The Bronx Museum To Receive $175,000 From Metropolitan Museum Admissions Revenue Agreement

Today, the de Blasio Administration announced $2.8 million in additional funding will be allocated to over 175 cultural organizations in underserved communities in all five boroughs, including the Bronx Museum of the Arts. $1.4 million is being distributed to members of the Cultural Institutions Group (CIG) located in underserved communities, of which The Bronx Museum of the Arts is 1 of 33 member organizations. The goal is to build on the City's long term relationship with the members of the CIG and provide greater equity among its members. The funding increases range from $25K to $175K, with The Bronx Museum receiving $175,000. The remaining $1.4 million of the funding was earmarked for Cultural Development Fund recipients.

The new funding is being made available thanks to an agreement allowing the Metropolitan Museum of Art to charge mandatory admission to visitors from outside of New York State in exchange for sharing a portion of the new revenue with the City. DCLA committed to use this revenue to support the goals from the CreateNYC cultural plan, which identified cultural funding equity as one of its top priorities.

"The Bronx Museum has been a landmark of New York City culture for nearly half a century, offering free, critically-acclaimed exhibitions and educational programming that express our tremendous cultural and community wealth," said Deborah Cullen, Executive Director of the Bronx Museum. "As the Bronx Museum looks ahead to its 50th anniversary in 2021, we are grateful to be recognized as an essential part of New York's rich landscape. Our work increases representation and diversity, and works toward social justice. This generous funding comes as good news at a very critical time of the year, just weeks before our annual gala on April 8th."

"New York is the cultural capital of the world not only because of our hallmark institutions, but because of the smaller museums, shows, and organizations throughout the five boroughs," said Mayor de Blasio. "They deserve meaningful investment too. This agreement has allowed the Met to thrive while giving us a unique opportunity to increase cultural investment in our underserved communities - allowing us to support the diversity that makes our city great at no additional cost to taxpayers."

• Cultural Development Fund increase: $1.4 million of the funding was earmarked for Cultural Development Fund recipients. More than 160 groups received increases in their FY19 grants. Groups that received increases either are located in or provide services to high-need neighborhoods identified by the Social Impact of the Arts Project's report "Culture and Social Wellbeing in New York City." Groups receiving increases ranging from $1K to $40K include Mind-Builders Creative Arts Center in the Bronx; Weeksville Heritage Center in Brooklyn; Harlem Stage in Manhattan; Louis Armstrong House Museum in Queens; and St. George Theater in Staten Island.

• Cultural Institutions Group increase: The remaining $1.4 million will be distributed to members of the Cultural Institutions Group (CIG) located in underserved communities. The goal is to build on the City's long term relationship with the members of the CIG and provide greater equity among its members. The funding increases range from $25K to $175K. The 16 members of the CIG receiving increased funding include the Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning, El Museo del Barrio, Studio Museum in Harlem, Brooklyn Children's Museum, Staten Island Children's Museum, and Bronx Museum of the Arts.

The funding comes from an agreement between the City's Department of Cultural Affairs and the Metropolitan Museum of Art implemented in 2018. Under the terms of the agreement, the Met was be permitted to charge mandatory admission to visitors who are not residents of New York State. In turn, the Met would share a portion of its admissions revenue in the first year of its implementation.

After that, DCLA will permanently lower the Met's annual subsidy proportionally based on the admissions revenue and direct this funding to other cultural organizations based on the priorities and recommendations in the CreateNYC cultural plan, namely to increase cultural funding for historically underserved organizations and communities. These increases were targeted to communities identified by the Social Impact of the Arts Project, which mapped cultural assets across the city.

The Bronx Museum of the Arts is an internationally recognized cultural destination that presents innovative contemporary art exhibitions and education programs and is committed to promoting cross-cultural dialogues for diverse audiences. Since its founding in 1971, the Museum has played a vital role in the Bronx by helping to make art accessible to the entire community and connecting with local schools, artists, teens, and families through its robust education initiatives. In celebration of its 40th anniversary, the Museum implemented a universal free admission policy, supporting its mission to make arts experiences available to all audiences. The Museum's collection comprises over 2,000 modern and contemporary artworks in all media and highlights works by artists of African, Asian, and Latin American ancestry, as well as artists for whom the Bronx has been critical to their development. Located on the Grand Concourse, the Museum's home is a distinctive contemporary landmark designed by the internationally recognized firm Arquitectonica.

"New York invests more in its cultural institutions than any other city in America," said Cultural Affairs Commissioner Tom Finkelpearl. "While the returns on this investment are nothing short of transformative for communities across the city, we've looked for ways to address historical lack of cultural assets and investments in underserved communities. This agreement with the Met has paid dividends for NYC's cultural community: stabilizing one of our City's major institutions with increased admissions revenue, while providing a much needed boost to organizations that anchor communities across the City."

A full list of the recipient organizations is available here.