VIRTUAL NYC CURATOR COLLECTIONS Launches Today

The Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment, the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, and NYC & Company have announced the launch of Virtual NYC Curator Collections, a new series of guest curators selecting their favorites from hundreds of cultural experiences currently available online.

With the debut of Virtual NYC Curator Collections, New Yorkers now have expert guides to help them handpick their favorite online experiences. Each curator recommendation will include links, descriptions, images, and the reason the curator chose these specific virtual experiences.

This new series builds upon NYC & Company's popular Virtual NYC, which launched this March to help people around the world enjoy the rich online culture that is being produced in New York City during the era of social distancing. Virtual NYC includes recorded performances, digitized exhibitions, social media gatherings and virtual tours from museums, galleries, comedy clubs, theaters and other venues around the city.

Curators will be added on an ongoing basis. The current line-up includes Thelma Golden (The Studio Museum in Harlem), David Hatkoff (NewFest), Erika Elliot (Summerstage), Gina Duncan (BAM Cinema) and Andrea Bayer (Metropolitan Museum of Art); with Esther McGowan (Visual AIDS), Eric Sanderson (Wildlife Conservation Society), Suzanne Nossel (PEN America), Kamilah Forbes (Apollo Theater) and others to debut in the coming days.

The Virtual NYC Curator Collections can be found at https://www.nycgo.com/virtual-nyc/curator-collections/.

"NYC's unparalleled creativity and culture continue to inspire and engage audiences the world over even in these most challenging of circumstances," said the Commissioner of the NYC Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment, Anne del Castillo. "We're proud to partner with the Department of Cultural Affairs and NYC & Company to present Virtual NYC Curator Collections to spotlight our local influencers and connect the world to the diverse range of cultural experiences the city has to offer."

"Even during this unprecedented public health crisis, New York's extraordinary cultural community has never really closed," said Cultural Affairs Commissioner Gonzalo Casals. "Through Virtual NYC Curator Collections, we're thrilled to partner with the Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment and NYC & Company to invite leaders from the cultural community to spotlight some of the diverse, innovative programming that organizations are bringing to audiences digitally."

"We are excited to take our Virtual NYC program a step further with 'Virtual NYC Curator Collections,' in partnership with experts from the City's celebrated cultural organizations, and our colleagues from the Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment and Department of Cultural Affairs," said Fred Dixon, President and CEO of NYC & Company. "We've created this initiative to encourage the world to stay engaged with NYC's virtual offerings-recommended by the industry's esteemed content curators-until the time when these organizations can safely welcome visitors in-person once again."