Posted on October 6, 2009

Mayor Bloomberg, New York City Economic Development Corporation Launch Initiatives to Support City's Cultural Sector

The New York City Economic Development Corporation and New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg have announced five new initiatives designed to help the city's artists and cultural institutions weather the recession.

Part of the city's Five Borough Economic Opportunity Plan, the initiatives will support individual artists and 1,400 nonprofit cultural groups, which together employ some 40,000 people. The new efforts build on a series of initiatives announced by Bloomberg in April to help the city's nonprofits survive the economic downturn.

The new initiatives include Curate New York City, which will work with visual artists to display their work at several city-owned properties; New York City Performs, through which NYCEDC and the city's Department of Parks and Recreation will provide organizations with publicly accessible outdoor space; JumpStart for the Arts, a training program that will encourage entrepreneurial professionals to apply their skills to the nonprofit arts and cultural sector; Artists as Entrepreneurs, a pilot program that works to build the entrepreneurial skills of artists and creative professionals; and the Arts Clusters Promotion Program, which will award grants of $25,000 to two local "clusters" of artists and cultural organizations.

"New York City's standing as the cultural capital of the world is one of our great strengths," said Mayor Bloomberg. "Our cultural institutions and artists contribute to a creative spirit unmatched anywhere else, and we recognize how important it is to do everything we can to make sure they continue to flourish."