NYC Department of Cultural Affairs Announces $3.6 Million For Transformation of Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art

NYC Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA) Commissioner Laurie Cumbo today announced $3.6 million in new capital funding for the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art. Mayor Adams has invested a historic $127 million in capital support across the five boroughs which, along with funding from the City Council and Borough Presidents, brings a total of more than $220 million in capital funding for 70 cultural groups citywide. This allocation has been made alongside a record-setting City expense allocation for DCLA of more than $237 million, which includes funding that will be distributed through DCLA's grant programs to more than 1,000 groups across the city. This investment in NYC's cultural community will be distributed in support of a broad, equitable recovery that ensures all New Yorkers have access to the joy, education, and transformative benefits of cultural activity.

"Culture is the heart and soul of New York City, and my administration is committed to giving our incredible cultural institutions the support they need to thrive," said New York City Mayor Eric Adams. "I'm thrilled to partner with the Council to give our cultural groups the public support they deserve. Together, we can bring our city back better than ever."

"Our cultural organizations make up the fabric of New York City, contributing as much to our economy as to our identity. I'm proud of this administration's historic commitment to the arts through these capital investments in our creative institutions, which will help create more open, sustainable, and dynamic facilities across Manhattan," said Deputy Mayor for Economic and Workforce Development Maria Torres-Springer.

"I'm so proud to work with Mayor Adams, Speaker Adams, and leaders from across the city to make these historic investments in our cultural community," said NYC Cultural Affairs Commissioner Laurie Cumbo. "From major renovation and expansion projects to theater lighting and HVAC, it's critical that we support the cultural infrastructure that makes New York the cultural capital of the world with equity-driven investments in every corner of the city. Art and culture are at the heart of what makes our city great and will help propel our ongoing recovery - with this funding, we stand alongside our cultural colleagues to celebrate the incredible projects this funding will move forward across the borough!"

"New York City is the culture capital of the world, and it's vital that we support our beloved cultural institutions," said Speaker Adrienne Adams. "The Council ensured the city budget invests significant funding to uplift arts and cultural organizations across the city, including for the Leslie-Lohman Museum as the only dedicated LGBTQIA+ art museum in the world with a mission to exhibit and preserve LGBTQIA+ art and foster the artists who create it. All New Yorkers benefit from the cultural offerings and programs that our institutions have to offer."

"To celebrate our historic investments in our City's cultural institutions at the Leslie Lohman Museum-the only dedicated LGBTQIA+ art museum in the world-is only fitting. Our museums, theaters, dance studios, and art galleries are not only drivers of tourism, but hubs for education and community building. Sites like the Leslie Lohman Museum are places where creativity can run free; where inclusion and representation are paramount to the accurate portrayal of our society. As co-Chair of the Council's LGBTQIA+ Caucus, this investment in our cultural institutions-in places, like the Leslie-Lohman Museum that affirm our shared humanity-is critical to making our City the just and equitable place we know it can be," said Crystal Hudson, Council Member and Co-Chair of NYC Council LGBTQIA+ Caucus.

The Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art (LLMA) is the only dedicated LGBTQIA+ art museum in the world with a mission to exhibit and preserve LGBTQIA+ art and foster the artists who create it. The $3.6 million capital award for Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art - which includes $1.3 million from the Mayor, $2 million from the City Council, and $250,000 from the Manhattan Borough President - will support a major renovation and expansion of the museum's existing location at 26 Wooster Street. The project will bring state of the art museum standards to the museum's galleries and will continue to evolve LLMA into a flexible, nimble museum of the 21st century foregrounding diverse multidisciplinary contemporary artists and creating dedicated community convening space. The renovated Museum will also house a research library and public archive providing access for scholars, artists and museum visitors to LLMA's vast collection of books, artists files, artworks and ephemera.

"This support will grow Leslie-Lohman into a flexible, nimble art museum of the 21st century able to meet the multidisciplinary needs and creativity of contemporary artists and will allow the museum to thrive as an inclusive sanctuary for LGBTQIA+ art, artists, youth, allies and community. A place where BIPOC, Trans and gender non-confirming kids can literally see their futures, to create those futures," said Alyssa Nitchun, Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art Executive Director.

