James Anderson:
In a spirited press event at the Brooklyn Children’s Museum, Mayor Eric Adams, DCLA Commissioner Laurie Cumbo, and leading figures from New York’s cultural sector celebrated the FY 2026 Adopted Budget, hailed as a landmark for city-wide arts and education. This budget follows an agreement on a $116 billion fiscal plan and marks the most significant cultural investment in decades.
At the event, Mayor Adams underscored that making New York “the best place to raise a family” begins with supporting arts and education. He highlighted the historic $300 million investment in the Department of Cultural Affairs, which includes a $45 million permanent increase—the first such baseline boost in over ten years. He also announced an additional $30 million, bringing the total new investment to $75 million in a single year. “This investment is about more than dollars … it’s about the dance organization that helps a young immigrant connect with their culture … the science exhibit that inspires a third grader to study rockets and, someday, make it to Mars,” Adams explained, emphasizing how culture enriches both personal and communal growth.
The budget also delivers a record $523 million for the city’s public libraries, including an extra $17 million spread across NYPL, QPL, BPL, and NY Research Library. Such funding will support expanded services, including seven-day operations that many librarians say are essential to community engagement. Library leaders—including Linda Johnson (Brooklyn), Tony Marx (NYPL), and Dennis Walcott (Queens)—expressed gratitude, noting the boost would help tackle rising costs and meet growing demand.
DCLA Commissioner Cumbo praised the budget for affirming the city’s belief in arts as public infrastructure. “With $75 million in new investments this fiscal year alone, the city is standing up as a strong, dependable partner,” she said. “This investment will help cultural nonprofits weather the storm and continue delivering world-class programming—and signal that arts and culture matter.”
Cultural leaders also responded enthusiastically. Coco Killingsworth, chair of the Cultural Institutions Group, called the investment a stabilizing force: “This funding will significantly stabilize our organizations … fortify ourselves against shifting federal priorities.” Patrick Charpenel of El Museo del Barrio echoed this, stressing how the increased support enables greater access and representation for historically underrepresented communities. Additional voices—from Queens Theatre’s Taryn Sacramone to the American Museum of Natural History’s Sean M. Decatur, Lincoln Center’s Leah Johnson, and the Public Theater’s Patrick Willingham—spoke of the boost as essential for education, jobs, community connection, and economic vitality.
Leaders from botanical gardens, science museums, and community arts groups also celebrated the budget as recognition of NY’s cultural sector as one of its greatest assets. Leonard Jacobs from Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning called it “a force‑multiplying investment in the power of our local economy—and the future of our kids, our seniors, our families, our diversity, our strength, and our endurance.”
The FY 2026 budget also builds upon earlier investments, including a 10‑year, $3.1 billion capital plan, grants to over 1,000 cultural groups, and materials repurposed through the “Materials for the Arts” program. Expansions and renovations are already underway at institutions including the Brooklyn Children’s Museum, Weeksville Heritage Center, Nuyorican Poets Café, and The Bronx Museum.
As cultural professionals, educators, and civic advocates mingled at the Brooklyn Children’s Museum, the sentiment was clear: this unprecedented investment stakes a claim not only on creativity but on the quality of life, equity, and future opportunity in the city. With the FY 2026 Adopted Budget passed, New York is charting a path where culture, community, and families thrive—together.
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