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.
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.
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.
DCLA oversees an extensive portfolio of physical assets that require continuous stewardship, including buildings, leases, and long-term occupancy agreements.
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.
