Studio Tour Highlights Uneasy Relationship Between Artists and City Government

Posted on 20. Nov, 2009 by Nathaniel Adams in Arts and Culture

Two decades ago, when Jersey City was nicknamed “Kill City,” crime was high and rents were low. Struggling artists, willing to settle in declining neighborhoods for ample space at affordable prices, moved into vacant factories and turned empty floors into working studios.

The gentrification cycle of Downtown Jersey City had begun. Galleries soon opened. Then real estate developers followed with plans for gleaming condominium towers and ambitious rehabilitation projects.

Now, almost 19 years since local artists first began the Jersey City Artists Studio tour, some artists and curators said they are feeling squeezed out by rising rents and the growing demand of expensive real estate development. They complain that city officials are not offering much support, taking control of (and credit for) many of the art scene’s most impressive achievements.

Orlando Reyes, 40, director of Gallery 58, cited the recent tour – a weekend-long city-wide event involving almost 100 locations- as an example. He said it is no longer run by artists or for local artists.

“It’s a real estate scam,” Reyes said, pointing out that over time the city has taken control of the tour and shifted the focus away from the art community to promote overall economic development and real estate development. He noted the tour is now sponsored by financial institutions, including Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and Capital One.

Reyes, who has run his gallery for seven years, said that there have been fewer visits to working studios in recent years, in part because real estate companies now organize art shows inside their latest condo developments – shows in which the visitor is directed to walk through a model apartment for sale first before entering the gallery.

He sees independent venues like his being sidelined, deliberately ignored, and, at times, even harassed.

Comedian Melissa Surach, 28, said local police insisted on ending one of her performances at Gallery 58 at 4 p.m. on a Saturday because the gallery didn’t have an entertainment license. The event, organized with Grace Van Vorst Church, was a fundraiser to help feed the city’s homeless.

John Fathom, 33, artist and building manager at Rock Soup Studios, says that the city’s policy has been to “let the artists do all the work and then take all the credit.”

Not all artists are critical of the city. Director of Art House Productions Christine Goodman defends the City Cultural Affairs Department.

“Our experience is that the city absolutely supports the arts,” said Goodman. The problem, she insists, is the lack of resources: space, material, and funds.

The city continues to promote its commitment to the arts with posters in PATH train stations advertising city-led development initiatives with a purportedly cultural focus. The biggest such project centers around The Powerhouse, a historical landmark building which is being restored after a $3.2 million contribution from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. The building is meant to be the center of an arts district several years in the making, but the area’s history is already a sore spot with many local artists.

The moment many people recall as the turning point in the city’s relationship to its art community came in 2004 when the decision was made to demolish a massive artist loft downtown that had housed galleries, studios and learning space.

It was called the 111 Building, and it looms large in the memories of most long-term resident artists in Jersey City. It was one of the only cultural centers in the area while the city went through its rough period in the ’90s. Many trace their beginnings in the art scene to it.

In 1995, the city established WALDO, the Work and Live Overlay District. Part of the charter was that 10 percent of work/live units be reserved for artists at a discount. In 2002 the city expanded the initiative, designating the area surrounding the 111 Building the “Powerhouse Arts District.”

But the owners of Building 111 wanted to demolish the building and build high-rise apartments on the site. They took the city to court, challenging the neighborhood’s historic designation. The owners won the case, the artists were given a year to move out, and the building was leveled without a historic designation to protect it. Without historic status, several other properties in the area became condos, notably the Waldo Lofts, which lists several galleries on its website (including Gallery 58,) as local attractions. None of the galleries listed are, however, within the designated Arts District.

In 2007 internationally renowned architect Rem Koolhaas unveiled his design for a multi-use high-rise building on the former site of the 111 Building. There was some controversy over building such a large structure in what was supposed to be an area focused on street-level development. However, the site is still vacant, and according to the Jersey City Economic Development Corporation’s development listings, its status is listed as “Planned,” and there is no definitive date for ground-breaking at this time.

In 2007, WALDO was removed from the zoning ordinance. Some people in the art community see this as a result of keeping rent prohibitively expensive for smaller artists.

Sandra Sung, assistant planner at the Division of City Planning, said the regulations are fair and that artists just need to prove their financial solvency like a non-artist would before being approved.

Reyes said he is more cynical about the relationship between the city and the arts. He sees a repeating pattern of artists moving and paving the way for real-estate developers.

“It’s all commerce to them,” says Reyes. “We take our creativity with us.”