PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Ryan Gilliam, Executive Director of FAB NYC
1:26:03
·
152 sec
Ryan Gilliam, Executive Director of FAB NYC, testified about the importance of cultural organizations in preserving and strengthening neighborhood identity in New York City. She highlighted FAB NYC's work in the Lower East Side and called for more sustainable funding from SBS for cultural initiatives.
- FAB NYC serves Community District 3, organizing events, producing public art, and activating open spaces.
- Gilliam emphasized the fragility of neighborhood cultural character and the need for more cultural organizers.
- She requested SBS to provide multi-year funding, expand public realm programs, and support community incubators for cultural organizers.
Ryan Gilliam
1:26:03
No.
1:26:04
I think no.
1:26:04
Okay.
1:26:06
Hi.
1:26:06
I'm Ryan Gillum.
1:26:07
I'm the cofounder and executive director of 4th Arts Block or Faben Lacey.
1:26:12
We're a team of artists and organizers working to preserve, strengthen, and grow the cultural vibrancy of the lower east side.
1:26:19
We were founded in 2001 by a dozen cultural organizations who ultimately succeeded in stopping our displacement from East Fourth Street.
1:26:27
Today, we serve all of Community District 3, from 14th Street to Canal, Bowery to the East River, We have a membership of 45 cultural organizations.
1:26:37
We organize community wide events, produce public art projects, activate open streets, parks, and plazas.
1:26:44
We work with neighborhood groups on local issues, document community histories, offer fellowships and affordable workspace for artists.
1:26:52
We are a founding member of NOCD in New York, and we're also a fiscal year 2425 grantee of the SBS programs that have been talked about today.
1:27:03
In New York City, this ginormous metropolis, the cultural character of our neighborhoods, is I think, are saving grace.
1:27:10
It fosters connection, allows us to live at a human scale.
1:27:15
And yet, the cultural character of neighbors of our neighborhoods is also fragile, even consistently endangered.
1:27:23
We all know what it is to lose, what makes a place dear to us, what makes it special, what makes it specific, In the lower east side, sadly, we have some expertise in understanding this dynamic of cultural erasure.
1:27:38
All our neighborhoods have cultural assets All of them need cultural organizers.
1:27:45
There are 2 few organizations like FAB who are focused on the cultural well-being of a neighborhood.
1:27:52
I deeply appreciate the SBS recognizes that culturally vibrant neighborhoods are where people want to be, live, work, do business.
1:28:01
I would like to see SBS move from project oriented funding towards sustainable multiyear funding.
1:28:09
If you let me continue, I would like to see it grow its public realm program and fund more cultural partners like FAB, rebuild its support for Openstreet, and expand that support to community parks and plazas.
1:28:25
And I would like to see SBS support community incubators for cultural organizers with training, workspace, mentorship, and funding for pilot projects.
1:28:35
Thank you very much.
