Report To The Community 2021

a message from
john schreiber
Dear Friend:
President and Chief Executive Officer
When I ask Josh Weston — our venerable and esteemed NJPAC Board
member, perpetually curious world citizen, and all around force for
good — how he’s doing, he will often reply: “Age adjusted, excellent!”
Believe me, at 93, Josh’s “excellent” is an understatement. These days he is an
active changemaker that folks half his age would have a hard time matching.
As, God willing, we head for the exit doors on the dreadful pandemic that has upended
so many lives, I’ve taken to stealing (and slightly adapting) Josh’s line. When people
ask me how I’m doing, I am inclined to say: “Pandemic adjusted, excellent!”
I am happy to report that that’s true of your Arts Center as well.
NJPAC has hung on tight during this unexpected two year roller coaster ride that
has obliged our team, staff and volunteer leaders to think and act differently to
sustain our work as Newark and New Jersey’s anchor cultural institution.
Now, just like the old days, we’re back to presenting live to full houses in our
theaters. Reading this Report, you’ll run out of fingers if you try to count the
references to staffers who shed tears when greeting audiences, students, parents,
and colleagues at Arts Center in-person events that doubled as reunions.
During the height of the pandemic, as my wife and I were sequestered in
our home, grocery shopping online and watching untold hours of Netflix,
I wondered if audiences would ever come back once it was safe to do so.
Would staying home be the new normal?
I really shouldn’t have worried.
Once the CDC, Governor Murphy and Mayor Baraka gave us the green light
to get back to business, our community returned in droves. As I write this, the
memory of it makes me well up. And my gratitude for that is boundless.
As you review this chronicle of the year and change just passed, you’ll see that (to lift a
bit of Churchillian language) “Never give in — never give up” has been our mantra.
Our hundreds of virtual events on topics ranging from social justice to salsa dancing reached
hundreds of thousands of viewers. Ambitious execution of our real estate master plan
continued unabated. We advanced our company-wide work to ensure that we operate as
an authentically anti-racist, inclusive and equitable mission-driven business. Thanks to strong
support from the Federal government and the State of New Jersey, we were able to bring
staff back from extended furloughs and restore positions the pandemic had forced us to cut.
And through it all, you always had our back. You continued to support NJPAC with
philanthropy, proffered wisdom, messages of encouragement, and daily reminders
that the work we do every day to entertain, educate, and engage is meaningful and
life enhancing. I can’t begin to tell you how important that has been to all of us.
As pandemic evolves to endemic, I promise that the Arts Center will continue to be
here for everyone: striving to provide value to the remarkable communities we serve.
Thanks for the unique and indispensable role you play in making that promise real.
All good wishes,
Steven M. Goldman,
Partner at PBM
Capital Group
Barry H. Ostrowsky,
President & CEO
of RWJBarnabas
Health
a message from
steven m. goldman
and barry h. ostrowsky
Dear NJPAC Friends and Supporters:
What a difference a year makes!
Twelve months ago, NJPAC was hard at work providing virtual programming
to a world stuck at home. Classes, conversations, performances and
more — all the opportunities this Arts Center offers to engage with
the world, think about it and reflect on it — came to us on our screens,
from the phones in our hands to the TVs in our living rooms.
The experience of the pandemic left us with some invaluable lessons, including a new
understanding of the importance of community, and how technology can expand
the borders of that community. But we are grateful that the health crisis is at last
receding, and our Arts Center is returning to what it has always done best: Presenting
world-class artists, live on stage, to an audience gathered right in front of them.
Variants made our progress toward a “new normal” slower than we would have
liked. But we’re here. From outdoor summer concerts that seemed to welcome half of
Newark to NJPAC’s Chambers Plaza for music and fellowship, to in-person classes
in the Center for Arts Education where young musicians could at last jam side by
side, this year of reopening has offered so many joyful moments at the Arts Center.
As NJPAC began to present live, in-person shows last summer,
it also began to expand on so many initiatives that were
born during the darkest days of the pandemic.
We are already seeing the result of those efforts, from the Standing in Solidarity
programming that has offered us a deep dive into the roots of structural racism,
to an exploration of the role the arts can play in promoting well-being. These are
the exciting beginnings of what promise to be long-lasting, useful and important
ways that the Arts Center can further deliver on its mission. And the progress that
has been made in advancing NJPAC’s plans to build the Cooperman Center and
a new neighborhood of homes, businesses, galleries and more on its campus will
positively impact Newark’s downtown arts and education district for years to come.
The year past was one of restoration — of hope, of joy, of community.
This year ahead will be one of discovery and innovation.
We are so grateful you’re a part of the Arts Center’s exciting journey
into what’s possible when the arts and community align.
Sincerely,
Steven M. Goldman
NJPAC Board of Directors Co-Chairs
Barry H. Ostrowsky
John Schreiber
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