Q&A
Accessing public spaces for cultural activities
1:57:43
·
3 min
Council Member Oswald Feliz inquires about the ease or difficulty of accessing public spaces for cultural activities. Various respondents, including representatives from El Museo del Barrio and Street Lab, share their experiences and insights.
- El Museo del Barrio faces limitations in using their own courtyard due to permitting issues
- Street Lab has grown to support groups in activating public spaces, including help with permits and logistics
- Many cultural organizations are structured to operate indoors, making it challenging to bring activities to public spaces
Oswald Feliz
1:57:43
Thank you.
1:57:43
Thank you so much for your testimony.
1:57:45
Just curious, and I guess for those that have sought, I guess, access to public spaces, how easy or difficult is it to get access to the data?
1:57:54
For example, Plaza for any other in public space.
1:57:58
If this is something that you've tried in the past.
Cynthia Carrion
1:58:02
So I can I can start?
Katie Hill
1:58:05
So if you haven't been to
Cynthia Carrion
1:58:06
a musa o com, after 13 years, our scaffolding is down.
1:58:09
We have this beautiful courtyard.
1:58:11
It is so beautiful, but art we are very limited in actually continuing to do programming in this beautiful courtyard.
1:58:19
There is, you know, due to our permitting And so whatever we can really do to kind of fast track that and also thinking about our limited budgets being used to go back into some of these budgetary, like administrative costs just to use in a space that is literally in front of our exhibits.
1:58:43
I think there's a lot of space that we can do there.
1:58:46
Also just to share that, and Jose was just walking towards of the neighborhood, and we would love to find ways to kind of again, continue to activate that and highlight the beautiful cultural vibrancy that is East Harlem.
Leslie Davol
1:59:03
I just like to add, that's pretty much how our street lab has grown over the years to fill a need for support for groups that wanna activate public space.
1:59:13
So everywhere we go is by request.
1:59:15
We pop up five hundred times every year in all neighborhoods.
1:59:18
And we're providing other support as well.
1:59:20
So we're providing groups with furniture so that we can make it easier.
1:59:23
Worse now, helping groups actually apply for permits.
1:59:27
For Open Streets, help them create Open Streets, navigate them through the process, in some cases serving as a fiscal sponsor even for small block associations, you know, and so that they can get other funding.
1:59:38
So there's there's still a need.
1:59:39
I think the the process is onerous for a lot of groups, but but I think there are there's there's workarounds, and there's organizations like street lot that have that have grown to fill in the gaps.
1:59:50
And that's exactly what we're doing.
1:59:53
The permanent thing people have talked about, but there are actually ways to do it.
1:59:58
I think the issue with culture in public space is a lot of cultural organizations are not set up, and their and their whole sort of business model is about being within walls, right, often.
2:00:09
And so I've seen this with libraries trying to partner with libraries over the years is that, you know, their their model is about bringing people in doing transactions and serving people within their walls, it's hard for them to devote staff just like small businesses too for anybody to go outside their establishment to do something in public space.
2:00:29
And so that's where street lab is coming in to try to be that support to allow groups that usually do things within their walls to bring it outside into a different form.
2:00:39
During COVID, we saw a lot of groups experimenting with that.
2:00:42
After COVID, they all went back indoors because that's the way they're set up.
2:00:45
You know, a lot of them that did things in public space during COVID experimented, but as soon as they were able to went back indoors because that is their model.
2:00:55
So I do think there's a need for other an ecosystem that will support cultural organizations and groups in taking what they do within walls out onto the street in a variety of ways, whether it's furniture, storage, you know, permit help, funding, all that.
