Today my article on the development of an arts community in the Jersey City Heights neighborhood, just west of Hoboken and one of the northmost neighborhoods in Chilltown.
I had a lot of fun writing this article and as a former Heights resident, I think it would be awesome to have more artists there. The Heights is, after all, kind of Jersey City’s soul.
Riverview Arts District Campaign Brings Six Events to the Heights for JC Fridays
If you haven’t heard of the Riverview Arts District, you can explore it tomorrow, June 1, as part of JC Fridays, a citywide day of free arts events.
The Riverview Neighborhood Association (RNA) and several other organizations aiming to improve and enrich the Jersey City Heights neighborhood have come together to organize “Discover the Riverview Arts District” campaign which features six events with music, art and more.
A resolution adopted by the City Council on May 10, 1984, designates a portion of the Heights – which was then known as Hudson City – as the Riverview Arts District, in recognition of its growing number of fine artists and performing artists there. The designation encouraged the cultural growth of the neighborhood in the 80s as artists trying to escape the soaring prices in Bayonne, Hoboken and SoHo in New York City looked for low rents and industrial spaces.
The designation, however, was never codified into the city’s zoning, says RNA President Becky Hoffman. She says she hopes the city’s Division of City Planning can make things more official by this summer, but adds that the community can do other things to get the ball rolling in the meantime.
During the last JC Fridays in March, RNA sponsored the “RNA Community Supported Art” exhibit at the Trolley Car Bar and Grill, which opened earlier this year. The exhibit featured photos, paintings, drawings and mixed media work by neighborhood artists and was the only JC Fridays event in the Heights.
This time around, the Heights will host a whopping seven events, six of which are part of the Discover the Riverview Arts District campaign. (The other is E. Jan Kounitz’s photographic essay on the Heights, “Mo ‘Me-Hood,’” which will be shown at 357 Palisade Ave.) …
Read the full article on The Jersey City Independent.
