Welcoming Arts and Culture: Removing Barriers to Public Space Programming in NYC

Has over-regulation, government complexity, and top-down cultural programming jeopardized New York's identity as a thriving hub of arts and culture? This question was at the center of the second development session of the 2025 AIANY Civic Leadership Program, organized by Rashida Momoh and Ewan French.

The arts and culture sector is under pressure in the city. In a turbulent moment for non-profits and local governments, and amid an affordability crisis for artists, the public realm should remain one of the few accessible avenues for artistic expression. The session's speakers, however, discussed the city's intricate permitting process and how it creates a significant barrier to artists bringing their work to parks, streets, and sidewalks. They also offered ideas to incentivize public realm activation, foster catalytic partnerships, and improve regulatory frameworks to better support artists.

After an introductory presentation on the topic, the speakers presented the access disparity to public space and cultural assets that artists face. Akemi Sato from the Design Trust for Public Space spoke on Turnout NYC, a program that prototyped flexible and semi-permanent outdoor venues in collaboration with cultural partners within each borough. The program aimed to provide infrastructure to underutilized communities, fill capacity gaps for the cultural partners, and give arts organizations, artists, and community leaders greater agency in defining programming and curatorial practice. Justin Wong, a multi-disciplinary artist and Teaching Artist at Friends of the High Line, urged artists to be part of the organization of cultural programming rather than being treated as a vendor. He emphasized artists' unique ability to navigate prescribed limitations while also pushing creative boundaries.

Rene Cuenca, Senior Program Manager of Capacity Building for Neighborhood Development at the NYC Small Business Services (SBS), provided an overview of the work that groups such as Partnerships for Parks and SBS do to support community development strategies, park partnerships, and to improve access to funding programs. Nur Asri from Design Trust for Public Space and Think Place Agency shared insight into the ongoing research initiative, Untaped, which deciphers the tangled web of NYC's permitting structure and provides alternative, efficient paths for community members to host events.

Ryan Gilliam, Executive Director of FABnyc, gave the concluding presentation on the organization's work to support artists in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. She emphasized the need to focus on the communities at risk of displacement through gentrification, and to ensure that arts and cultural programming is adequately considering their cultures and identities.

Gilliam also echoed some of the opportunities to improve the permitting process, using the HALO installation's temporary art permitting as an example of the need to better enable communities to steward their art and culture programming.

This development session highlighted how systematic barriers, from convoluted permitting to inequitable distribution of opportunities, have consistently held artists back from showcasing their work. Through a more transparent system, strategic partnerships, and support for artists, the city can regain a sense of artistic spontaneity and further community stewardship.