Justice for Artists, Musicians, Dancers, Performers, Creators, and All Those Who Support Them

For the sake of brevity, the term “creators” is used throughout the plan when referring to the comprehensive group: artists, musicians, performers, dancers, creators, and all those who support them. Specific terms are used as needed. 

Amit has been endorsed by:

American Federation of Musicians Local 802 

International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local 1. 

The act of creation is among the most powerful and most human of acts. Creation can be conceived as an externalization, or possibly fulfillment, of the self, and it can be understood through the lenses of experience or even consumption.

Irrespective of one’s approach, one thing is certain: creation requires work; creation is work; and all those who create (and support those who create) are therefore workers - and as such, we must proactively and intentionally create the conditions in which all New Yorkers who create, especially BIPOC, trans, and immigrant New Yorkers, can practice their crafts and live with dignity. 

As a person who trained for many years as a vocalist, and who has been both a performer and a voracious consumer of arts, music, and nightlife, this is personal for me - and it’s not new for me. 

I’m proud to have been the fiercest advocate within City Administration for repeal of the racist and homophobic Cabaret Law, which for decades was weaponized against many vulnerable communities, and in particular against queer and “DIY” artist communities. I’m particularly proud of having been successful in achieving its repeal. 

Prior to COVID-19, the cultural and nightlife economies contributed as much as $35 billion to New York City’s annual economic output—both in terms of revenue generated and money spent by artists on supplies and services—and employed hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers, both formally and informally. While many workers, such as those who are unionized through one of the 13 different unions represented on Broadway and in concert hall music, have found degrees of stability, the vast majority of workers in the cultural and nightlife economies have been severely economically imperiled. 

There are many steps the City can take to stabilize and empower the New Yorkers who are our friends, neighbors, and part of the larger communities we also belong to (especially queer and of-color communities).

The Fund for Public Art: Publicly Funding Creators and Creation

• Establish a $50 million fund (just half of one-tenth of the City’s proposed FY 2022 budget) to publicly fund employment and project-based grants for artists. The work created would be owned by and accessible to the public, and the funds could flow through the CUNY Research Foundation (or possibly a newly-created 501(c)(3) housed within City government), not the Department of Cultural Affairs, to ensure that the funds are released quickly and efficiently. 
• Mandate that any employment created by the fund pays a living wage (not just a minimum wage), and that any project-based grants are no smaller than $10,000. 
• Similar to the NYC Census 2020 campaign, which I designed and implemented, this fund would assign privilege to creators representing and/or organizations working in BIPOC, immigrant, and LGBTQ+ communities through the selection process, and to those entities that have not received City funding previously. In this process, we must build an approach that honors the original stewards of this land, the Lenape people.  

Fix the Paperwork Problem

Too many New Yorkers are kept from artistic careers because not by lack of talent, creativity, or effort, but by the onerous administrative prerequisites to public, private, and philanthropic resources. This is especially true for BIPOC, immigrant, and LGBTQ+ creators. To guide creators and organizations through these processes, my signature proposal, the $100 million Fair Economy Fund, will:

• Fund culturally and linguistically competent organizations across the city to provide legal and technical assistance to creators necessary for them to access City resources. Built on the City’s Financial Empowerment Counseling model, which I helped expand, this direct, intensive 1:1 assistance will include, for example (and is not limited to), guidance on:
• • Incorporating and running a sole proprietorship, LLC, business, or a nonprofit;
  • Labor rights under State and Local laws, including laws that Amit has helped to write and implement, such as Freelance Isn’t Free, Paid Sick & Safe Leave, and others;
  • Writing grants and applying for federal and state assistance;
  • All things civics: how to navigate community boards, participatory budgeting, legislative advocacy, and more. 
• Organizations which have never received City funding before should rightfully be prioritized to maximize exposure to underserved communities.

Fix the Space Problem: Expansion, Creation, and Repurposing

A top issue facing creators is not having affordable, accessible, or even available space to create, rehearse, record, display, perform, or share work with their communities. Space has always been at a premium in New York City, but the lack of it for these purposes is unprecedented. 

The Council must use every tool at its disposal: the City’s budget, political will, and City Agency oversight to explore the following proposals:

• City-subsidization of storefronts and other vacant private spaces for creator use;
• Streamlining access and subsidy of community space for creator use;
• Requiring the creation of recording, rehearsal, studio, and community spaces in any new construction of any type (residential, commercial, etc).;
• Establishing and expanding community land trusts for living, working, and community space; and
• Repurposing City-owned buildings for creator use.

Musicians + Restaurants = Magic

In order to breathe life and economic growth into our neighborhoods, the City must: 

• Use the Fund for Public Art to establish grants enabling musicians to perform at, or just outside of, local restaurants. Wages must be at the union grade (and union musicians must be employed whenever possible), and this would ensure that musicians are put back to work (and paid appropriately), that restaurants can attract business without having to bear the cost of doing so; and
• Expand funding for multiple neighborhood performance series that would pay for musicians to perform in certain public spaces, such as underneath #7 train station stops in Sunnyside, or pedestrian plazas. 

Sales Tax Relief for Our Nightlife Establishments (and restaurants)

New York City has the ability to control approximately half of the total sales tax collected by businesses in the city (8.875%). With federal stimulus and additional state tax revenue in place for the upcoming fiscal year (FY 2022), the City should:

• Boost nightlife and restaurants by forgiving one week’s worth of the city’s portion of sales tax every month. 
• From Top Quality to Sanger Hall to my personally-beloved 3 Dollar Bill and Good Room, nightlife and all the creators and performers, especially folx from the LGBTQ+ community, should come dancing back.
• For a venue with $10,000 in weekly sales, this is approximately $500 - the cost of a part-time staff person for the week. 

Money, Power, Respect: The Creators’ Census

The data collected by the decennial census is the basis of money, power, and respect for individuals, communities, and entire cities and states. 

It’s so critical because it allows us to understand how many of us there are, where we are, who we are, and all of the needs in our communities. I designed and helped lead the City’s unprecedented $40 million census campaign in 2020, which achieved a historic response rate for NYC, outpacing most major U.S. cities, saving billions in critical funds over the next decade, and even saving an entire congressional seat when the State was supposed to lose two. 

We need a “Creators’ Census” to understand the full scope, size, and needs of all artists, musicians, creators, dancers, performers, and all those that support them.

We need to conduct a census of creators in New York City so we can:

• Document how many creators call New York home.
• Assess demographic diversity amongst creators.
• Find out creators’ needs from them directly, including their sources of work and the breakdown between their average annual and month to month income.