New York announced this Thursday a $ 25 million program to support artists affected by the COVID-19 crisis and, at the same time, take their works to public spaces in the city.
“Art and artists make New York the cultural capital of the world and the arts community plays an essential role in building recovery for all of us,” said Mayor Bill De Blasio when introducing the initiative.
The program will pay local artists from different disciplines – including visual arts, music or acting – to take their works to different parts of the Big Apple, as a way of supporting one of the sectors hardest hit by the restrictions imposed. to fight the pandemic.
According to an official report, employment in the arts, entertainment and leisure sector fell 66 percent in New York in 2020, but the economic effects are believed to be even greater, as many freelance artists work project by project. and they are not reflected in all statistics.
The plan, dubbed the City Artists Corps, is a “historic investment in local artists, putting money in their pockets while bringing the transformative power of culture to New Yorkers throughout the city,” he said in a communicated the person in charge of Culture of the city, Gonzalo Casals.
The program joins other plans to support the arts, such as one that has been promoting street performances since March, and other broader ones to employ New Yorkers who have lost their jobs as a result of the crisis.
New York, which was the US area hardest hit by the pandemic, is currently accelerating its reopening process and plans to lift much of the restrictions imposed on leisure, hospitality and shops this month to combat the disease.
De Blasio has set the date of July 1 as the goal to complete the reopening, something that the Big Apple hopes to take advantage of by giving a strong boost to tourism. EFE
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