By Naeisha Rose, published February 29, 2024
“There is no New York City without our cultural institutions,” said City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams (D-Jamaica) at the 20th anniversary celebration of the Coalition of Theatres of Color Initiative at Black Spectrum Theatre in St. Albans last Thursday. “We will shout that from the roofs.”
Councilwoman Carlina Rivera (D-Manhattan), the newly appointed chair of Cultural Affairs, Libraries and International Intergroup Relations, said the arts are not just important to the survival of people, they also are essential to the city’s economy and a unifying force.
“We all know about the fiscal impact,” Rivera said. “People want to talk about the economic return of 99 to 1. We know about the mental health benefits and how it can change someone’s life and also get on a path to stability. There is no doubt it is the lifeblood in the city.”
Rivera said that while the city’s budget is more than $100 billion, culture only accounts for about 0.2 percent of that despite generating approximately $22 billion annually.
“We have to do better,” she said, fitting with the theme of the day’s event, “Anchors of the Past; Lifejackets for the Future.”
Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis, acting legends and civil rights activists, were two key founding figures of the CTC, which was created to address inequitable funding and visibility among theaters geared toward people of color. The group initially had about 10 organizations, such as Black Spectrum, located at 177-01 Baisley Blvd., and run by Carl Clay. Today it has expanded to 68 cultural institutions, among them the Queens Public Library, Make the Road New York in Elmhurst, Flushing Council on Culture and the Arts and Braata Productions in St. Albans.
In the most recent city budget, the Council allocated $5.7 million to CTC, Adams said.
“Arts and culture provide pathways for us to discover who we are and show that to the world,” she said. “Every single New Yorker, no matter which community you belong to, deserves access to cultural programs and productions that we can identify with, speak to our experiences and allows us to be seen and heard … While we commemorate the anchors of our past, we must also ensure that this initiative has the necessary funding to continue supporting and being the lifejackets for the future of our cultural organizations.”
Sade Lythcott, CEO of National Black Theatre, was thankful for Adams and Rivera’s efforts in securing funding for the CTC, which she said has been a pipeline to Broadway.
“There is an old African proverb that says, ‘If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.’ I would add, ‘And be led by a woman,’” Lythcott said. “The most powerful art form on the face of the Earth is storytelling. How we tell our stories is how we shape the world we want to live in.”
The funds given to CTC is not a form of charity but an investment in communities of color, added Lythcott.
“I am proud of the collective advocacy of the CTC to grow this to 68 theaters of color,” Lythcott said. “The largest coalition of theaters of color in the country. That is thousands of jobs, that is hundreds of thousands if not millions in revenue that goes back to the city of New York.”
“Fat Ham,” a 2022 Pulitzer Prize winning Drama that was produced at National Black Theatre, was transferred to Broadway in 2023, making NBT the first Black theater to move a play to The Great White Way since the 1970s, said Lythcott.
“This is a pipeline and we need support,” she said. “It is not about charity.”
Throughout the event, there were excerpts from the plays “Thurgood” and “Mecca is Burning,” performed by Douglas Wade and Kenya Wilson, respectively. Councilwoman Selvena Brooks-Powers (D-Laurelton) was also in attenance.
There was also a video presentation of “The Last Block Association.”
Other speakers included Shadawn Smith, executive director of the Billie Holiday Theatre, and Elizabeth Van Dyke, producing artistic director of the New Federal Theatre, who said, “To the New York City Council, to the Department of Cultural Affairs, I’m ever hopeful that as we grow and thrive you will stand by us, stand with us and assist us in our sustainability and expansion.”