Displaying items by tag: bill de blasio

Starting January of next year, Mayor Bill de Blasio’s new municipal identification cards will not only help undocumented immigrants sign leases and meet photo ID requirements, but the cards will also be golden tickets into many of the city’s finest cultural institutions. 33 institutions belonging to the CIG (Cultural Institutions Group) will honor the Municipal ID as a one-year membership with benefits ranging from free admission to museum shop discounts. The 33 CIG members —all private nonprofit institutions on city property — include the Museum of Natural History, the New York Botanical Garden, the Brooklyn Academy of Music and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, among others.

The de Blasio's have redecorated historic Gracie Mansion with $65,000-worth of furniture and tchotchkes from Dumbo-based purveyor West Elm. That's right, New York's first family has opted to live amongst the same squat sofas and side tables that grace (get it?) the apartments of just about everyone who's graduated from Ikea. West Elm has donated the sum of interior goods to the Gracie Mansion Conservancy and not the de Blasios per se, so sorry all, there will be no sidewalk give-aways of stained, worn goods when the family departs.

Not everyone is on-board with the de Blasios' choice to decorate the stately manse with rather lowbrow furnishings—the Times made a note that the redecoration saw the removal of a 1690 Dutch-inspired cupboard—especially after Bloomberg's $7 million Baroque-style renovation in 2002.

On Monday, April 7, Mayor Bill de Blasio named Tom Finkelpearl, the president and executive director of the Queens Museum, New York’s new Commissioner of the Department of Cultural Affairs. Finkelpearl will be in charge of a $156 million budget and will be the point person on the arts in New York, a city celebrated for its cultural bounty.

During his twelve-year tenure at the Queens Museum, Finkelpearl focused on the institution’s outreach efforts and emphasized the importance of building relationships between the museum and Queens’ immigrant population. He also spearheaded a $68 million renovation that was largely aimed at making the institution more inviting to the borough’s residents. Before joining the Queens Museum, Finkelpearl served as the deputy director of P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center (now MoMA PS1) and oversaw the institution’s merger with the Museum of Modern Art.

De Blasio, who celebrated his 100th day in office on April 10, is taking a more populist approach to the arts and aims to focus on the intrinsic social value of cultural affairs. He hopes to make art available to every child in the city as well as improve the quality of arts education in public schools.   

In a press release from the city announcing his appointment, Finkelpearl said, “New York City is one of the most eclectic and culturally rich cities in the world, and that’s something that should be shared by all New Yorkers and tourists alike. I could not be more proud to return to DCLA and lead the department into an era of ever-increasing openness – to nourish cultural activities in every corner of the city for all to enjoy. Our work is part of what distinguishes New York City as a cultural epicenter, and I look forward to working to fortify the already diverse offerings of the city’s arts and cultural life.”