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Council Member Crystal Hudson expresses concern over Brooklyn Museum layoffs and cultural institution funding
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Council Member Crystal Hudson addresses the oversight hearing on pending layoffs at the Brooklyn Museum, expressing solidarity with affected workers and concern over the impact of budget cuts on cultural institutions. She emphasizes the importance of arts and culture to the city's economy and calls for increased funding to protect jobs and preserve cultural heritage.
- Highlights the economic impact of the creative sector and tourism in New York City
- Criticizes recurring budget cuts to cultural institutions and their effects on programming and staff
- Calls for preserving union jobs and increasing funding for cultural institutions to address rising costs since 2015
Crystal Hudson
0:03:46
Thank you so much.
0:03:47
Good morning, and thank you, chair De La Rosa, for giving me the opportunity to say a few words about today's oversight topic, pending layoffs at the Brooklyn Museum.
0:03:55
I'm proud to represent the 30 Fifth District, the cultural capital of Brooklyn and perhaps even of New York City.
0:04:01
My district is home to the Brooklyn Academy of Music, BRIC, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts, six five one Arts, and of course, the focus of today's hearing, the Brooklyn Museum, which is celebrating its two hundredth anniversary this year.
0:04:16
Arts and culture are an economic engine of our city with the creative sector accounting for a 10,000,000,000 in local economic impact and tourism generating $74,000,000,000 annually.
0:04:26
Yet our city's cultural sector routinely sees tens of millions of dollars in budget cuts each year, which not only impacts the programming of our city's cultural institutions, but also the hardworking staff that keep the lights on, doors open, and exhibits exhibitions on display.
0:04:41
The Brooklyn Museum's decision to reduce services and end employee agreements is indicative of the harsh fiscal challenges faced by many cultural and arts institutions in the wake of the COVID nineteen pandemic.
0:04:51
I've stood shoulder to shoulder with many of my colleagues at rallies and press conferences.
0:04:56
I've sat in these very chairs for hearing upon hearing, fighting against the mayor's budget cuts to our cherished cultural institutions.
0:05:02
But these institutions are still struggling, and it is our constituents, New Yorkers, who are taking the hits.
0:05:08
Whether it's a reduction in educational access for children, less programming for low income New Yorkers, or the very livelihoods of the 40 employees represented by district council thirty seven local fifteen o two and UAW local twenty one ten, it is New Yorkers who are bearing the brunt of these cuts.
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I stand in solidarity with the workers who keep the museum running and with the cultural institutions throughout the city who year after year fight tooth and nail for the funding they need and deserve.
0:05:33
At a time when we're facing an affordability crisis in New York City, we must fight to preserve every good paying union job in our city, and we must continue advocating for our cultural institutions to not only avoid the budget cuts repeatedly proposed by this administration, but to increase funding that has remained the same since 2015 despite a significant rise in inflation.
0:05:54
In order to move forward, the museum must secure the funding it needs to avoid these layoffs in order to protect jobs and preserve our city's rich cultural heritage.
0:06:02
Thank you.