Trenton Redux

Empty at the Core

Proponents of the status quo in the Artworks building go to great lengths to obscure a central fact, which is that Artworks has failed to operate any meaningful programs of its own since 2002.

Artworks defenders will attempt to dismiss this as another example of empty rhetoric. They'll point to the MCCC's program, and those of community groups. What they don't acknowledge is that these groups are operating without any substantive support from the Artworks organization (other than receiving the keys to a building which the City is paying for).

The fact that Artworks itself isn't generating value is at the crux of why the City wants to redevelop the space. If Artworks were operating its own programs, had a full time executive director, were raising money effectively (say to the tune of $1 million/year, to justify a city subsidy of $170,000) it would be an entirely different story. Artworks could target a small fraction of the programs and resources they generated from their efforts to benefit the residents of Trenton directly, and few would question their right to remain in control of the space. The fact is, Artworks is not doing any of those things. So, the City feels it's getting a bad deal and wants to make a change. Most taxpayers in Trenton agree with them.

If there's any doubt about the emptiness of the Artworks facade, try going onto the Artworks website: www.artworksnj.org This has been the organization's "domain name" since 1996. When I did it a few minutes ago, I received this in response:

What it tells you is that the domain name expired on February 4, and no one from Artworks seems to have noticed. On March 14, the domain name will be thrown back into the general pool, and theoretically could be lost forever. Hopefully, between now and then someone from Artworks will renew it. It will cost them $34.95 on a credit card to renew for a year, and a few minutes of time.

Recognize that on February 4, within a few hours of the expiration, any email accounts based on the artworksnj.org domain would have stopped functioning. Similarly, anyone hitting their site would have gotten the same screen I did.

Clearly, NO ONE is using the Artworks website or email addresses, or they would have renewed the domain already. The fact is, no functioning organization could ever afford to give up a domain name with 10 years "brand equity" built into it. Even if you intended to change it, you'd keep the old one around so you can forward emails and web hits from folks who still used the old domain.

It makes no sense, until you realize that there's nothing there.

posted by Michael @ 12:58 PM