Arts, Culture Fuel Green Economy in Community

PART TWO IN A TWO-PART SERIES

In an effort to revitalize the Lincoln Park community in Newark, New Jersey, Baye Adofo Wilson, executive director of the Lincoln Park Coast Cultural District (LPCCD), realized that rekindling the fire of Lincoln Park’s arts and culture community was the key to building a sustainable eco-urban village.

“Learning about the vision for the neighborhood was so exciting,” says Kimberlee Williams, co-owner at Femworks L.L.C., a marketing agency and photography studio in the Lincoln Park community. “Especially [since I know] that this is something of a brainchild from an African American person and in an African American neighborhood.”

Although creating a self-contained community — one that would reduce carbon emissions by developing jobs and affordable housing near public transportation –was pertinent, at the center of Wilson’s plans stood Lincoln Park’s Symphony Hall, a historic symbol of the community’s once prominent past (see Part I: New Jersey Community Builds on Arts, Environment).

Before tackling renovations of Symphony Hall, four years ago the LPCCD started sponsoring the Annual Lincoln Park Music Festival, a free, outdoor event in the park that features more than forty performances in four genres of African American music: jazz, gospel, house, and hip hop. Jazz legend James Moody, award-winning gospel artists The Clark Sisters, Broadway star Elisabeth Withers, and hip-hop icon KRS-One some of the performers. The LPCCD welcomed more than 40,000 people to the third annual festival in 2008, an increase from 15,000 attendees in 2007.

Next, he began recruiting arts and culture businesses such as Femworks and City Without Walls arts gallery. Also, in the works are plans to create the Museum of African American Music, a Smithsonian-affiliated museum, honoring music legends with concerts and exhibits. LPCCD also found it necessary to educate newcomers about how to run an environmentally friendly business.

While a third of greenhouse emissions are generated by transporting people and goods, automobiles are not the only way that emissions are generated. Heating and cooling of buildings also generates one-third of greenhouse gases, according to a joint venture of the Congress for the New Urbanism, the U.S. Green Building Council, and the Natural Resources Defense Council.

“I have to say that quite a bit of my consciousness about energy efficiency has evolved during my residency in this neighborhood,” says Williams, who heard in 2005 about the project to renovate Symphony Hall and create a haven for arts and culture businesses. Also located in or near Lincoln Park are the Newark School of Arts, Newark Boys Chorus School, and School of the Garden State Ballet. Williams decided that the area would soon be jumping with activity and opted to move her in-home business to a Lincoln Park office in 2007.

“After being informally educated by the LPCCD we took it upon ourselves to do an internal audit to see what steps we could take in the short term to make a difference in the environment,” says Williams, who does public relations for the Lincoln Park Music Festival. “Not only is it the socially responsible thing to do, but it is fiscally responsible to examine your business practices and see where you can save energy and save money.”

Williams learned that she could reduce her utility expenses by switching to computers and other office equipment that carry a government-backed Energy Star label that identifies equipment meeting strict energy efficiency guidelines

set by the Environmental Protection Agency. Insolating Femwork’s 14 windows helped reduce energy costs in the winter. Femworks also installed an indoor garden and planted 1.2 plants per square foot throughout the office to keep air circulating. They also found a green printer in Jersey City to print their marketing and promotional materials on recycled paper. Consequently, Femworks became the first title sponsor of the green marketplace that is held annually at the festival.

“The green marketplace was a whole showcase for green products and sustainable businesses. The LPCCD is always setting the bar a bit higher,” says Williams, who describes Wilson as a pioneer ahead of his time. “They set an example that this is a continuous journey. What we did in 2008 to become greener is not going to be enough in 2009.”