Friday, May 09, 2008

Town Hall Meeting for Our Artists

In the Mailbox

THE CEG - Cultural Equity Group Present:

SUSTAINING OUR ARTISTS, ARTS ORGANIZATIONS AND CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS OF COLOR DURING THE "RECESSION"

Hunter College
68th & Lexington Avenue , 7th Floor
Hall 714 West Building, Manhattan

Friday, May 9
6 - 8 p.m.
Moderated by:
Dr. Marta Moreno Vega, Founder of the Caribbean Cultural Center

Panelists: Heather Hitchens, Executive Director of NYSCA; Arana J. Hankins, Assistant Secretary for Cultural & Economic Development Office of the NYS Governor David A. Paterson; Kathleen Hughes, NYC Dept. of Cultural Affairs Assistant Commissioner; NYS Assemblyman Darryl C. Towns , 54th District, Chair, Black Puerto Rican, Hispanic & Asian Legislative Caucus; and Laurie Cumbo, Founder of MoCADA

Dear Artists, Cultural Activists and People concerned about the community:

We have certainly brought in 2008 with a burst of energy and excitement filled with opportunity and hope for the future! We applaud everyone for their dedication and hard work to preserve and landmark our institutions and culture, which will have an instrumental impact on the quality of life for our communities as well as for future generations. In order to make an impact, we must continue to educate ourselves about the funding process.

We need your voice to be heard and we would appreciate your support in sending this email far and wide to your perspective communities in order to demonstrate to our legislators that our culture is important to the cultural landscape of New York City. Please do not continue to allow the challenges of our community to fall on the shoulders of a few because we need everyone in order to create an impact.

The Cultural Equity Group (CEG) cordially invites you to attend a very important Town Hall Meeting on Friday, May 9th, 6 p.m. at Hunter College (68th & Lexington Avenue) 7th Fl., Hall 714, West Building, to discuss three very important issues that will impact our community:

1. Sustaining our artists, arts organizations and cultural institutions of color during the current "recession" and new stricter budget reforms;

2. Defining a new per capita funding model based on the ethnic and racial demographics of New York City-a more realistic support process, which would impact communities that are underserved;

3. Exploring recommendations, strategies and policies for cultural equity.
Your participation is important! It will help define New York City 's Cultural policy of the future. Sample copies of letters to be sent to your elected officials will be distributed at the meeting. There will also be a petition for you to sign.

Please make every effort to attend. You can RSVP at elsa@latinoarts.org or call 212.876.1242. Thanking you in advance for remaining unified in our commitment to Cultural Equity for our artists and the communities we serve.

Very truly yours,

Steering Committee
Cultural Equity Group


Sandra GarcĂ­a Betancourt
Executive Director & CEO

Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance (NoMAA)
The Cornerstone Center
178 Bennett Avenue, 3rd Floor
New York, NY 10040
www.NoMAAnyc.org

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