While talent helps, students also need knowledge, expertise and polish to get into dozens of New York City public school arts programs that use auditions and portfolios to screen applicants. Although these schools have largely escaped the rancorous debate over selective admissions policies, they raise many of the same concerns about equity, class and race.
“The arts are a form of embodied play that surpasses verbal processing and allows us to explore, connect with ourselves and others, and ultimately build or rebuild the muscles of imagination when life circumstances or the experience of trauma has taken them away.”
After two pandemic years that wrought havoc on all education but particularly on arts classes, advocates and educators have mounted a drive to win more—and more permanent—funding for visual art, music, dance and theater in the city’s public schools.
Brooklyn Councilmember Chi Ossé wants to commit 1 percent of New York City’s budget to the arts sector, which shed more than 208,000 jobs during the early months of the pandemic.
The initiative, which kicked off in March, allows cultural organizations to apply for permits to host performances on certain city streets—an effort to help the performance arts sector, hit hard by COVID-19 restrictions, rebound.
New Yorkers for Parks is doubling the reach of its annual Sept. 11 Daffodil Project to also honor those who’ve died from the pandemic. “COVID is not a single moment like 9/11. It’s this continuous shared tragedy, but we’re not able to be together in the same way,” the group’s director said.
While the COVID-19 pandemic may have limited the intimacy of prison and reentry arts programs, many found ways to continue to teach, appreciate and showcase the work of incarcerated artists even during the crisis, by transitioning to virtual and solo lessons.
Unlike a museum, the experience is an 40-minute-long visual show. Projections of Van Gogh’s work are shot onto the walls, floor and reflective objects as songs from Edith Piaf, Imogen Heap and Thom Yorke play.
‘I believe if we want to preserve SoHo, we must rezone within reason. To address the disjointed policies and permits that currently cause headaches, but also to save the stunning landmarked buildings at the heart of this debate.’
‘Yet while immigrants now account for nearly one-third of all artists in the city and play an essential role anchoring New York’s position as a global leader in contemporary culture, the pandemic is threatening their livelihoods.’
A look back on some of the pivotal moments in New York during the last four years, from protests to the immigration ban to Trump’s impact on local elections.
City Limits uses investigative journalism through the prism of New York City to identify urban problems, examine their causes, explore solutions, and equip communities to take action.
Founded in 1976 in the midst of New York’s fiscal crisis, City Limits exists to inform democracy and equip citizens to create a more just city. The organization is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit funded by foundation support, ad sponsorship and donations from readers.
Support local, investigative journalism that has informed and empowered New Yorkers for 45 years.
Support local, investigative journalism that has informed and empowered New Yorkers for 45 years.
