ABOUT |
Mission & History Continued
HISTORY
Victory Hall Inc. a 501(c)(3) nonprofit arts organization, began its enterprise in an old Elks Club Hall in Jersey City in September 2001 as a project of OLC Catholic Parish. As the neighborhood was shaken by the the events of 911, we became a gathering place for hundreds weekly in our community. We slowly renovated the building to become, from 2001 to 2007, a vibrant space for the arts in Jersey City and the surrounding metropolitan area, presenting contemporary art, original theater, spoken word, performance, poetry, film, music, and dance events. We regularly drew thousands of visitors each year to arts weekends, films, and classes. Despite the loss of our original space in 2007, over the next five years we continued producing art exhibits, public art projects and interactive educational programming in public buildings, businesses and institutions throughout the NY/NJ community. During this period, we worked with K Hovnanian, LeFrak, Mack-Cali, Mestrovest at the Beacon, Silverman Brothers among others. Projects included a 50 banners of artists works surrounding the 77 Hudson/70 Greene building, murals and parking lot "street art" with Snyder High School students at MLK HUB, Jersey City, and "Drawing Together" an exchange of artworks between Jersey City Public School children and children from Cotagaita, Bolivia. In October 2012, Victory Hall Inc. once again procured its own space, opening Drawing Rooms in the former OLC convent building on Grand St. in Jersey City. A month later, Hurricane Sandy damage forced a temporary seven-month closing. We worked to restore the building until finally reopening our arts center in May of 2013. We showed hundreds of artists in the six to seven exhibitions we did per year in nine gallery rooms and the gallery shop, and developed an Artist Workspace Studio Program. During this same time, we began both our Rainbow Thursdays Artists program at Windmill Center and a partnership with Shuster Management, creating solo-artist exhibits throughout all their residential buildings. In 2018, Drawing Rooms moved to and renovated a new space at the Topps Building on Newark Ave and continued producing exhibitions until COVID caused a temporary closing to the public in 2020. In 2020, we partnered with Shuster Management on a ground floor gallery space at 160 1st St in the Powerhouse Arts District called Dvora Pop-Up Gallery realizing the original dream of the PAD to have ground floor arts spaces. We remained in that space until January, 2022. In 2022, with the support of a New Jersey State Council on the Arts Capital Arts Grant, we expanded our galleries at The Topps Building to include The Terrarium Gallery at Drawing Rooms, The Alcove Gallery at Drawing Rooms, Gallery One at Drawing Rooms and Public Art Projects on Newark Ave at Drawing Rooms. Back to Mission |
