Saving libraries, arts and culture from the mayor’s budgetary ax

Soon after New York City Council Member Carlina Rivera became chair of the Committee on Cultural Affairs, Libraries and International Intergroup Relations in January, she was thrust into one of this year’s most contentious city budget debates: cuts to library funding. But she’s also been busy combating cuts to arts and cultural institutions, which continue to struggle to draw in audiences and supporters. City & State spoke with Rivera about the budget negotiations – and their effect on libraries and arts organizations – and about her priorities for her final term in office. The interview was edited for length and clarity.

What has been your focus since becoming chair of the New York City Council Committee on Cultural Affairs, Libraries and International Intergroup Relations?

Since I’ve taken over as chair for this committee, it has really been a fight to ensure that we are bringing a balanced budget to these institutions. Since cuts came down in November of last year and libraries would have to close their doors on Sundays, it’s been a real negotiation between ourselves and the administration in trying to highlight the value of our cultural institutions and our libraries. What I’ve really tried to underline here is, not only does arts and culture define our city, but it is also an enormous generator of revenue. That’s really been my focus. It’s really trying to deliver a budget that supports arts and culture. It’s also been an honor and pleasure and quite a lot of fun to meet even more cultural institutions from across the city. My district is really rich in terms of the concentration of cultural institutions, but to meet these individuals and organizations from across the five boroughs has been a lot of fun.

Funding for libraries has been a big issue. In addition to libraries, how is the city doing in terms of funding and supporting other cultural institutions?

We had some major cuts come through the Cultural Development Fund, which is really a lifeline for the smaller organizations in our communities. Getting those cuts months into the year – and many of these organizations had already spent the money to implement programming – was really devastating. We had some organizations completely zeroed out. They’re here wondering how they’re going to keep their doors open. Many of them have been forced to lay off staff and just cut entire festivals or not provide programming in the same robust way that they did. That was a real blow. We questioned the administration on, not just why would you do something so drastic, but why would it happen so late in the game to unsettle and destabilize so many organizations. It’s been quite the introduction. Budget negotiations are never easy. They’re always kind of spicy.

Do you get the sense that arts and cultural institutions across the city have been able to rebound successfully from the pandemic?

We’re still having some issues in terms of bouncing back. We do have many people coming to visit the city. Tourism is back to levels that are giving us some hope. Seeing more people come to the city, enjoy shows, visit our museums – that’s been great. It just hasn’t quite been to that pre-pandemic level. Some of the cultural institutions and groups have told me that it’s been really nice to see more people from the city itself patronizing the institutions. But it’s not the same in terms of the ticket sales that they’re seeing and visits and even how people spend in the gift shop. These are little things that add up and that really affect these amazing places.

As you’re in your final term in the City Council, do you have any policy priorities you’d like to advance by next year, whether it’s related to tourism or arts or more broadly?

We would like to do some interesting things with artists in terms of public art, how we even look at scaffolding and how we can turn that into an artistic opportunity to reflect all the talent we have in the city. I certainly want to do more things on transit. I want people to be able to have confidence in public transit but also be able to walk somewhere or take their bike to a great show. And I also want to ensure that when it comes to the budget, we are looking at how to baseline this funding for libraries, for cultural institutions and groups.

I think it’s also really important that we’re looking at the workforce component. Nonprofit cultural organizations employ over 113,000 people, and that’s thousands and thousands of artists. So I want to ensure that the workforce development that the City Council is putting forward is really robust and inclusive and focused on the arts and culture sector. I think housing is also a big priority of mine. It’s the affordability of housing that has really been my top priority, because that’s what’s going to keep the artists here.