New Jersey Performing Arts Center
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The New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) is a complex in downtown Newark, New Jersey, United States of musical and theater facilities that opened in 1997. It is one of the major parts of Newark's revitalization plan in the center near the Passaic River waterfront, east of the Rutgers-Newark and New Jersey Institute of Technology campuses and two blocks north of Seton Hall University School of Law.
To reach out to the community. the NJPAC offers several programs to primary schools students that let them interact with artist, explore music, and even create murals to be exhibited in the halls.
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[edit] Performance and other facilities
- Prudential Hall, with 2,760 seats.
- Victoria Hall, with 514 seats.
- Cabaret Theater.
- Dining areas.
[edit] History
The State of New Jersey decided to build a world class performing arts center in 1986, when then Governor of New Jersey Thomas Kean appointed a committee to decide the location and the needs of New Jersey's performing arts organization. They chose Newark over other cities because of the density of the surrounding areas, proximity to New York City, highway and rail access to the site, and a location inside a dying city in need of revitalization. The last reason was considered especially important, since government authorities had long forsaken the city, becoming a ghetto for minorities in notorious housing projects. A major goal of the NJPAC was to help in revitalization of the city, bringing people back into blighted areas and provide jobs for local businesses.
All development in Newark after the 1967 Newark riots had been closed commercial spaces that alienated the local community. The planning commission decided that the new center would directly integrated into the city, encouraged walking, and provided a plaza for the city. Previous redevelopment schemes in Newark had all involved skyways that connected all the main office buildings to Newark Penn Station above street level, further segregating the city. The master plan, executed by Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill consisted of plazas and pedestrian boulevards, joining major thoroughfares.
After a selection process, the board chose Barton Myers as the lead architect, based on his experience with theaters and his contextual buildings. They instructed him to build a complex that was the opposite of the Kennedy Center or Lincoln Center, and more like the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. Instead of a monument to the arts, Myers saw it as another part of the city tying it to residents and inviting them into it. He related the physical structure to the context by using brick, exposed steel, and glass as the materials, to reflect the industrial roots of Newark. Construction began in 1995.
During the bidding process, CEO Lawrence Goldman mandated that most of the construction jobs had to go to local minorities. The board of the company successfully implemented this program, suspending a contractor in 1995 for failing to do so.
Some, however questioned whether the $187-million-dollar project was really worth building, when there are so many social ills in the city, an aging infrastructure and a low median income. Another project with similar cost, concerns, and successes is the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles, California.[citation needed]
It opened in 1997, to rave reviews by The New York Times architecture critic Herbert Muschamp.
[edit] Future
The NJPAC has plans to expand across McCarter Highway to the Passaic River, opening up more of the waterfront and connecting it to Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium. Eventually The company will build two residential buildings for performers and condominiums, completing a boat-shaped plaza at the center.
Newark Light Rail service is open as of July 17, 2006, at the NJPAC/Center Street station, connecting the site with Broad Street Station and Penn Station Newark, connecting to rail lines from all over New Jersey.
[edit] See also
- Newark, New Jersey
- 1967 Newark riots
- Critical Regionalism, the style of architecture.
- Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, a comparable project.
- List of major concert halls
