New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani announced the 28 members of his Committee on Arts and Culture, one of 17 advisory committees formed ahead of his inauguration next year.
Members include former NYC Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA) Commissioner Gonzalo Casals, curator and critic Kimberly Drew, Brooklyn Children’s Museum President Atiba Edwards, poet and Mellon Foundation President Elizabeth Alexander, The Kitchen Executive Director and Chief Curator Legacy Russell, and Hiba Abid, the New York Public Library’s first-ever curator of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies. A complete list of members is appended at the end of this article.
During a news conference in Central Park’s Conservatory Garden yesterday, November 24, Mamdani said the more than 400 appointees across committees were all united in “a love for hard work, a deep belief in the promise of New York City, and a commitment to the affordability agenda that New Yorkers are demanding.”
Each committee will be overseen by one of four transition team co-chairs — Lina Khan, Melanie Hertzog, Maria Torres-Springer, and Grace Bonilla — and will not only assist in selecting the best candidates from the pool of over 70,000 applicants to fill around 17,000 city government vacancies, but will also serve as “critical advisors” in policy guidance and implementation.
The Committee on Arts and Culture’s appointees span seasoned policy drivers and nonprofit leaders to industry professionals across film, visual, and performing arts, and fashion and accessory design who are intimately embedded in and involved with the city’s creative workforce.
Casals, a longtime Jackson Heights resident and currently co-director of the Cultural and Arts Policy Institute, told Hyperallergic that it was “an honor” to join Mamdani’s transition team.
“The culture and arts sector has long been central to New Yorkers’ social well-being and the City’s economic vitality, and its workers are essential partners in shaping the incoming administration’s affordability agenda,” Casals said.
Having served as the Mellon Foundation’s Senior Research and Policy Fellow for Arts and Culture, Casals helped the grants giant commission the National Survey of Artists. Published last month, the survey found that 57% of US-based artists are somewhat or very worried about financial security, with 22% concerned about having enough to eat. Over a third of participating artists reported that they worked at least two jobs in the last 12 months.
“Artists and cultural workers understand the pressures facing New Yorkers because they experience them directly — housing instability, inadequate compensation, and the high cost of creative production,” Casals told Hyperallergic.
Additional institutional and nonprofit administrators joining the committee include MoMA PS1 Director of Curatorial Affairs Ruba Katrib, Hip Hop Museum Co-Founder and CEO Rocky Bucano, BRIC President Wes Jackson, Asian American Art Alliance’s Executive Director Lisa Gold, Diya Vij, recently appointed vice president of Curatorial and Arts Programs at Powerhouse Arts, and Jessica Baker Vodoor, Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Garden’s executive director.
Also on the committee are members of the art community who are not affiliated with a specific institution, such as Queens-based, Palestinian-American curator and bookmaker Jenna Hamed.
“Over the past few years, I have witnessed the shift of the NYC arts and cultural landscape: before, during, and after COVID, and amidst the rise of artist- and worker-led movements … unionizations, mutual aid initiatives, protests against racist and brutal policing, the Palestine liberation cause, protecting our neighbors from ICE kidnappings, recovering from devastating federal funding cuts,” Hamed told Hyperallergic.
“I now navigate the reality of living as an independent artist and cultural worker at the epicenter of many of these issues, in one of the most expensive cities in the US,” she said.
“I will be bringing all of these experiences with me into this role on the transition subcommittee, especially as one of the only individuals not formally tied to an institution,” Hamed added, noting that “affordability for artists is the first step of many” and that she hopes to advocate for the needs of art workers who “rely on their creative practice to survive.”
A complete list of Committee on Arts and Culture members is below.
Committee on Arts and Culture
- Hiba Abid, New York Public Library
- Dr. Elizabeth Alexander, Mellon Foundation
- Suroosh Alvi, Vice
- Jessica Baker Vodoor, Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Garden
- Alexis Bittar, Jewelry Designer
- Rocky Bucano, Hip Hop Museum
- Gonzalo Casals, Culture & Arts Policy Institute
- Carolyn Concepcion, ARTNOIR
- Colm Dillane, KidSuper
- Kimberly Drew, Pace Gallery
- Atiba Edwards, Brooklyn Children’s Museum
- Kamilah Forbes, Apollo Theatre
- Lisa Gold, Asian American Arts Alliance
- Jenna Hamed, Curator and Bookmaker
- Kemi Ilesanmi, KG1
- Wes Jackson, BRIC
- Ruba Katrib, MoMA PS1
- Coco Killingsworth, Cultural Institutions Group
- Mino Lora, The Peoples Theatre
- Patricia McGregor, NY Theatre Workshop
- Lydia Pilcher, Cine Mosaic
- Victoria Rogers, Leadership Strategist
- Hal Rosenbluth, Kaufman Astoria Studios
- Legacy Russell, The Kitchen
- Kenny Savoca, IATSE 161
- Hannah Traore, Hannah Traore Gallery
- Diya Vij, Powerhouse Arts
- Dennis Walcott, Queens Library
