Here is an official statement from the People's Cultural Plan for Working Artists and Communities in New York City:
The People's Cultural Plan
for Working Artists and Communities in New York City
Inequity in arts and culture is a persistent problem in New York City. The worsening climate of fear, intolerance, and fascism, especially affecting people of color, must be countered with more than lip service in support of diversity: Only by implementing true equity in all city policies will the most vulnerable be protected from the multiple crises facing our communities. As a sanctuary city, any cultural plan must be supportive of the lives and contributions of communities of color and immigrants.
Displacement and gentrification are the greatest threats to culture in NYC, because culture is rooted in place, and skyrocketing rent threatens to displace working class black communities and communities of color, working artists, and underfunded arts organizations. The contracting of real estate development firms James Lima Planning + Development and BJH Advisors LLC as NYC Cultural Plan consultants indicates that yet again, arts and culture are being used as a Trojan Horse to usher in still more gentrification and displacement. We demand a plan that calls for the elimination of these pro-developer policies and rezonings, for an immediate rent freeze, and for the development of more just rent control policies at the State and City levels.
The exploitation of artists and other low-wage workers has always been a threat to culture in NYC, but in combination with the housing crisis, that threat places most artists, especially those who are working-class people of color, close to their breaking point. From low-wage workers servicing museums, to underpaid administrators of nonprofit organizations, to the unpaid labor of artists—workers across the supply chain contribute to making the arts a multi-billion dollar industry. We demand a plan that insures equitable and adequate wages and employee benefits and protections to artists and workers in the field of culture, and additional supports to artists and workers of color
Cultural funding is among the most inequitably distributed resources in NYC, and the policies of the Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA) exacerbate that inequity by giving nearly 60% of its funding to Manhattan alone out of the five boroughs, and almost 80% of its funding to only 33 of the 1,000+ organizations funded. Inadequate funding to poor neighborhoods – and austerity in public services generally – operates in tandem with real estate development schemes to displace communities; inadequate funding to small and POC-run organizations makes it difficult to pay adequate wages and artist fees. We demand a plan with generous and equitable public cultural funding that directs all increases in DCLA funding to the neighborhoods, organizations, and artists who need it the most, rather than to institutions that are already receiving generous allocations, many of which are not adequately serving the communities they purport to.
We, the people, demand a cultural plan with concrete policies to: 1. End displacement and gentrification in NYC; 2. Insure equitable wages for artists and cultural workers; 3. Distribute public funding equitably; and 4. Provide additional supports to communities, organizations, and artists of color, to begin to rectify the documented history of neglect and disinvestment for these groups in NYC.
We further demand that changes in funding and housing policies be subject to community control – that the neighborhoods to be affected by policy changes determine the specifics. The most crucial component of equity is equity in power and in decision-making, and we will accept nothing less.
Contact: peoplesculturalplan@gmail.com
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July 20, 2017
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