Today's event featured a performance by the Afro Latin Jazz Alliance, which received $11 million in City capital support - driven by a $7.25 million award from the Mayor - as part of the FY23 budget. The funding will support the organization's new Afro Latin Music & Arts Center in East Harlem, a new 16,000 square-foot performing arts center. It will be part of Timbale Terrace, a mixed-use development featuring a 330-unit affordable housing complex and community spaces. The center will feature a theater, a recording studio, offices, classrooms and retail spaces and will offer after-school programs, education classes, community events, music and technical production training, world-class live performances, and more.

"East Harlem is the community that best represents the mission of the Afro Latin Jazz Alliance, to use music as an entry point for service to the community and to reflect back to that community the beauty and ingenuity of its citizens," said Arturo O'Farrill, Founder, Artistic Director, Afro Latin Jazz Alliance.

"We feel that this is a historic moment for New York: to witness the creative connection between affordable housing and the performing arts in a way that enhances the life of people in our communities and specifically in East Harlem," said Marietta Ulacia, Executive Director, Afro Latin Jazz Alliance.

"The American Museum of Natural History greatly appreciates the support of The Mayor, the Department of Cultural Affairs, and the City Council, in providing the necessary funding to restore and rehabilitate part of the original roofing of its iconic 77th Street façade," said Daniel Slippen, Vice President of Government and Corporate Affairs, American Museum of Natural History. "This ongoing support of the Museum demonstrates the strong public private partnership that has benefitted so many institutions in our City, particularly those that reside in City-owned buildings, to ensure they can sufficiently maintain the City's owned assets."

"The DCLA capital grant of $1.5 million to the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute will support the creation of a collaborative workspace where artists, primarily of color, can engage in peer mentoring, and in the production and presentation of art and culture that reclaims the creative expressions of the African Diaspora - those taken away, diminished or misused through oppression, enslavement and discrimination. Our new East Harlem center will serve as a home for the work and programs of the CCCADI Institute for Racial and Social Justice in Arts & Culture signifying and making clear the relationship between racial and social justice and arts & culture. This would not have been possible without the support of Mayor Eric Adams and Commissioner Laurie Cumbo," said Melody Capote, Executive Director, Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute (CCCADI).

"The Department of Cultural Affairs has made an essential commitment this year to Carnegie Hall's historic façade," said Clive Gillinson, Executive and Artistic Director of Carnegie Hall. "Thanks to the city's award, work is underway to restore and safeguard this iconic city-owned landmark. Significant investments in New York City's cultural infrastructure like this pay immediate and long-term dividends in building our world-class city, helping to ensure that it remains a magnet for talent and that our cultural institutions continue to thrive in service to all New Yorkers. We commend Mayor Eric Adams and Commissioner Laurie Cumbo for their vision, and express our gratitude to Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine."

"The Children's Museum of Manhattan is deeply grateful to New York City for its generous leadership support of our new building project. The City's support will help CMOM create a dynamic and welcoming space that serves all of New York City's children and families, including the most vulnerable. We are confident that our future home will allow CMOM to amplify our work in meaningful ways and cannot thank the City enough for its investment in the project," said Children's Museum of Manhattan Board Chair Matt Messinger.

"This year's capital allocation to The Clemente Soto Velez Cultural Center brings us one step closer to realizing our goal to become a fully accessible facility--an essential component in our renovating the Clemente's architectural landmark-quality headquarters, the former PS 160 and one of the few surviving architectural legacies of C.B.J. Snyder. The project honors the vision of our namesake and founders in literally expanding multiple access points to our vibrant cultural and community center where people from all ethnicities, abilities, educational and economic levels can express, learn, and partake in our constant flow of artistic offer. The Clemente is proud to be a vital force in the cultivation and preservation of Puerto Rican and Latino culture today, and also to serve as a multicultural, inclusive cultural hub that fully reflects the cultural diversity of the Lower East Side and the city as a whole. This project will be critical to expanding The Clemente's ability to deliver its mission," said Libertad O. Guerra, Executive Director of the Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural and Educational Center.

