has also been teaching other _gaia members how to use the darkroom, develop film, and make prints.

Being involved in _gaia residencies has pushed Jersey City photographer Christine DaCruz to explore new ways of making art. During her last residency, she began incorporating thread, paper and drawing into her work, and those new media will inform her project for the New News Is Old News residency, which will involve embroideries on newspaper obituaries (“literally stitching life into the memory of those passed,” as she puts it).

Though _gaia is best known for championing women’s issues, there is a strong political undercurrent to the group that goes beyond traditional women’s issues to a broader worldview that prizes equality, human rights and community.

Renata Moreira, an assistant director of special projects at New Jersey City University, became involved in _gaia as a volunteer for a 2006 production of The Vagina Monologues.

“I was immediately hooked by the members’ passion for human rights, along with their commitment to support the work of other women artists at the national level,” she says. “I then became a _gaia lover and advocate working to increase their visibility in Jersey City: everyone needed to know how it felt to play and create with such a crew of talented women.”

In 2010, Caçoilo invited Moreira to co-curate the 2010 Wonder Women Residency.

“[I was] thrilled to accept her invite because of the selected theme – immigration & the arts – and the quality of project proposals submitted,” Moreira says. “It was mind-blowing to see so many women creating work that moved me to question my own perspectives about displacement, opportunity, and what it meant to be an ‘American.’”

Pushing (Way) Beyond Jersey City

Nine years after its founding, _gaia has organized numerous art exhibitions, performances, film screenings and workshops that have included more than 200 female artists – and as many performers and theater professionals. Overall, _gaia has established itself not only as an integral part of the Jersey City arts scene, but also as a thriving community that helps women artists to navigate the male-centric art world.

“Society expects certain things from a woman, and even if you overtly reject these expectations, you and your art remain gendered,” Joseph-Goteiner explains. “Being part of a supportive yet critical environment specifically for women artists is empowering.”

And _gaia is still growing, both in Jersey City and abroad.

Last year, the group began organizing regular exhibitions at its 3rd Street building, with gallery openings on the first Friday of each month from 6 to 8 pm.

Meanwhile, _gaia is crossing the Atlantic as well, expanding the New News Is Old News residency to the Republic of Cyprus through a partnership with the Cyprus Community Media Center.

“The plan is it to bring the concept of New News Is Old News and three selected artists to work with a local artist community in the European Union to continue this dialogue,” Caçoilo says. “The first exchange is planned for Summer 2011.”

_GAIA NEEDS YOUR HELP: _gaia is currently in the midst of a Kickstarter-driven fundraising campaign to support the New News Is Old News residency. With a goal of $8,000, the group has raised $3,827. That means that with just 19 days left to go before the May 14 deadline, _gaia needs to raise $4,173. For more information or to donate, click here.

SOME SCENES FROM _GAIA’S HEADQUARTERS:

According to the memo, sent last week by corporation counsel Bill Matsikoudis to museum board members James Kobak and Mark Rodrick, “the planned sale to United Way has been aborted and foreclosure by Sovereign Bank is imminent.”

Though the deal between the two nonprofits was said to be in “the final stages” last month when the city authorized awarding the United Way $212,415 in federal funds towards the purchase of the museum building, since then it has fallen apart and the museum is once again scrambling to stave off foreclosure, according to several sources. (The federal funds will not be awarded if the building purchase does not occur.)

“The United Way deal is dead,” one City Hall source says. The reasons why remain unclear, and when reached Thursday, United Way president Dan Altilio declined to comment.

But regardless of how the deal fell apart, if the museum cannot get out from underneath the crippling debt of its building, the prospects for its survival look bleak. The museum moved into the building in 2001, taking on a reported $11 million debt in the process. Previously, it was housed within the main branch of the Jersey City Free Public Library.

That debt was most recently refinanced by Sovereign Bank, through the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (EDA), in 2008. At that point, $2.7 million of debt was still on the books in a new 25-year fixed-rate loan that would be readjusted every 10 years, according to the EDA. Internal Revenue Service filings show that the overall liability on that loan grew by nearly $200,000 in fiscal years 2008 and 2009, ballooning to $2.98 million from $2.78 million.

In other words, the debt was growing faster than the museum could pay it down, a situation that has likely been compounded by the fact that the museum has had no revenue-generating programming or events for the last year (save for last summer’s successful mini-golf fundraiser spearheaded by developers Eric and Paul Silverman).

Meanwhile two of the museum’s 12 board members, including its secretary, have resigned in recent months, according to Jersey City officials, who found out only when they sent a memo to each listed board member and the two responded by saying they had already quit.

Secretary Michael Royce, who is the executive director of the New York Foundation for the Arts, and John Bell, who works for Bank of America, have left the board.

The ongoing problems with the museum continue to have Cultural Affairs staffers and administration officials concerned, and the city is continuing to press museum leadership for a full accounting of the permanent collection — a request first made in early January that has still not been fulfilled.

City spokesperson Jennifer Morrill says the museum met with several city officials at the Montgomery Street headquarters earlier this month.

“City officials were able to confirm that the building is secure, utilities are on, and part of the collection was viewed,” she says. But with foreclosure bearing down, city officials are looking to take control in order to protect the work in the permanent collection. In his memo, which was sent after the meeting, Matsikoudis once again addressed the need for the city to have a full inventory of the museum’s works.

“We are demanding that the museum provide the city with an accurate inventory of all art work that is within the possession of the museum,” he wrote. “The city of Jersey City will be making arrangements for the temporary storage of this art work. Please confirm that the museum will cooperate with the city in its endeavor to acquire this art work, which is now in jeopardy due to the museum’s precarious financial state.”

Morrill says a meeting is scheduled for next week “so the city can continue its discussions with representatives of the museum.”