Who: Gregory Mosher, Sarah Calderón, Sara Farrington, Ty Jones, Lisa Kron, Mino Lora, Gary A. Padmore
What: “We the People: An Assembly of New York Artists”
Where: Danspace Project, St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery, 131 East Tenth St. at Second Ave.
When: Monday, January 26, free with advance RSVP, 4:00-7:00
Why: On May 1, 2025, the Office of the Arts at Hunter College, under the leadership of film and stage director Gregory Mosher, hosted “We the People: A Forum on Working Class Artists in America,” in which artists, arts administrators, policymakers, economists, scholars, elected officials, students, and journalists discussed the financial and social barriers that artists and audiences face around the country.
On January 26, they are following that up with “We the People: An Assembly of New York Artists,” a town-hall-style gathering at St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery where the focus will be more local. The panel features Classical Theatre of Harlem producing artistic director Ty Jones, award-winning playwright and performer Lisa Kron (Fun Home, Well), the People’s Theatre executive artistic director and cofounder Mino Lora, former Creatives Rebuild New York executive director Sarah Calderon, New York Philharmonic vice president of education and community engagement Gary A. Padmore, and playwright and author Sara Farrington (CasablancaBox, A Trojan Woman). Farrington, who writes the indispensable Substack Theater Is Hard, will make her way through the audience with a microphone, giving members of the community the chance to speak their mind for sixty seconds (and maybe more); it is pointed out that “everyone who comes will already know that art is good, so be specific.”
The presentation will be recorded for online viewing, and a detailed report will be sent to Mayor Mamdani and Governor Hochul. Attendance is free with advance RSVP, although it is all dependent on the weather.
[Mark Rifkin is a Brooklyn-born, Manhattan-based writer and editor; you can follow him on Substack here.]