The New York City Council Votes for an 11 Percent Cut in Art Spending

On July 1, The New York Times reported that the New York City Council had cut the budget allocated to art spending by nearly 11 percent.

© Photo by Luiz Roberto Lima-ANB/Pacific Press/LightRocket 

Due to the Coronavirus shutdown, the city faced a $9 billion loss in revenues. The New York City Council chose to adapt to the current economic crisis, resulting in city leaders cutting agency spending across the board.

“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.

The Department of Cultural Affairs will receive a budget of $189 million for the current year. This translates to a massive $23 million cut considering last year’s whopping budget of $212 million. The Department of Education will also see a reduction in spending, as the arts education services will lose $15 million from its annual budget.

Institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the American Museum of Natural History, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and the Museum of the City of New York will also see their annual grants significantly reduced. 

The Coalition of Theaters of Color, which supports theaters that serve communities of color, however, kept its $3.7 million in funding from last year intact. Mr. Van Bramer, the chair of the cultural affairs committee, said that in this moment of national reckoning over racial injustice, including in the theater world, he could not imagine cutting anything from that initiative.

Some city leaders wanted even deeper cuts to the arts funding. Truth is, the municipal spending on arts had grown in the past few years, but it was not as bad as some had feared. 

At the end of the day, the spending cuts are important. In fact, in addition to quite a few curators, Carla Precht, the executive director of the Bronx Children’s Museum, is “relieved that the reductions were not larger.” 

Read more on the City Council resolutions: “Fiscal Year 2021, Expense Budget Resolutions”