Jersey City Arts Council

What Jersey City Arts Council does

Jersey City Arts Council (JCAC) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit arts service organization founded in November 2016 and headquartered at 201 Montgomery St., 2nd Floor, Jersey City, NJ. JCAC's mission is to "protect, strengthen, and promote the arts" through grantmaking, advocacy, and convening for the city's arts community. It operates a portfolio of signature programs rather than a single product: the Individual Artist Fellowship (unrestricted grants to 20 Jersey City artists annually, with ~200 applications in 2026), the JC Poet Laureate program (a two-year city ambassadorship with a $3,000 annual honorarium), the quarterly JC Fridays festival (45+ free arts events), the Jersey City Art and Studio Tour (JCAST, a 35+ year tradition), and the City Conversations panel series. JCAC is the lead advocacy organization behind the November 2020 ballot referendum that created the Jersey City Arts & Culture Trust Fund — the first such municipal arts trust fund approved in New Jersey — which has since deployed nearly $3 million across ~300 grants. JCAC itself has distributed approximately $500,000 in additional grant funding over a four-year period.

JCAC has no proprietary technology platform. Its core operating stack consists of a Squarespace-hosted website (jerseycityartscouncil.org), Eventbrite for event registration, Zoom for virtual roundtables, and Instagram for community engagement. Distribution is hybrid: digital self-serve (online grant applications, event RSVP), in-person community events across municipal venues, and direct convening via its partnership with the Jersey City Office of Cultural Affairs. The organization runs on an all-volunteer Board of Directors model with 1–10 total personnel and was led as of mid-2025 by Executive Director Deonté Griffin-Quick.

Revenue mechanics are characteristic of a small community nonprofit: tax-deductible individual donations, corporate "pARTner" sponsorships (Silverman, Mack-Cali, Fidelity, National Endowment for the NEA), suggested-donation events ($25 for the Summer Mixer), and pass-through grant funding from the Jersey City Arts & Culture Trust Fund. JCAC has no pricing model for its core programs, which are free to access. Customer segments are distributed across individual artists (primary), local arts organizations (primary), corporate partners (secondary), and general Jersey City residents (secondary). Concentration risk is low: 78 Trust Fund recipients in 2024 plus 20 fellowship recipients per cycle, with no single grant dollar or sponsor visibly dominating the portfolio.

Name

Jersey City Arts Council

Legal name

Jersey City Arts Council, Inc.

Website

https://jerseycityartscouncil.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2016

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Jersey City Arts Council is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit arts service organization that distributes grants, advocates, and convenes programs (Individual Artist Fellowship, JC Fridays, JCAST, Poet Laureate) for the Jersey City, NJ arts community.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Community Arts Services

NAICS

Grantmaking and Giving Services (81321), Civic and Social Organizations (813410), Business, Professional, Labor, Political, and Similar Organizations (8139), Professional Organizations (81392)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Association & Society Conference Management (Nonprofit, Professional Bodies) (THAHACAA)

Keywords

• Arts grantmaking services
• Community arts programming
• Artist advocacy support
• Arts festival events
• Cultural development

Headquarters

HQ city

Jersey City

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Grant Programs and Fellowships: JCAC distributes grant funding to individual artists and arts organizations through programs including the Individual Artist Fellowship, Antenna Grant for Women in the Arts, Arts Relief Fund, and COVID Relief Grants. Funding originates from the Jersey City Arts & Culture Trust Fund and partnerships with foundations.
2. Donations and Contributions: The organization accepts tax-deductible donations from individuals and organizations. JCAC is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
3. Corporate Partnerships and Sponsorships: Corporate sponsors including Silverman, Mack-Cali, Fidelity, and others provide financial support. JCAC offers 'pARTner' program for businesses that support local arts.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

JCAC is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit arts service organization that supports and advocates for individual artists and arts organizations across all disciplines in Jersey City. It delivers grantmaking (Individual Artist Fellowship, Arts & Culture Trust Fund grants), signature community programs (JC Fridays quarterly festival, JCAST studio tour, JC Poet Laureate Program, City Conversations), and educational/community programming. Programs are primarily free to access, supported by donations, corporate sponsorships, and municipal trust fund dollars.

