TESTIMONY
Sheila Lewandowski, Executive Director of Chocolate Factory Theater, on Increased Funding for Arts and Culture in New York City to Support the City's Recovery
4:30:15
·
3 min
Lewandowski testifies on the critical need for increased cultural funding in New York City.
- She highlights the role arts and culture play in the city's economic recovery, especially post-COVID.
- Many cultural organizations face significant operating deficits of 20-40% due to reduced support from foundations, corporations, and low ticket sales.
- The city must provide robust financial backing to enable the arts community to continue contributing to NYC's vibrancy and identity.
- Lewandowski shares a personal story about her uncle's artwork created in a concentration camp to illustrate art's vital role in human survival.
Sheila Lewandowski
4:30:15
Good afternoon.
4:30:16
Chairman Brennan, Chairman Rivera, counsel member Brewer.
4:30:19
Thank you for this opportunity to test Fi and for your fight to not just restore, but to increase the culturally budget for culture in New York City.
4:30:28
Please fight to baseline it as well and build in cola.
4:30:31
Because otherwise we're starting behind every year.
4:30:35
I'm going to read my testimony because I brought these pictures, which allow explained.
4:30:39
And then, boy, I hope I have enough time for some comments on other testimony.
4:30:44
Sheila Lewandowski, cofounder, Executive Director, Chocolate Factory Theater, around City Queens.
4:30:48
It's an artist run and led incubator for dance and performance.
4:30:51
An artist service organization, a Western Queens community anchor in a place of pride, a voice in the city's responsibility to increase funding and raise awareness around the impact and importance of the arts and an international destination to see high quality groundbreaking performances outside of Manhattan.
4:31:07
New York City, this administration, this council reached out and in large part supported the cultural community in 2021 to 2022 to partner with city in the height of the COVID crisis.
4:31:17
So we stepped up.
4:31:18
We stepped up a lot.
4:31:20
We pivoted and distributed food and PPE.
4:31:22
We pay artist to make virtual work.
4:31:24
We kept our staff employed and borrowed from the future until relief funds came in, and then the city asked for more.
4:31:30
We were asked to fully open without adequate support to help the city's economic re economic economy recover so that tourist flocked here again.
4:31:38
Small businesses and restaurants would fill again.
4:31:40
We did this because we believed in a shared vision of New York City with culture in all of its glorious diversity as the center of New York City's identity that it is critical to the economic, emotional, and spiritual, and well-being of this city.
4:31:53
I still believe that, and I do believe that you do too.
4:31:57
Now we need you more than I can recall in my 40 years working in the cultural community of New York City.
4:32:04
Almost every organization I know is facing 20 to 40% operating deficits next year and the year beyond that.
4:32:11
There are fewer foundations and corporations given to the Arts earned income tickets and such are only a tiny portion of the operating, especially in the performing arts.
4:32:20
I we do need you.
4:32:22
I just wanna note I brought this because I like visual things.
4:32:26
This artwork I'm showing is for my uncle Ted Verzicki, and it was in his memory about survive surviving 50 months in concentration camp.
4:32:33
And I bring that because that's how he survived.
4:32:37
He drew pictures of animals he saw inside and through the barbed wire in the sand, in the air, on his own skin, as a way to be human.
4:32:48
We need to keep our arts and culture alive, and we need to keep our artists in New York City, so we have this in our future.
4:32:56
Culture is healing, beauty, criticism sharing language history, therapy.
4:33:01
And by the way, chocolate factory was zeroed out this year.
4:33:04
We were one of those groups.
4:33:06
We appealed and didn't get a small amount back, but that money we had to borrow from next year.
4:33:12
Just because it was 8 months in, and we still paid our artists.
4:33:15
We kept our staff just like we did during COVID.
4:33:18
And so we need you to step up for us, so we can step up or keep stepping up for the city.
4:33:24
Thank you.
Justin Brannan
4:33:24
Thank you.
