New York City Council
Cultural Affairs, Libraries & International Intergroup Relations Committee
Council Chambers – City Hall
Preliminary Budget Hearing Testimony FY20
Monday March 11, 2019 11:30 AM

“Good afternoon. My name is Katie Cox and I am a flutist, music educator, and teaching artist for Little Orchestra Society. I am also the Program Manager for Exploring the Metropolis, an organizations whose mission I believe in deeply, not only because I am the Program Manager, but also a musician. Founded in 1982, Exploring the Metropolis (EtM) has focused on solving the workspace needs of New York City’s performing artists.  Currently, we administer the EtM Con Edison Composer Residencies and the EtM Choreographer + Composer Residencies in partnership with the Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning.

In the last decade, our residency programs have:

• Provided more than $1,000,000 worth of no-cost rehearsal space and cash awards to New York City artists
• Supported 98 composers, choreographers and performing artists with free space
• Provided more than 40,000 hours of free rehearsal space
• Supported 80 free public programs for thousands of New Yorkers
• Supported the creation, development and completion of 79 new works for music and dance.

Previous EtM Artists-in-Residence have gone on to win recognition from the Jerome Foundation, the Kleban Foundation, the Guggenheim Foundation, Baryshnikov Arts Center Cage Cunningham Award, American Composers Orchestra, New Music/USA, MacDowell Colony, Larson Foundation and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

Chris Cerrone, a 2013-14 Composer-in-Residence, was named a Pulitzer finalist for “Invisible Cities,” a work he developed during his EtM residency.

Mary Kouyoumdjian, 2014-15 Composer-in-Residence, has been recently commissioned by Roomful of Teeth, the Kronos Quartet, Metropolitan Museum of Art and the New York Philharmonic.

Jen Shyu developed “Song of the Silver Geese” with choreographer Satoshi Haga while in residence in Jamaica in 2015-16; the recording of this work was named one of the New York Times Best Albums of 2017.

Choreographer Pam Tanowitz used her time in Jamaica in 2015-16 to prepare for her season as the Joyce Theater, and was recently named the first Choreographer-in-Residence at the Bard Fisher Center.

Artists at all career stages in NYC need this support. It’s not just emerging. Workspace can be prohibitively expensive even for those at a more advanced level.

Last year, we were happy to receive an increase in Cultural Development Fund awards from the NYC DCA. Stable funding sources are crucial for this field and the constituents we serve.

For FY 20, we ask that consideration be given to additional funding for both the CIG and our program group partners, organizations like EtM that receive CDF grants.

We ask that the $10 million total that Culture has previously received be baselined, inclusive of the $2.25m that was baselined for CIGs in the budget last year.

We request that the additional $10 million, plus any enhanced culture funding that can be allocated in FY20, be divided evenly between the CIG and our program group partners so we can continue to provide needed programs and services to New Yorkers in all 5 boroughs.

Thank you to Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer and the Cultural Affairs Committee for the opportunity to testify today, and for your support of the cultural community.”