Product overview

Jersey City Arts Council is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit arts service organization that does not operate a unified technology product. Instead, it delivers its mission through a portfolio of arts programs and grant initiatives including the Individual Artist Fellowship Program, JC Poet Laureate Program, JC Fridays quarterly arts festival, Jersey City Art and Studio Tour (JCAST), and the Jersey City Arts & Culture Trust Fund. The organization also publishes the Letter to the City blog series and hosts the City Conversations programming series. These programs work together to provide funding, advocacy, and promotion for the local arts community.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Individual Artist Fellowship Program
• JC Fridays
• Jersey City Art and Studio Tour (JCAST)
• JC Poet Laureate Program
• Jersey City Arts & Culture Trust Fund
• City Conversations

Quantifiable outcome

• $13.5 million in arts organization spending and $32.4 million in audience expenditures in Jersey City (2022)
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered supporting and core.

• CVL EconomicssupportingStrategic or Co-development Partner · 7 July 2025Creative economy consulting firm. Cody Rapp, JCAC Board Member, serves as Fractional Chief of Staff at CVL Economics and leads strategic initiatives across business development, operations, and events.
• Jersey City Office of Cultural AffairscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerKey government partner co-administering Individual Artist Fellowship program and Jersey City Arts & Culture Trust Fund. Partnership established to distribute grants and support arts programming across the city.
• New Jersey City University (NJCU)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerKey institutional partner; collaborated to launch Jersey City Cultural Asset Map in 2018; hosts JCAC Annual Conference; provides facilities and programming support.
• Rising Tide CapitalsupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnered with JCAC during COVID-19 to host regular online meetings for artists to share resources and ideas.
• Nimbus Dance WorkssupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnered with JCAC in February 2021 to create two regranting programs for artists through the Northern New Jersey Community Foundation.
• Art House ProductionscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerKey arts organization partner producing JC Fridays festival and other programs. Executive Artistic Director Meredith Burns and Director of JC Fridays Sunjay Venkatraman collaborate with JCAC.
• Jersey City WriterssupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner organization now overseeing the Jersey City Poetry Festival that JCAC launched in April 2018.
• Art Fair 14CsupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerFiscal sponsorship recipient in Spring 2019. Now produces art fair programming integrated into Jersey City Art Week.
• Pro Arts Jersey CitycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerProfessional visual arts membership organization partner. Pro Arts organized JCAST from 1994-2013 and continues collaborative arts programming.

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Jersey City Office of Cultural Affairs: Municipal government body that co-administers the Individual Artist Fellowship and the Arts & Culture Trust Fund with JCAC. Functions as the closest operational peer as the city's primary cultural affairs coordinator.
• Pro Arts Jersey City: Jersey City-based professional visual arts membership organization that has organized JCAST since 1994 and continues to collaborate on arts programming with JCAC. Operates in the same geographic market with overlapping artist and membership audiences.
• Art House Productions: Core JCAC partner that produces the JC Fridays festival and other Jersey City arts programming. Serves overlapping audiences and artists as a peer arts service organization operating in Jersey City.

Broad incumbents

• National Assembly of State Arts Agencies: National membership organization of state and jurisdictional arts agencies that awarded JCAC's Executive Director the Inaugural Individual DEI Award. Operates as an umbrella peer to JCAC's arts council function.
• Americans for the Arts: National nonprofit arts service organization that produced the AEP6 economic impact study JCAC cites ($13.5M in spending, 532 jobs supported in Jersey City). Functions as a broader national-scale peer in arts advocacy and research.

Regional players

• Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation: Regional arts funder serving New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, the District of Columbia, Virginia, and West Virginia. Comparable grantmaking and convening function at the multi-state regional level.
• New York Foundation for the Arts: Regional arts service organization that provides grantmaking and resources to artists across the New York/New Jersey region, including regranting partnerships. Comparable scope of grant administration and artist support services.
• Mass Cultural Council: Massachusetts state arts agency performing a similar grantmaking, advocacy, and convening role as JCAC, but at the state level. Provides a useful comparability benchmark for cultural council operating models.
• ArtPride New Jersey Foundation: Statewide arts advocacy organization whose Discover Jersey Arts Leadership Award was given to JCAC's Executive Director. Operates as a parallel arts service body at the New Jersey state level.
• New Jersey State Council on the Arts: State-level arts funding and policy agency that awards Individual Artist Fellowships and Folk Arts Awards to Jersey City artists, including board members of JCAC. Comparable arts council function at state scale.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Instagraminstagram.com/jerseycityartscouncil
• Xx.com/artscounciljc
• Facebookfacebook.com/jerseycityartscouncil
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/jersey-city-arts-council

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles18 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Jersey City Arts Council