news — Cultural Institutions Group

Cultural Institutions Say They’re Suffering Under City Budget Cuts

May 20, 2024, The Brian Lehrer Show — “The city's cultural institutions rely on funding from the city budget, and they are dealing with budget cuts. Adrian Benepe, president of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and Regina Bain, executive director of the Louis Armstrong House Museum, put the budget cuts in context, and talk about what they need from the city to operate compared to what they're getting - despite generating billions in economic activity.”

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‘City budget must support culture’ Op-ed by Coco Killingsworth, Chair, Cultural Institutions Group, and Henry Garrido, Executive Director, District Council 37 April 26, 2024, Daily News — “New Yorkers have many opinions, but one thing we can all agree on is that good union jobs are critical for our city and our economy. Key to this ecosystem are our cultural institutions. Arts and culture drive tourism and the New York City economy in a way that few other sectors do. Our cultural institutions, like schools and libraries, are part of the lifeblood of our communities…”

Cultural institutions applaud City Council budget advocacy for arts and culture
April 4, 2024 — On behalf of the cultural institutions that receive funding from the City, thank you Speaker Adams, Finance Chair Justin Brannan and Culture Chair Carlina Rivera for committing to fight hard for culture in this year’s budget response. Arts and culture are powerful economic drivers and lifelines to our communities. This vital sector, that provides tens of thousands of jobs, many of them union, is the reason New York City is the greatest in the world. We commend Speaker Adams on her vision for a more inclusive and prosperous future through investment in arts and culture and call upon Mayor Adams to reverse his damaging cuts to this sector and fully fund our institutions and organizations this budget year. #NoCutsToCulture #CultureForAll

Read the Council’s Preliminary Budget Response below.

Cultural institutions face more budget cuts from New York City
February 5, 2024
The 34 members of the city's Cultural Institutions Group, or CIG's, say there could be some big changes coming, as the city continues the cut their funding.

While Mayor Eric Adams was able to roll back some of his most publicly unpopular budget cuts last month, like an NYPD hiring freeze and decreases in money for schools, he also announced even less money would go to the CIGs, which Dr. Raymond Codrington, the President and CEO of the Weeksville Heritage Center, calls "unprecedented."

‘A DISPROPORTIONATELY HARMFUL IMPACT’: CITY’S CULTURAL GROUPS REACT TO THE ADAMS BUDGET
January 22, 2024, Brooklyn Magazine
Worse than we've ever been cut before,' says Brooklyn Botanic Garden's Adrian Benepe in a wide-ranging interview with Brian Braiker of Brooklyn Magazine.

Last week Mayor Eric Adams released a preliminary $109 billion budget for the new fiscal year. He framed it as a good news story: He announced he was able to soften some cuts he had proposed in November as the city’s financial outlook brightened due to stronger than expected tax revenues.

CIG Chair, Taryn Sacramone, Appointed along with 53 other leaders to “New” New York Panel by Mayor Adams and Governor Hochul
June 13, 2022, NYC.Gov Press Release
Visionary Leaders From Across Sectors Will Develop Actionable Recommendations for Vibrant, Strong, Inclusive Business Districts and Region

CIGs participate in NYC’s 2022 Museum Mile
June 13, 2022, Thrillist
Participating CIGs include: Museo del Barrio, The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of the City of New York.

To create safer neighborhoods, arts and culture are key
June 6, 2022, NY Daily News | Op-Ed
As New York City emerges slowly from the pandemic, as worries of gun violence in our city rise, we need to talk about a radical reimagining of NYC — one that respects the dignity and humanity of every New Yorker in every neighborhood.

Museums and theaters are in a vaccine-mandate adjustment period
March 21, 2022, Crain’s New York
The city’s museums and performing arts institutions are likely to drop their vaccine mandates by late spring, as their internal operations and staff attitudes catch up to the city’s latest rules, according to the chair of a group of city museums and theaters, Taryn Sacramone.

“It’s good for us to be talking to each other so we can do our best to set an expectation,” said Sacramone who is the executive director of Queens Theater and chair of the Cultural Institutions Group, which includes the American Museum of Natural History, Metropolitan Museum and 34 other spots that occupy public land and receive some operations funding from the city.

NYC museums and libraries are now handing out free at-home COVID tests
February 17, 2022, TimeOUT NYC
The kits will be distributed across 14 landmark cultural sites.

NYC Test & Trace Corps Partners With City Cultural Sites and Public Libraries to Distribute Free At-Home COVID-19 Tests
February 11, 2022
The NYC Test & Trace Corps announced today that 14 landmark City cultural sites and 27 branches of The New York Public Library, Queens Public Library and Brooklyn Public Library will receive at-home COVID-19 test kits to give to New Yorkers free of charge. Weekly walk-up distributions will begin Monday, February 14.

How Weeksville, a Center of Black History, Fought to Survive
April 6, 2021, New York Times
Two years ago, Weeksville Heritage Center in Brooklyn, which is dedicated to preserving the remnants of a thriving village established by Black New Yorkers in the years after the state abolished slavery in 1827, was at risk of disappearing.

