The Role of the Arts in the Newark Community

Steve Adubato goes One-on-One with the President and CEO of NJPAC, John Schreiber, to discuss the vital role of the arts within the Newark community.

9/10/18 #2162

Excerpt:

"Welcome to One on One. I'm Steve Adubato. Once again he is with us. Yeah, I'm on fire John. Yeah. What do you want me to do? You just go like that... We got our good friend John Schreiber, President and CEO of NJPAC, the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. A terrific organization, even better than before. What's up...? By the way, we're doing this in the Summer of 2018. What's one of the... Yes. ...most exciting things going on at the PAC? Well, one thing that we're thrilled about is that our residential tower, our apartment house, across the street from the Arts Center, is now renting, leasing, and... Wow. I remember when you... ...the first... ...broke ground. Oh yeah. Yeah. What's gonna happen there? Well, with 245 luxury apartments, 10 percent affordable, we've been leasing for the last three weeks or so. Already, 35 people have signed up for places. Hmm. And I'm moving there. I'm gonna move there in... Oh, you're gonna be there? ...September. Yeah. Exactly. I always... John, every time we're on with you, I ask you this question. Like, okay well you're a performing arts center...? Yeah. And we've had a longtime collaboration. We've done so many productions there. Okay, it's the arts. You guys are the best. What are you doing in economic development? The answer is? A really important part of our mission, and that is the economic revitalization of Newark. It was something that Governor Kean thought of 30 years ago, when he first... That's right. ...imagined a performing arts center. So we have seven acres of developable land on our campus. We're gonna, in success, be building more residential, a hotel, a conference center, an education center. You know, we are a mission driven place, we're a community-oriented place, and the future of Newark is really important to us. On the arts side? Yup. Some of the great, exciting concerts coming up, things happening? Well, we have Horizon Foundation Sounds of the City, which... Is that on Th...? What day? Thursday night. Thursday night? Yes. Yeah. Thursday night. It's a party? Big free outdoor concerts. Exactly. Right. Thousands of people show up. We're really grateful to Horizon for making it possible. And folks like Felix Hernandez will have a... Yeah. ...dance party. Jon B., the great saxophonist Maceo Parker. It is a party. Universal Hip Hop. All sorts of stuff. So... You know, the other piece of this isn't... and again, you and I were talking about this before we got on the air, so much of what goes on at NJPAC is a product, not just of the work of you and your great team, but of partnerships and collaborations. Describe them. Oh gosh, we have a hundred plus partners. You know, we are an..."