Report To The Community 2022

njpac’s first
quarter-century
The evolution of a performing arts center into an
anchor cultural institution
1987
July: Gov. Thomas
Kean announces plans
to build the New Jersey
Performing Arts Center
(NJPAC) in Newark.
1988
NJPAC is established
as a nonprofit
corporation with
Ray Chambers as
Chairman. Fundraising
to build the Arts
Center begins.
1989
Lawrence P. Goldman
is hired as NJPAC’s first
President and CEO.
1994
NJPAC’s Arts Education
program launches.
June: The NJPAC
Women’s Board
Association (later
Women@NJPAC)
established; Diana
T. Vagelos named
founding President.
1996
Women’s Board holds
its first Gala, Passport
to the World, at
Continental Airlines
hangar at Newark
International Airport.
Ray Charles performs.
1997
August 16: The Hard
Hat Concert, for
construction workers
who built NJPAC, held
in Prudential Hall.
October 18: NJPAC
officially opens;
its inaugural
Gala Celebration
attracts celebrities,
political leaders and
community members.
Opening concert
recorded for PBS’ Great
Performances series.
1999
May: The Arts
Center’s Sounds of
the City free summer
concert series
launches.
2001
October 11:
Affirmation of Culture
and Community
concert, featuring the
NJSO, Newark Boys
Choir and NJPAC’s
Jubilation Choir, held
at NJPAC in memory of
the victims of 9/11.
2002
September: Lionel
Richie headlines the
Spotlight Gala; the fifth
anniversary of NJPAC’s
opening is marked
with a campus-wide
dance party.
2004
NJPAC launches
its second Capital
Campaign, focused
on developing the Arts
Center’s Endowment
Fund, raising $182
million over five years.
2006
Summer: After the
opening of the light
rail station on Center
Street, Queen Latifah
arrives aboard a
light rail train for the
premiere of her film,
Hairspray, at NJPAC.
2008
January: NJPAC
selects Dranoff
Properties of
Philadelphia as
its partner in the
construction of Two
Center Street (later
One Theater Square)
on the Arts Center’s
campus, the first
newly constructed
market-rate residential
tower built in
downtown Newark
in decades.
May 4:
Bruce Springsteen
takes the stage in
Prudential Hall when
he is inducted into
the inaugural class
of the New Jersey
Hall of Fame.
2009
The Geraldine R.
Dodge Foundation
selects NJPAC as
the new site for
The Dodge Poetry
Festival, which moves
to Newark in 2010.
2011
May: The Dalai Lama,
Goldie Hawn and
Deepak Chopra are
among the celebrities,
officials and Nobel
Laureates who
attend the Newark
Peace Education
Summit at NJPAC.
June: John Schreiber,
a Tony and Emmy
Award-winning
producer, becomes
NJPAC’s second
President and CEO.
1997
2022
2012
July: America’s Got
Talent begins a run of
18 broadcasts from the
Prudential Hall stage,
bringing hopefuls and
guest stars like Justin
Bieber and Green Day
to the Arts Center.
October: First TD
James Moody Jazz
Festival held. The
Sarah Vaughan
International Jazz
Vocal Competition,
designed to launch the
careers of novice jazz
singers, is inaugurated.
2013
October: Black Girls
Rock! films at NJPAC
for the first time. The
show features Regina
King, Queen Latifah,
Misty Copeland and
Jennifer Hudson.
2014
A new department
of Community
Engagement is
established to
strengthen NJPAC’s
relationships with the
state’s many distinctive
communities.
December:
The Hip Hop
Nutcracker, a
reimagining of
Tchaikovsky’s holiday
classic through hip hop
dance, premieres at
NJPAC, creating a new
winter tradition for the
Arts Center. The show
will go on to tour more
than 50 venues across
the country annually.
2015
February: NJPAC
announces its first
co-production with
the nearby Prudential
Center, Ladies Night,
paving the way for
future collaborations
with “The Rock” and
other large venues.
2018
One Theater Square
opens to residents; John
Schreiber is among
the first to move in.
2019
April: NJPAC announces
it will construct a new
building on its campus,
the Cooperman Family
Arts Education and
Community Center, to
house its Arts Education
and Community
Engagement programs
and two professional
rehearsal studios.
October 5: NJPAC
receives a New
York Emmy for its
production of The Hip
Hop Nutcracker on
public television.
October 15: NJPAC
announces All Together
Now: The NJPAC
Changemaking
Campaign, a $225
million capital
campaign, the third
in the Arts Center’s
history. $100 million had
already been raised
by the campaign’s
announcement.
2020
March 13: As the
coronavirus sweeps
across the nation,
NJPAC closes its theaters
and pivots to become
one of the nation’s
largest producers of
virtual programming,
presenting more than
500 virtual events
during the pandemic.
May 5: Anthony
Davis receives the
Pulitzer Prize for his
opera, Central Park
Five, which was
premiered by Trilogy:
An Opera Company
at NJPAC in 2016.
2021
June: NJPAC
announces the next
phase of its masterplan
for its campus will be
the construction of
a neighborhood of
low- and high-rise
multifamily buildings,
condos, retail and
cultural spaces on what
is now Parking Lot A.
2022
May: The Arts Center
partners with Great
Point Studios to build
Lionsgate Newark, a
new film and television
production studio in
Newark’s South Ward.
October 1: NJPAC
celebrates its 25th
anniversary season
at its first in-person
Spotlight Gala in
three years.
6
njpac.org