Resources to understand and participate in the policy process.
Policy Engagement
We follow policy as it moves in New York City and Albany, take part in it, and explain how it works. Everything we produce along the way is here, alongside cultural policy from elsewhere worth comparing.
- Policy Recommendations
New York City should amend its environmental review process to recognize cultural organizations, cultural businesses, creative production spaces, and artists’ housing as community facilities. This would make cultural displacement and neighborhood cultural needs visible in land-use decisions.
— August 5, 2026
- Explainers
This report examines how gaps in data availability, quality, and governance limit transparency, policymaking, and equitable resource allocation in NYC’s culture and arts sector.
— March 21, 2026
- Policy Recommendations
Throughout the FIFA World Cup 2026, New Yorkers will experience hundreds of free concerts, performances, screenings, and cultural gatherings timed to matches and hosted in public spaces across the city. Parks, plazas, Open Streets, libraries, and cultural organizations will serve as neighborhood hubs where match screenings are paired with locally produced music, dance, storytelling, and foodways, reflecting the diverse communities that call New York City home.
— February 27, 2026
- Explainers
The 1980 Recommendation concerning the Status of the Artist calls upon Member States to improve the professional, social, and economic status of artists by implementing policies and measures related to training, social security, employment, income and tax conditions, mobility, and freedom of expression.
— February 10, 2026
- Public Testimony
On February 9, 2026 we testified before the New York City Council’s Committee on Cultural Affairs, Libraries and International Relations, as part of the oversight hearing on affordability in New York City’s arts and cultural sector (Agenda Item T2026-0832).
— February 9, 2026
- Explainers
The Culture & Arts Policy Institute has released a new advocacy brief examining New York State’s reliance on federal cultural funding and the risks posed by ongoing federal budget instability.
— February 8, 2026
- Policy Recommendations
At a moment when the federal government is actively minimizing and erasing the scale and consequences of COVID-19, New York City has a responsibility to preserve public memory. More than 50,000 New Yorkers died.
— January 17, 2026
- Policy Recommendations
DCLA oversees an extensive portfolio of physical assets that require continuous stewardship, including buildings, leases, and long-term occupancy agreements.
— December 15, 2025
- Policy Recommendations
This capacity would enable DCLA to identify who is served and underserved, direct public investment more equitably, adapt programs in real time, and collaborate more effectively with City agencies and civil society.
— December 15, 2025
- Policy Repository
Spain’s Cultural Rights Plan (2025–2027) is the country’s most comprehensive effort to place cultural rights at the core of public action.
— November 20, 2025
- Explainers
Lawmakers are clarifying that artist-focused housing is legal. The need stems from a larger truth: our public data systems fundamentally misrepresent who artists are.
— November 17, 2025
- Explainers
On February 5th, 2024, the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA) created an emergency rule for its peer-reviewed competitive grantmaking program, the Cultural Development Fund (CDF). The new rule included the existing CDF guidelines and new provisions to allow the Commissioner's discretion to alter the results of the CDF panel process.
— May 9, 2024
- Policy Updates
The Independent Budget Office (IBO) of New York City recently released a comprehensive report titled "Giving Some Back, Leaving Others Out: IBO’s Analysis of the Administration's Second Consecutive Program to Eliminate the Gap This Fiscal Year."
— March 6, 2024