Report To The Community 2021

and reggae stars Third World
were joined by opening acts
drawn from NJPAC’s virtual
open mic series, Jersey Fresh,
as well as students from the
Arts Center’s City Verses
summer camp and Hip Hop
Arts and Culture program.
“At our rehearsal, all I could
think was: I am so excited
to play music with real
human beings again, for the
first time in a year and a half!”
remembers Lili M., a 14-year-old
pianist from Cranford.
Sheikia Norris (aka Purple
Haze), NJPAC’s Director of
Hip Hop Education Programs,
notes that those Sounds of the
City rehearsals marked the first
time her students had been
together since March 9, 2020.
“Several times [that day],
I found myself crying,” she
says. “I was so happy to
see them all, to be alive to
witness this after last year.”
The success of last summer’s
Horizon Fountation Sounds
of the City was a turning
point. “By the time it was over,
everyone had their rhythm
again,” Jones recalls. “We
were all in the groove and
back to our normal routine.”
By mid-August, as more shows
were added to the calendar
of live, indoor events, social
distancing was ended, with
vaccinations, masking and
up-to-date testing keeping
audiences and staff safe.
The insistence on either
vaccination or recent negative
testing as an entry requirement
put NJPAC at the forefront
of safety practices among
performing arts centers in the
region, reassuring patrons who
were nervous about returning
to indoor performances.
With those safety procedures in
place, audiences came back, in
greater and greater numbers.
“First, [comedian] Eddie Griffin
sold out two shows in the
Victoria Theater,” White recalls.
“By September, Gregory Porter
almost sold out Prudential
Hall. Then, Gilberto Santa
“Believe me, more than one tear was
shed among the artists. The joy
that came from the audiences
and the artists was palpable.
And we were able to prove that it was
safe to come back, too.”
— David Rodriguez
“At each NJPAC show, we start
with a recorded announcement
of Savion Glover telling everyone
to put away their cell phones,”
says production manager
E. Kevin Jones. “To hear that
announcement again, after
more than a year — I breathed
a sigh of relief. Oh my God,
we got through it!”
“Believe me, more than one tear
was shed among the artists too
when the theaters reopened,”
says David Rodriguez, NJPAC’s
Executive Vice President and
Executive Producer. “The joy
that came from the audiences
and the artists was palpable.
And we were able to prove that
it was safe to come back, too.”
With that small but auspicious
beginning, the 2021-22 season
was officially underway — and
NJPAC’s audiences swelled
from a hundred people to
thousands just a few weeks
later when the free outdoor
summer series, Horizon
Foundation Sounds of the City,
returned as a live event in July.
Presented annually as a gift to
Greater Newark, the series is
usually a recurring, summer-long
Thursday night festival with
enormous crowds congregating
on the Arts Center’s “front
lawn,” Chambers Plaza.
The 2021 version of the event
wasn’t exactly the same, but
it was still “an unmitigated
success,” says Tranquada.
“We limited capacity,
instituted health screenings
and we limited the number
of unvaccinated people who
could enter. But it still worked —
and it was truly joyful.”
Although the enclosure
around the stage was open
to a limited number of people,
others congregated on Center
Street, in Military Park or on
the balconies of neighboring
apartment buildings to
listen. The just-reopened
NJPAC restaurant, NICO
Kitchen + Bar, did booming
business as the music played.
Audience members happily
reunited with friends and
neighbors after months of
isolation. Legendary artists like
rapper Rakim, salsa master
Tony Vega, DJ Felix Hernandez
Clockwise from top left: Los Tigres del Norte played to a sold-out house last
October; Gilberto Santa Rosa made a welcome return; a COVID safety check-in
station; sweet times at the Mars Wrigley Halloween Treat Truck Tour giveaway.
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