East Village CreateNYC event tonight

In 2015, the City Council passed legislation requiring the City to produce its first-ever comprehensive cultural plan: CreateNYC. CreateNYC is supposed to become a roadmap to guide the future of arts and culture in NYC.

The NYC Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA) and Hester Street Collaborative (HSC) are working together with artists, cultural organizations, New York City agencies, arts and culture experts, and community residents to collect data and public input to inform the cultural plan.

In order for CreateNYC to truly be a cultural plan for all New Yorkers, they need to hear from you. Show up to share your ideas about the future of arts and culture in New York City.

Culture is art and dance, science and origami, quilts and zoos, block parties and summer movies. Culture is who we are and what makes our city great. Culture is something unique to everyone, and that’s why THEY NEED YOUR HELP to develop a cultural plan for New York City that elevates equity, supports the creative community in its many forms, and expands opportunities for all New Yorkers to participate in the city’s rich cultural life.  Learn more here.

Two of our local friends are particularly promoting and involved in this effort.

Our friends from Fourth Arts Block FAB shared the results of some of their community input sessions that brought together a diverse array of stakeholders from various realms. Here is a copy of the input they put together.  They noted three key concerns that emerged from meetings:

• Affordable Space
• Cultural Equity
• Cross-sector, -community, -city agency collaboration

Stay in touch with them here.

And tonight, our friends at Theater for the New City are hosting a neighborhood gathering in connection with this overall initiative to create a Cultural Plan for NYC.  An ART START-UP! Neighborhood Gathering at 7:00PM.

It will be a fun environment with free food from local restaurants.  The price?  They just want to know your answers to a few questions:

What kind of Art is missing?
What do you want to see more of?
What are the issues facing the community that are in the way of enjoying more Art—Theater, Dance, Music, Poetry, Visual Art?
What are the economic barriers to Art in our community, and how can we overcome them?
How can the government help and how can it help without censorship or favoritism?

They hope that this event will help to bring community together in the face of the challenging times that are ahead. “The cultural life of our district affects the City, the Nation and the World At Large. The East Village/Lower East Side, with its uniquely diverse population, culture and economic mix, has particular needs that should be nurtured in the City’s Plan. We are calling on people from our churches, mosques, synagogues, schools, settlement Houses, NYCHA and other residences to attend and speak out. We will have a panel of artists from different ethnic, racial, religious, LGBT and other communities to hear concerns and ideas for the future.”

This free event will be sponsored by neighborhood restaurants like: McSorley’s Old Ale House, Moishe’s Bakery, La Palapa, China Star, Veselka’s Restaurant, Paquito’s and more.  For more information check out: theaterforthenewcity.net

And finally, you can always check out our engaging and free cultural programming.  Here is a calendar of our events with lots more to come in 2017.