PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Beth Allen, Executive Director of Downtown Brooklyn Arts Alliance
1:28:44
·
3 min
Beth Allen, Executive Director of Downtown Brooklyn Arts Alliance, testified about the importance of including smaller arts organizations in cultural and economic development initiatives in Downtown Brooklyn. She emphasized the need for more diverse and complex cultural programming in public spaces like Open Streets.
- Downtown Brooklyn Arts Alliance represents 60 arts organizations, mostly small ones
- The alliance was formed to ensure smaller organizations had a voice in neighborhood development
- Allen advocates for opportunities that can accommodate more complex performances beyond individual artists or DJs
- She highlighted the challenges faced by small organizations in participating in public space activations
Beth Allen
1:28:44
Hi.
1:28:46
My name is Beth Allen.
1:28:47
I'm the executive director of the Downtown Brooklyn Arts Alliance.
1:28:49
I had sort of prepared different remarks because I wasn't sure exactly how relevant this this hearing was gonna be, but it's extremely relevant.
1:28:59
So Downtown Brooklyn Arts Alliance is a network of 60 Arts Organizations in the day in the greater Downtown Brooklyn area.
1:29:08
Most of our organizations are small.
1:29:11
We were founded in the wake of the downtown Brooklyn rezoning, and it was a group of of cultural organizations who came together and said, Our neighborhoods are about to change.
1:29:24
We need to make sure that we can be a bridge between the old and the new.
1:29:28
But especially, you know, I think one of the things that was really recognized was that the larger organizations were the ones that were being called upon to talk about economic development in the neighborhood.
1:29:39
And it was the smaller organizations who were left out of these conversations, and they said we all need to come together and make sure that those voices were equally represented and also that the opportunities that we knew would flow from growth of our neighborhood would flow not only to Bam and Brick and and the other major organizations in our network, but to the small dance and theater companies, the small music ensembles, the those that serve lower income populations and special needs.
1:30:10
We have a lot of organizations that serve, you know, disabled individuals, low income kids, etcetera.
1:30:20
And so one of the, you know, one of the key one of my key mandates is to kind of be that representative, to be the person who pushes the bid to say, can you please take into account these other voices?
1:30:33
I know you care most about, like, the ones that actually, you know, serve the most people that or most visibly.
1:30:42
One of the things that was really apparent in the in the testimony today was the extent to which A lot of these opportunities coming from small business services serve visual arts organizations, and individual artists.
1:30:57
Those opportunities don't flow to small organizations.
1:31:01
The difference between an having an individual performer or DJ or something on your open street is very different than having a dance company perform.
1:31:10
For starters, it's much more expensive and often much more complex, requires more lead time, etcetera.
1:31:15
And so one of the key issues that I'm focused on is trying to advocate for those different kinds of opportunities.
1:31:24
To not just see open streets as an opportunity for, you know, your averaged local rock band, but also for organizations that are doing more complex, more community relevant, more, you know, interesting work, if I may say so.
1:31:42
And more representative of what the cultural community of Dunkin' Brooklyn actually is.
1:31:46
So thank you.
