Tag Archives: Union County Performing Arts Center

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Fundraising aims to boost arts center lineup

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A $150,000 fundraising effort to target more high-profile programming at the Union County Performing Arts Center (UCPAC) has commitments of at least $90,000 as of last month. Mayor James Kennedy said the board of trustees at its last meeting gave approval to the executive director to pursue a handful of performances.

“It’s designed to have a decent rate of return to put on performances,” he said during a brief interview following his State of the City address this month.

There have been some additional verbal commitments for fundraising and other possibilities as well, the mayor said during a follow-up interview last week.

The center’s board is leaning toward musical performances and with several new board members, “there’s a new level of energy you can feel,” Kennedy said, adding that there’s been a recent emphasis on new board development.

Perhaps it’s time to bring back an old poll question, “What would you like to see at the Union County Performing Arts Center?” If you can believe it, it’s been two years (!) since we posed that question, with but a couple dozen faithful readers responding. Then there was this poll from April 2008 after UCPAC renovations were completed, which seemed to present a recurring theme among RR readers: Improve the programming. So…

“What would you like to see at the Union County Performing Arts Center?”

  • Concerts
  • Standup comedy
  • Plays/musicals
  • Movies
  • Other

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City Council

State of the City 2010

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Mayor James Kennedy focused almost exclusively on the arts during his State of City remarks at Tuesday night’s City Council meeting.

Continue reading State of the City 2010 →

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Catching up on some reading

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I’m a little late with this but in case you missed last Sunday’s Ledger, here’s their story about Union County home sales in the first half of 2009. It was a county-by-county breakdown of a larger project, “N.J. real estate bust hits urban home sales the hardest.”

Compared to the first half of 2008, “prices dipped 8 percent” in Union County, with only Elizabeth, Fanwood and Springfield seeing more home sales during the first half of this year compared to the same time in 2008. Berkeley Heights (0%) and Scotch Plains (7%) were the lone towns to see median home prices remain the same or rise over last year, and nine towns saw double-digit declines. Only Summit (2%) was up last year over 2005 median prices.

For Rahway, the analysis indicated a median price of $267,000 this year, compared to $307,500 last year (-13%) and $281,000 in 2005 (-5%). Those figures were still good enough to rank Rahway among the top third among the 21 Union County towns in both years, matching Clark and Mountainside in 2008.

The number of home sales was down 18 percent in Rahway for the first half of this year, which was about the ninth lowest rate within the county.

***

I also came across this New York Times piece yesterday. It talked about “municipal governments and arts groups pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into larger, flashier exhibit spaces and performance halls,” believing it was “the answer to what ailed cities everywhere — a way to lure tourists and economic development — and a potential boon to cultural institutions.”

The specific projects mentioned are of a much larger scale and in some cases very different, but it did bring to mind the $6-million expansion and acquisition of the local arts center by Union County, which also was pushed in part by the idea of spurring economic development earlier this decade.

The most provocative quote came from a senior fellow at the University of Chicago studying these projects: “These were situations in which ‘nobody actually asked: Is there a need here? If they build it, will they come?'”

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Carriage City Plaza, Polls, Rahway

Carriage City Plaza tops 2008 stories

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Blog readers voted overwhelmingly for the opening of Carriage City Plaza and the Hotel Indigo as the biggest redevelopment story of 2008.

Opening of Carriage City Plaza, 54 percent (37/68)
The slow pace of redevelopment, 19 percent (13/68)
The Savoy coming to a halt, 8 percent (6/68)
Reopening of the Union County Arts Center, 8 percent (6/68)
The fast pace of redevelopment, 5 percent (4/68)
Tabulation of the Rahway Survey, 2 percent (2/68)

While most readers pointed to Carriage City, there were almost a third of them who pointed to signs of the slowing economy, like The Savoy coming to a halt and the slow pace of redevelopment. Keep in mind that the survey is far from scientific at all.

The new poll will be up after the Super Bowl. It’s a repeat from last year but we have a few more readers so I thought it’d be interesting to take another look.

“Who makes your favorite pizza in Rahway?”
Brooklyn Pizza
Gino’s
Michelino’s
Nancy’s Townhouse
Papa Vito
Rahway Pizza
Ted’s
Tony’s

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NEA study: audience declines, revenues fluctuate

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The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) issued a report this week (.pdf) that indicates the number of nonprofit theaters doubled between 1990 and 2005.

