Long-time Essex County resident Chris Sabin is being tapped as the first director of communications and social impact at Newark Symphony Hall, located in its namesake city, according to a Feb. 7 announcement.

At the helm of this new office, Sabin will oversee community development and engagement within Newark, as well as public events and other programs, and the venue’s job training and placement program called Symphony Works.

The historic entertainment venue on Broad Street – opened nearly a century ago in 1925 and with enough seating for a 3,500-person audience – considers itself the largest Black-led arts and entertainment venue in the Garden State. Formally called the Mosque Theater, Newark Symphony Hall played host to major musical figures like The Beatles, The Rolling States, Aretha Franklin and Jimi Hendrix, and was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.

“It’s a great time to be joining this important historic landmark institution in New Jersey’s largest city,” reads a Monday statement from Sabin, a South Orange resident.

His resume ranges from work at MTV Networks, UWG and Prime Access to marketing for the NAACP, according to the Monday announcement.

The theater has plans for a $50 million renovation, which it aims to complete before the venue’s 100-year anniversary in three years. A seven-member, Black-led committee was formed in the fall 2020 – with members from companies such as Goldman Sachs – with the goal of fundraising for the renovations. In January, the venue added Mack Graham as director of development to lead it’s fundraising department.

Nearby, plans at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, another major cultural institution in Newark, call for a $150 million arts neighborhood with townhouses, rental units, retail establishments, arts and cultural spaces, and restaurants.

Editor’s note: The story has been updated to note the theater has plans for a $50 million renovation.