Cultural capital of the world

                                                                                                                                                        

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IMPORTANT ISSUES! THESE ARE NOT SOLICITATIONS 

Two years ago this week, I spoke at a launch rally for our campaign. I ended my speech with a line that’s still important to me today:

We can afford to make life easier here. And we can afford to dream.

I still come back to that line, because I want people to know that second half was not just decoration. Yes, we ran a campaign that was laser-focused on affordability. But equally as important was the belief that we were not going to settle for a New York City where only some people could afford to dream.

Nobody understands this better than our artists. I say this as someone who was once an aspiring artist myself (no, I will not be sharing links here today). I know from talking to artists in New York what it means to chase a creative life in the city and how quickly the realities of rent and groceries can cut that chase short.

New York City is not just the finance capital of the world. It's the cultural capital of the world. We’re proud of that. It’s thanks to the painter in their Bushwick studio. A salsa band in the South Bronx. Poets doing open mics in Jackson Heights. Dancers riding the 7 train to rehearsals that don’t pay. They are the reason people come here, fall in love with New York, and never look back.

But for a really long time, we've treated art as if it were separate from our economy. It isn’t. Artists need a stable foundation to be creative. Without one, art becomes a luxury only for the wealthiest New Yorkers.

For nearly 20 years, city-funded grants have given individual artists just $5,000 to help keep the creativity and culture alive in our city. But as rent, groceries, and child care have skyrocketed, this grant’s dollar amount has stayed flat. So this month, we doubled it.

Working artists and small nonprofits can now apply for city-funded grants up to $10,000, the first increase in almost two decades. Money flows through a local arts council in each borough, governed by the people who know their local artists best. And grantees can now shop for free at Materials for the Arts on the first Monday of every month, choosing from the millions of pounds of donated supplies the city collects each year.

Learn more about how to apply for artist grants. Applications are open on a rolling basis depending on your borough: https://nyc.gov/artistgrants

Our Department of Cultural Affairs spent the last six months holding town halls with artists in every borough. Across the city we heard one resounding message: artists love this city, but it keeps getting harder to stay.

The increased grants are part of a bigger plan. Our budget for arts and culture this year is the largest in the city's history. We partnered with the Met Opera to give 70,000 free tickets to New Yorkers who have never been to the opera. And we are working with the Theatre Development Fund to get thousands of New York City students free and low-cost Broadway tickets.

Art, at its core, cannot be a luxury for the few. It must be something that every New Yorker can enjoy, and every New Yorker can make.

At a time when the most powerful companies are racing to replace artists with AI generations at the push of a button, I want New York to bet on the creativity of human beings.

Because this is New York. We can afford to dream.

Zohran Mamdani
Mayor of New York City

Before you go… Investing in artists didn’t happen because a lobbyist asked for it. It happened because Zohran ran a campaign that promised a city where working people, artists included, can afford to live and afford to dream. He can keep that promise because his campaign is funded by thousands of working people who chip in what they can. Zohran’s campaign answers to the people. That’s why your grassroots support matters so much. Every contribution helps build the kind of electoral power that turns big promises into real results, in the city we love. If you want a New York where everyone can afford to dream, please consider making a donation to fund Zohran’s campaign. Donate $10 ››

 

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Paid for by Zohran for NYC 2029