Facing a severe budget shortfall, the center was able to raise more than $350,000 through a crowdfunding campaign, but local politicians knew that a temporary influx of cash wouldn’t save it in the long term. So they turned to the city. Through their efforts, Weeksville recently became the first organization in a generation to be added to the city’s Cultural Institutions Group — a collection of nearly three dozen cultural organizations, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall, whose inclusion in the group makes them eligible for more city funding.

Now Weeksville, a historical and cultural center, is entering a new phase of its long and winding history. On Tuesday, Weeksville named a new chief executive officer, Raymond Codrington, a cultural anthropologist with curatorial and nonprofit leadership experience. With the organization no longer fighting for its survival, his mission will be to use its new institutional support to expand its presence in Brooklyn.

NYC's new budget cuts funding to cultural institutions by 11 percent
July 2, 2020, Time Out New York
With a $9 billion revenue shortfall caused by the pandemic, New York City passed a tight $88.19 billion budget on Wednesday that reduces arts spending significantly. The budget allocates $189 million, down from last year's $212 million, to the Department of Cultural Affairs, which doles out grants to the city's numerous cultural institutions, including: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the New York Botanical Garden, the American Museum of Natural History, the Wildlife Conservation Society, the Brooklyn Museum, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, the Queens Botanical Garden, the New York Hall of Science, the Staten Island Institute of Arts & Sciences, the Staten Island Zoological Society, the Staten Island Historical Society, the Museum of the City of New York, Wave Hill, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Snug Harbor Cultural Center, Studio Museum in Harlem, the New York Shakespeare Festival and others.

New York City Cuts Arts Spending by 11 Percent to Close Budget Gap
July 1, 2020, The New York Times
“We are all trying to figure out how we do what we have done with less,” said John Calvelli, the chair of the Cultural Institutions group, which comprises 33 museums and other organizations that operate in city-owned buildings or on city-owned land. The decrease in spending was included in the city’s $88.19 billion budget passed Wednesday — a sum that included a roughly $23 million cut to the Department of Cultural Affairs, the city agency that handles grants to arts organizations, according to the New York Times.

Cultural Institutions Group is proud to support the local New York culture and arts community in the daily 'Culture@3pm' calls, led by vice-chair Taryn Sacramone, Queens Theater.
May 12, 2020, The New York Times
The Daily Call That 200 Arts Groups Hope Will Help Them Survive. In a sign of the pandemic’s toll, New York’s cultural institutions, large and small, feel compelled to share their woes and tactics in strategy sessions.

New York Theaters Open Up Lobbies for Racial Justice Protesters
June 4, 2020, The New York Times
Theaters in New York, shuttered for months because of the pandemic, are starting to open their doors again — not for ticket holders but for demonstrators against police brutality who need water or a bathroom break.

Maloney, Nadler Lead Request to Support Arts and Cultural Sector in Next Coronavirus Response Package
April 28, 2020, Press Release from the Office of Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (NY-12)
In their letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, the Members write that, “while [social distancing] orders are absolutely necessary to protect public health and stop the spread of COVID-19, they are having a devastating impact on the nonprofit arts and cultural community. Nonprofit cultural institutions derive the majority of their revenue from patrons, and consequently face serious economic difficulty as they remain closed indefinitely. Without patronage, the earned revenue stream of nonprofit arts and cultural organizations – which includes fundraising, charitable donations, admissions ticket sales, and venue rentals – has completely disappeared. […] By providing additional emergency funding for the arts and cultural sector, we can enable our nation’s museums, libraries, theaters, performance halls, arts programs, and cultural institutions to outlast this pandemic and continue their invaluable roles in preserving American art, history, and culture.”

New York on Display: Artifacts from Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center Show City’s Cultural Richness
October 12, 2019, New York Daily News
“It demonstrates the importance of culture to both the economic viability of the city but most importantly,” said John Calvelli chairman of the Cultural Institutions Group, and Executive Vice President of Public Affairs, Wildlife Conservation Society, “the countless communities that benefit from cultural and educational services and are inspired by our programming.”

New Exhibit Featuring Cultural Institutions Group Opening at Museum of City of New York on Oct. 18
October 9, 2020, WCS Newsroom
The exhibit will feature images, objects, and ephemera from the almost three dozen members of the group. Named Cultivating Culture, it will commemorate the 150th anniversary of this unparalleled public-private initiative.

A Victory for All New Yorkers: New York City Invests in Culture
June 20, 2019, WCS Newsroom
The New York City Council voted to adopt the Fiscal Year 2020 budget, which includes more than $50 million in funding to the cultural community. “The cultural and arts organizations supported by this funding provide creative and innovative programming that strengthen the diverse fabric of the city,” said John Calvelli, Wildlife Conservation Society Executive Vice President for Public Affairs and Chair of the Cultural Institutions Group.

John F. Calvelli Elected Chair of Cultural Institutions Group in New York City
September 28, 2017, WCS Newsroom
The Executive Vice President of Public Affairs for the Wildlife Conservation Society has long been a leading advocate for cultural organizations, big and small, in all five boroughs of New York City. “I am honored to follow the outgoing CIG Chair, Carl Goodman, Executive Director, Museum of the Moving Image, and will continue his strong leadership ensuring that New York City remains one of the world’s most important cities for culture and the arts,” said Calvelli.