The race for mayor of New York City is over — and what a race it was. It got ugly, yes, with name-calling and other staples of our current political discourse, but there was also a great deal of discussion of the issues — safety, affordability and transportation among them.
But there’s one word I never heard, one crucial issue that was not bandied about in the election maelstrom: Culture.
Maybe I missed it, and I’ll do a mea culpa if I did, but New York City is one of the world’s great cultural capitals and, honestly, I don’t know where Zohran Mamdani stands on the arts. Yes, I know he likes songs from “Hamilton” and “Dear Evan Hansen” — even singing them out the window of his car. And I know his wife is an artist. But liking our cultural touchstones is different than funding them.
The truth is, almost all of our cultural institutions rely on some kind of government money. Will this be a priority when Mamdani needs funds for his free-bus vision? Or for any of his worthy-sounding ideas?
So let me be the first out of the box to say it — culture, from Carnegie Hall to the smallest out of the way Off-Off-Broadway theater, and everything in between, is crucial to the life of our city. Travelers come here from all over the world for it and help fill our tax coffers as they do.
And it all starts with kids in schools. They are the future artists, technicians and audience members.
But I’m not just lecturing. I have ideas that the new mayor can embrace to help ensure the future of arts education long after he’s gone. Give me a few minutes to explain.
For 40 years I’ve run the nonprofit Inside Broadway that introduces public school children to the theater and all its career opportunities. It began when I coordinated the distribution of 50 free tickets to public school students to every Wednesday matinee of “Cats,” starting in 1982. In all, I’ve probably connected 3 million students to Broadway over the last 45 years.
I’ve worked with every mayor during that time. In fact, I escorted Ed Koch into the Winter Garden Theater for the opening night of “Cats” and watched him fold his 6-foot-2 frame into his orchestra seat for a night of pure magic.
In subsequent years, my memories of him aren’t quite so warm and fuzzy: he’d routinely slash arts funding in his preliminary budget before restoring it in the final budget. It was a game of budget chicken he had to play with the long-gone Board of Estimate, and we always came out OK, but it was exhausting and time consuming.
Other mayors have had different relationships with the arts. Dave Dinkins was a Broadway regular and a great supporter of Inside Broadway. Rudy Giuliani preferred the opera. Bloomberg supported the arts through his foundations, while Bill de Blasio seemed to have other educational priorities such as the important pre-K school program.
All of these mayors supported arts and culture in the Department of Cultural Affairs capital budget and in many ways also through program funding. Reluctantly, the city’s nonprofit arts groups learned how to play the annual arts funding game with City Hall and City Council.
So what are my ideas for Zohran Mamdani?
Firstly, don’t get swept up in the idea that culture is just for the rich. Yes I know prices are high, but there are many programs like mine that make it affordable. Don’t let culture — high, low and mid-brow — become a class thing. Art is for all of us. There is nothing elitist about art, only elitist people.
But on another important note, a wonkier one, make arts education its own line in the Department of Education’s budget. It seems simple, but it would be a big deal.
This would, among other things, eliminate the funding game of chicken, now played between City Hall and the City Council. It would also send an important message to our citizens that our city government values the important role that the arts can play in children’s lives and help New York remain the cultural leader it has always been. Mr. Mamdani, help us keep our rightful place.
Presser is the founder and executive director of Inside Broadway, an arts education organization.
