The Loisaida Cultural Plan

Download the complete report: Loisaida Cultural Plan

After years of cultural equity activism the New York City Council finally heard the many voices of those across the boroughs that felt marginalized and with little access to the arts and cultural scene and resources in this City. In 2017, the New York City Council approved the City’s first-ever comprehensive 10-year cultural plan that will overlaid all aspects of policy, program, and resource allocation going forward.

To this end, the Council, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, and key partners, such as the New York City Cultural Agenda Fund in The New York Community Trust, have charged all New Yorkers to make their voices and priorities heard on all aspects of cultural life in their neighborhoods and how to make it better, more equitable, and fulfilling.

We at Loisaida Inc. with the support, in part, by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council, produced a white paper with significant input and survey from our local and rich cultural community. At Loisaida, we aim to confront these structural cultural inequities by strongly representing the richness of our community’s all too often underestimated and underfunded arts groups and highlighting their significant cultural capacity, competence, and impact. Loisaida’s own working definition of cultural equity is “to achieve fairness in opportunities such as access to information, financial resources, and programming for cultural organizations, workers, and participants.”

Below you will find the events and activities organized to engage community residents, cultural workers, and arts and cultural group members in this important planning process so that our Lower East Side voices ring loud to ensure the vitality of our cultural imprint and the sustainability of our arts groups, cultural workers and the dimension that they bring to our neighborhood. All of intricate importance to develop our recommendations to the City Council.

In these times of troubling uncertainties regarding equity and fairness, we at Loisaida recommit ourselves to build solidarity and to create a model for community building and engagement to fiercely proclaim the vital role of arts and culture in community development and the freedom of expression that celebrates the ideals of what Loisaida has always been about. We are proud and humbled to have the support of Manhattan’s Community Board 3 with the adoption of the March 2018 resolution titled, “Support for Loisaida Cultural Plan.”

Download the complete report: Loisaida_Cultural_Plan

 Download the adoption of our resolution to Manhattan’s Community Board 3 in Support for Loisaida’s Cultural Plan. 

Loisaida’s Cultural Policy Roundtable

Organized Community events for Loisaida’s Cultural Plan Development:

        • Tuesday, Jan 17th: Talk with Commissioner from the Department of Consumer Affairs…
          Topics included: cultural worker rights, assistance for immigrant undocumented artists, licensing and taxing issues related to entrepreneurs, small businesses and cultural organizations.
        • Wednesday, Jan 18th: The Loss of Cultural Facilities and Sanctuaries in the LES…
          The issue of how vacant or underused community facilities have played a role on the dismantling and “de-culturalizing” economic dynamic of historical Latino Core Neighborhoods comes to the foreground as neighbors and community partners           discuss the future of PS.64/ CHARAS El Bohio and the strategies to convert them into cultural resources that strengthen and fully represent the historical and diverse fabric of the Lower East Side.
        • Thursday, Feb 9th: Walled Worlds: Border Publics, Cultural Activism and Urban Planning.
          Renowned scholars, artists, cultural activists and critics––Ricardo Dominguez, Teddy Cruz, Fonna Forman and Ed Morales––converged to discuss their distinct yet cross-cultural geopolitical perspectives on the intersections of arts and culture, activism and policy, and forced migration and displacement.
        • Wednesday, March 1st: Our Voices Ring Loud Town Hall was held, in partnership with the Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural & Educational Center and Teatro SEA, and focused issues facing Latino arts organizations, cultural workers, and residents in Lower Manhattan. 

Some facts about the Cultural Plan:

Loisaida Inc. was chosen from a competitive pool of applicants as one of the winning proposals to conduct community organizing activities around the City’s cultural planning process, which began in the fall of 2016 and will wrap up in the late spring of 2017.

Loisaida Inc. led the local cultural planning project in partnership with Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural & Educational Center and Teatro SEA to ensure that Latino arts communities in Lower Manhattan are included in the City’s cultural plan.

This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council.

This Loisaida-led Project to Help Inform New York City’s Cultural Plan is Funded by:

New York City Cultural Agenda Fund in The New York Community Trust.