NYC’s cultural powerhouses want a federal stimulus for the arts

The New York Hall of Science. Photo by Ajay Suresh/Wikimedia

By Victoria Merlino

New York City’s biggest cultural institutions called on the federal government Wednesday to create a stimulus package to fund the arts. 

Over 100 cultural institutions — including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, MoMA PS1, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Bronx Zoo, the Queens Museum, the New York Hall of Science and the New York Botanical Garden — signed a letter to U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer asking for federal economic relief.

“Our government must act,” the letter reads. “As it devotes hundreds of billions to a list of industries, including airlines and hotels, the urgent question demands to be asked: What will happen if we let the number-one driver of tourists filling those planes and hotel rooms crater and collapse?”

Cultural institutions have been especially hard hit during the COVID-19 pandemic, with social distancing measures forcing all theaters, museums and performing arts spaces to close, along with most businesses in the city. 

The arts and culture industry in New York City employs 400,000 workers and generates $110 billion, which represents 13 percent of the city’s total economic activity, according to a report from city Comptroller Scott Stringer’s office. 

“Humans need each other and culture is the way we connect. We will need all that culture has to offer to sustain us, to help us heal from this trauma, and to imagine new ways of building our city in the aftermath,” the letter reads.