The growth was mainly in “previously underserved” areas like Nevada, Colorado and Utah. But the takeaway, at least one that might be more relevant to Rahway and the Union County Arts Center, is “…the absolute size of the audience has declined by 16 percent.” During that same time period, “revenues fluctuated sharply with business cycles in the U.S. economy.” Here’s the Star-Ledger’s take on it.

In this economy, the arts will be in for a tough time, if they’re not already. Not good news for UCPAC (or any local theaters for that matter), which has consistently run deficits of five and six figures in four of the past five years, according to its federal tax filings. The only time recently that it broke even was 2006 when it got a $1.3-million infusion thanks to selling the building as part of Union County’s $6-million renovations.

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Commercial, Downtown, Rahway Survey, Retail

Movie theater, clubs and related retail for entertainment district

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A small, two-screen movie theater, night clubs, and ground-floor retail space for entertainment-related businesses could build upon the foundation provided by the Union County Arts Center.

Continue reading Movie theater, clubs and related retail for entertainment district →

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Cool Hand Luke easily tops the poll

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It’s clear which Paul Newman film RR readers prefer. I’d say the top three in our latest poll are the ones he’s probably most well known for generally, although I was surprised how poorly The Hustler and The Color of Money fared.

Each option garnered at least one vote, and I tried to offer a smattering of choices, from old to newer to comedy or drama. There were a few that I wanted to squeeze into the list (The Hudsucker Proxy, probably one of his least known and most underrated), but we got to 10 pretty fast.

As always, our polls are anything but scientific:

“If the UCPAC were to screen Paul Newman films, which would you like to
see?”
Cool Hand Luke, 52 percent (18/34)
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, 38 percent (13/34)
The Sting, 35 percent (12/34)
Slap Shot, 20 percent (7/34)
The Hustler, 17 percent (6/34)
The Long, Hot Summer, 17 percent (6/34)
Fort Apache the Bronx, 14 percent (5/34)
Absence of Malice, 8 percent (3/34)
Hud, 8 percent (3/34)
The Color of Money, 5 percent (2/34)

The poll was borne out of an earlier post in which we suggested the arts center show some Newman films since he passed away in September. Maybe take a slow weekend and show a movie Friday and double features Saturday and Sunday?

We’ll try to get back to posting a poll every couple of weeks. Watch out for new ones, and maybe even some repeats since we have more readers lately, and don’t be shy about suggestions. Enjoy.

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Arts District, Downtown

How about Newman films at the arts center?

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On my way home last week, I drove past the Union County Performing Arts Center where a big crowd of middle-aged women congregated, waiting to see “Menopause: The Musical Out Loud.” It reminded me of the huge crowds that were at the arts center one weekend this summer for an Indian movie.

I drove by Friday night and the arts center was dark. The combination of a dormant arts center on a Friday night and the passing of Paul Newman in recent weeks got me thinking: why not screen a few of his classic films, the kind that almost have to be seen regardless of age or movie interests, like Cool Hand Luke and The Hustler. It’d be timely marketing and it would seem there might be some interest since his passing, not only from those who typically visit the arts center for the likes of Connie Francis, but also some “youngsters” who might be intrigued to see his early work and check out UCPAC.

Of course, with programming planned so far in advance (usually a year for live events), I figured it can’t be done too quickly, but I sent an email to arts center director Sandy Erwin anyway. She seemed enthused and talked about restarting a film series in January when their equipment is ready. Not as timely as in the weeks after Newman’s death, but you figure all the year-end magazines will remind people of his along with other celebrities’ passing in 2008.

I’ve seen classics like Citizen Kane and Easy Rider — so-called “important” films — at the arts center and it’s an enormously better opportunity than watching a DVD at home or catching an edited version on a Sunday afternoon on Channel 11. It hasn’t seemed to be a big draw at least judging by the attendance when I’ve been there for old movies. The arts center has offered double features and timely film weekends around Halloween and Christmas in the past. For an idea of what RR readers would like to see at the arts center, we did a completely unscientific poll back in January.

What do you think? Would you pay $5, $10, even $20 to catch a few Newman films at UCPAC? Hmm, I think the RR poll might make a return to the blog.

By the way, the arts center celebrates its 80th anniversary this month with its first annual gala. Meanwhile, another old-time theater reopens this month in Montclair with Counting Crows, so there’s more competition coming.

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