NEW YORK CITY LAUNCHES NEW FUND TO PROMOTE CIVIC ENGAGEMENT THROUGH THE ARTS
via ARTFORUM
June 04, 2019 at 10:00am
New York City’s Office of Strategic Partnerships has established a new fund to support opportunities for young New Yorkers to connect with local arts productions and civic projects. The Civics and Arts Fund will work with cultural organizations and community groups across the five boroughs to promote civic learning, engagement, and discourse. “New York City is home to some of the world’s best art and theater, and yet it’s not accessible to all,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “With this initiative the city is taking steps to change that.”
The fund’s first partnership will be with Tony-nominated Broadway play What the Constitution Means to Me. Written by Heidi Schreck, who also stars in the production as herself, and directed by Oliver Butler, the play reflects on Schreck’s journey from the fifteen-year-old girl who gave speeches about the US constitution to put herself through college to adulthood and a new state of awareness about the document, which she notes does not guarantee women’s rights—it actually doesn’t even mention the word woman. The ninety-minute performance is currently being staged at the Hayes Theater on West Forty-Fourth Street through August 24.
