New York City Department of Cultural Affairs

🗞 Big news! Today, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York announced a new FREE admission program for New Yorkers receiving SNAP.

The Met, alongside the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and the NYC Department of Social Services, has launched a free membership program for New Yorkers who are part of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The Explorer Membership level includes a free, one-year museum Membership with free general admission, access to select Member Preview Days, a digital Membership card for streamlined entry, invitations to community programs, and more.

“This administration believes the very best of our city should belong to the people, and today’s announcement is another step toward making that vision real.” — Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani

Over 1.7 million New York City residents rely on SNAP, and this initiative ensures that individuals and families navigating economic strain still have access to free, high-quality cultural experiences in a safe, intergenerational public space; and are offered opportunities for learning, reflection, and connection.

The Met will offer free membership for New Yorkers on SNAP The Metropolitan Museum of Art said SNAP recipients can enter free of charge starting in June.

There’s still time to make your voice heard and share your input on the design proposals for NYC’s monument to jazz icon Billie Holiday. The deadline to submit feedback is May 31, 2026!

Commissioned through our program, the permanent, public artwork will be situated at the Jamaica Performing Arts Center () in Queens, near the historic locations of venues where Holiday performed and the neighborhood she once called home.

Born Eleanora Fagan Gough, “Billie” Holiday is among the most celebrated and influential jazz vocalists of all time. Rising to fame in the 1930s, she would go on to transform American music, performing and recording iconic versions of now-classic songs and collaborating with leading musicians including Count Basie and Artie Shaw. She also broke racial barriers as one of the first Black women to perform with integrated white bands.

Members of the public are invited to explore the proposals, share their feedback, and help inform the final selection process while contributing to preserving Billie Holiday’s legacy in New York City.

Visit the link in ’s bio to take a look at the proposals and let us know what you think via the form.



📷:

1. William P. Gottlieb/Ira and Leonore S. Gershwin Fund Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress.
2. Artwork proposal: La Vaughn Belle, “Billie Holiday: Still, at the Crossing.”
3. Artwork proposal: Nikesha Breeze, “Lady Sings the Truth: A Monument to Billie Holiday.”
4. Artwork proposal: Nekisha Durrett, “Bending the Note.”
5. Artwork proposal: Tanda Francis, “Blood at the Root.”
6. Artwork proposal: Thomas J. Price, “Held Within.”
7. Artwork proposal: Tavares Strachan, “The Very Thought of You.”

🎬 Rockaway Film Festival's FREE teen series continues this weekend with a screening of "All Light, Everywhere" on Sunday, May 31 at 2pm. The series, in partnership with NYC Department of Youth and Community Development, encourages teens to take a closer look at films to explore the power of the camera and what it reveals.

Learn more: https://www.rockawayfilmfestival.org/events/all-light-everywhere

Eid Mubarak, NYC! Eid al-Adha celebrates the enduring values of sacrifice, generosity, and gratitude.

Across NYC’s neighborhoods and around the world, families and communities are coming together for shared meals, gift exchanges, and charitable giving in celebration of the holiday. We’re wishing all who observe a celebration filled with joy, reflection, and meaningful time with loved ones.



📷: The Jerrah Pasha Qur’an, Qur’an, in Arabic. Persia, Shiraz, ca. 1580. The Morgan Library & Museum (), MS M.532, Vol. I, fols. 1v-2r. Photography Graham S. Haber, 2011.

📢 NYC creative workers: we need YOUR expertise to help to distribute funding to cultural groups across the city!

Our Cultural Development Fund is one of the primary ways City funding is distributed to arts and cultural nonprofits across the five boroughs, supporting hundreds of organizations that together represent the full breadth of NYC’s vibrant cultural life. For the upcoming award cycle, panels will collectively review applications from over 750 groups, and work alongside agency staff to make recommendations that will lead to the allocation of Cultural Affairs’ public dollars – and that’s where you come in!

The city is seeking panelists with expertise in the arts and cultural landscape of NYC to bring a wide range of perspectives, experiences, and backgrounds. From musicians, to dancers, theater professionals, visual artists, scientists, historians, filmmakers, administrators, and arts workers from all disciplines - this is your chance to serve our cultural community, network with your peer arts professionals, and gain in-depth experience with the process of public arts funding.

Selected panelists will convene virtually from the spring to fall of 2026. DCLA provides stipends of $480 for their work evaluating FY27 CDF grant applications.

Visit nyc.gov/CDFpanels to submit a panelist application.

We’ve invited the public to share feedback on artist proposals for a monument honoring Billie Holiday, commissioned through our Percent for Art program. The feedback period is currently open and will run through the end of May. Explore the artwork proposals. 👀

Final proposals for Billie Holiday monument in New York City revealed One of the six shortlisted designs, by artists including Tavares Strachan and Thomas J Price, will be chosen this summer and erected at the Jamaica Performing Arts Center in Queens

On , we honor and remember the individuals who gave their lives in service to our nation. As New Yorkers gather across the five boroughs this weekend, we’re sharing opportunities to reflect, learn, and pay tribute through memorial ceremonies, exhibitions, tours, concerts, and other cultural events honoring those who served and sacrificed for our country.

celebrates Memorial Day with a weekend of events including the Battle of the Big Bands swing era concert and performance, displays of antique military vehicles, and a ceremony honoring service members on Monday, May 25 at 10am.