"As one of the oldest cultural organizations in the City of New York, founded in 1904, the Hispanic Society Museum & Library is honored to be entrusted with this wonderful allocation to restore its landmark facilities on Audubon Terrace. Not only do these building house our unrivaled collections of artworks and rare books, Velazquez, Goya, El Greco, Sorolla, Arietta, Campeche, Orozco, just to name a few, it is a great good gathering place for the residents of the City of New York; as a cultural hub especially for those living and working in the dynamic uptown neighborhoods of Washington Height, Inwood, and West Harlem," said Alexander Campos, Development Office, Hispanic Society of America.

"The Jazz Gallery is overjoyed to be a new recipient of capital funding from the City of New York and the City's Department of Cultural Affairs. Thank you for lifting up jazz artists, for keeping New York City the center of jazz artistry, and for helping us bring back the music better than ever," said David Johnston, Development Manager for The Jazz Gallery.

"The New 42nd Street would like to thank the Department of Cultural Affairs, the City Council and the Administration for their generous capital support of New 42nd Studios. Funding for this building in the center of Times Square, which houses rehearsal studios for Broadway shows as well as nonprofit performing arts companies, will help us keep the lights shining brightly on Broadway for thousands of working artists and hundreds of thousands of audience members. As the home for the administrative offices of New 42, capital support of the New 42 Studios building also helps us to make extraordinary performing arts a vital part of everyone's lives from the earliest age forward at the New Victory Theater, New York's premiere theater for kids and families," said New 42 CEO and President, Russell Granet.

"The New Museum deeply appreciates the city's investment in our building expansion project, which will allow us to connect even more New Yorkers and visitors from all over the world with the best of contemporary art," said Lisa Phillips, Toby Devan Lewis Director of the New Museum of Contemporary Art. "Our enlarged campus will double our exhibition space and radically expand our capacity for educational and community programming, building on the Museum's role as a leading international art destination."

"Established in Manhattan in 1954, the Paul Taylor Dance Company has been proud to call New York City our home for nearly 70 years. We are extremely grateful to Mayor Adams and his administration for investing in the Company's efforts to create high-quality, no-cost cultural opportunities for our Lower East Side community. With their capital support, we can deepen the connection to our neighbors, bringing exceptional art while ensuring our energy-efficient future," said John Tomlinson, Executive Director, Paul Taylor Dance Company.

"Roundabout Theatre Company is deeply grateful for this capital commitment from the Department of Cultural Affairs. This grant to support of the American Airlines Theatre, our flagship home on Broadway, is a meaningful continuation of our long-standing partnership with the City of NY to bring world-class theatre, arts education programming and workforce initiatives to New Yorkers. We thank the Administration for making this critical investment in Roundabout, and the arts and culture sector as we recover from the devastating impact of COVID-19," said Julia Levy, Executive Director, Roundabout Theatre Company.

"Mayor Adams and Commissioner Cumbo have signaled a real commitment to the City's cultural organizations as a key asset in the recovery of NYC. The City's generous support of South Street Seaport Museum will make historic spaces available to the public once again and enable programming that illuminates the very beginnings of New York. We stand with New Yorkers in saying thank you," said Capt. Jonathan Boulware, President & CEO of South Street Seaport Museum.

"Symphony Space is profoundly grateful for the support of DCLA, which will strengthen our ability to reach and build audiences and serve our communities. This year's funding is particularly meaningful in light of the ongoing challenges faced by our beloved and resilient city and cultural sector," said Kathy Landau, Executive Director of Symphony Space.

"The Town Hall is immensely grateful to The Department of Cultural Affairs, the Mayor's office, Commissioner Laurie Cumbo and her staff, and City Council members Keith Powers and Gale Brewer, for their continued support of our non-profit organization. As we embark on our second century of serving New Yorkers and visitors from around the world with diverse, inclusive programming and innovative education initiatives, their unflagging assistance allows us to maintain and upgrade our National Landmark building, while keeping pace with the technological demands of current arts presentation," said Ted Lambert, Chief Operating Officer, The Town Hall.