POC-led Arts Orgs In NYC Call for $100M to Address “Cultural Inequity”

Community members lay down a collectively assembled bandana quilt activated by Create Change Artists-in-Residence at the Black School during a “Field Day” in Harlem in 2017.

The letter shares the finding of the group’s research, drawn from surveys, interviews, and conversations with POC arts leaders across the five boroughs conducted last year. While acknowledging a “relatively small sample” of 41 POC entities surveyed, the report reveals both the glaring difficulties facing those institutions as well as their unique contributions to the arts landscape. For example, while respondents produced content in 17 languages in addition to English, 73% of organizations said they lacked the staff capacity to research and apply to grants or cultivate individual donors.

Survey participants included the Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural and Educational Center, the Asian American Arts Alliance, El Museo del Barrio, the National Black Theatre, and Black Trans Femmes in the Arts Collective.