welcomes the public to visit and learn about the Battle of Brooklyn and hosts a Memorial Day walking tour on Monday, May 25 from 11am – 1pm.

hosts its annual Memorial Day Concert with the ISO Symphonic Band at Third Street on Monday, May 25 from 2-4pm.

invites the public this Memorial Day weekend to dedicate a flag in honor of active-duty service members, veterans, and others who have served our country, now through July 4, 2026.

presents “New York and the American Revolution,” an ongoing exhibition that transforms the museum’s entire third floor into a 7,000-square-foot immersive journey through Revolutionary-era New York.

showcases “Objects Tell Stories,” artifacts from their permanent collection in an ongoing exhibition, including items from the Revolutionary War and Civil War.

highlights the work of inventor and Civil War veteran Lewis Latimer. The museum honors his military service, his civil rights work, and his major inventions year-round.

welcomes the public year-round to visit and about learn the history of Van Cortlandt House, where George Washington stayed on two occasions in 1776 and 1783.



📷:

1. Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum.
2. Green-Wood Cemetery.
3. Historic Richmond Town.

POV: you went to and you now understand why cultural orgs are the real third spaces✨

Last week, NYC Cultural Affairs Commissioner Diya Vij joined for Teens Take The Met!, the museum’s annual, after-hours celebration welcoming thousands of teens across NYC for a night filled with a range of dynamic programs—all for FREE!

This year, more than 60 community partner cultural organizations helped transform the museum into a vibrant gathering space filled with creativity, movement, and connection. From silent disco in the Temple of Dendur and fashion workshops with the Costume Institute to experimental photography and zine making, every corner of the museum was activated by youth.

The NYC Department of Cultural Affairs is proud to support the Metropolitan Museum of Art and over 1,000 cultural organizations across NYC. Teens Take The Met! is a reminder that this space is YOURS! Funded by public tax dollars, it belongs to every New Yorker, from zoomers to boomers, every day and always.



📷: Photos by Filip Wolak.

Last week, we joined Lincoln Center as they officially broke ground on a bold new reimagining of Damrosch Park.

Supported by more than $15 million in City funding, the project will transform the Lincoln Center campus into a more welcoming, accessible, and community-centered public space, while continuing to support free programming and year-round public access. The redesign removes the long-standing wall along Damrosch Park and expands the outdoor theater and public greenspace to better connect Lincoln Center with surrounding neighborhoods, especially nearby NYCHA residents and schools.

This renovation is not only about redesigning space, but rethinking relationships between institutions and neighborhoods. Throughout conceptualization and design, Lincoln Center engaged thousands of New Yorkers and members of the surrounding community through one-on-one interviews, focus groups, paper and online surveys, pop-up events, and workshops to help shape the project. The insights and feedback from this engagement process are the foundation of this new project.

“Too often, development happens 𝘵𝘰 communities, not 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 them. The way Lincoln Center worked with us changed our relationship. This groundbreaking represents trust built over time and a park that our residents from Amsterdam Addition— from the children to the seniors— will use because they were part of the re-design from day one.” — Patricia Ryan, Tenant Association President of Amsterdam Addition (NYCHA)

At the heart of the project’s transformation is the new Baron Theater, a permanent performance venue facing an open plaza that will host performances for an audience of approximately 2,000 people. Developed in collaboration with , the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Gardens will add greenspace, seating, and flexible areas for gathering and relaxation. From iconic Summer for the City programming to community gatherings, together, these new spaces reaffirm Lincoln Center’s commitment to free, accessible public programming.

📷: Photos by Sean Chee and Lawrence Sumulong. Video courtesy of Lincoln Center. Renderings by Brooklyn Digital Foundry.

NYC is getting ready to honor the legacy of jazz icon Billie Holiday with a permanent, public artwork in Queens - and we’re asking for New Yorkers’ input on the proposed designs!

Commissioned through our program, the monument will be situated at the Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning, near the historic locations of venues where Holiday performed and the neighborhood she once called home.

Born Eleanora Fagan Gough, “Billie” Holiday is among the most celebrated and influential jazz vocalists of all time. Rising to fame in the 1930s, she would go on to transform American music, performing and recording iconic versions of now-classic songs and collaborating with leading musicians including Count Basie and Artie Shaw. She also broke racial barriers as one of the first Black women to perform with integrated white bands.

Now through the end of the month, members of the public are invited to explore the proposals, share their feedback, and help inform the final selection process and contribute to preserving Billie Holiday’s legacy in New York City.

Take a look at the proposals and let us know what you think via the form by May 31, 2026:
https://www.nyc.gov/site/dcla/publicart/billieholidayproposals.page

📷:

1. William P. Gottlieb/Ira and Leonore S. Gershwin Fund Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress.
2. Artwork proposal: La Vaughn Belle, “Billie Holiday: Still, at the Crossing.”
3. Artwork proposal: Nikesha Breeze, “Lady Sings the Truth: A Monument to Billie Holiday.”
4. Artwork proposal: Nekisha Durrett, “Bending the Note.”
5. Artwork proposal: Tanda Francis, “Blood at the Root.”
6. Artwork proposal: Thomas J. Price, “Held Within.”
7. Artwork proposal: Tavares Strachan, “The Very Thought of You.”