ARCHIVES OF THE MAYOR'S WEEKLY COLUMN Archives of Rudolph W. Giuliani

The Rights and Responsibilities of Public-Funded Cultural Institutions
By Mayor Rudy Giuliani

Last week at City Hall I was joined by a distinguished group of New York City's artists, entrepreneurs, lawyers and religious leaders to announce their appointment to the Cultural Affairs Advisory Commission, a charter-mandated body charged with advising the Mayor with respect to cultural activities in the City.

As the cultural capital of the world, New York City benefits immensely from the quality and diversity of creative expression found in museums, theaters, and art galleries throughout the five boroughs. That is why my administration provides more than $115 million in annual operating funds to local cultural institutions- an amount which far exceeds the annual budget of the National Endowment for the Arts.

Because we are a City that loves and supports artistic expression so generously, New Yorkers have a unique understanding that the First Amendment protects the right of artists to express their diverse and sometimes controversial views.

The purpose of this Commission is to independently assess the extent to which, consistent with the Constitution, public funding for the arts should differ from private funding for the arts.

The dispute with regard to recent exhibits at the Brooklyn Museum is not about whether someone has a Constitutional right to defame or attack religion, ethnicity, or race. People have a right to do that in America, whether we like it or not. The question is whether taxpayers should be required to subsidize artistic expression that undermines or assaults their deeply held personal and religious beliefs.

That's a very important question, and people have strong views on either side of it. With millions of hard-earned taxpayer dollars at stake, we need to have the courage to debate this issue honestly and openly in the spirit of the First Amendment. That is why I have asked the Commission to take a good look at what standards should apply, constitutionally, to the expenditure of public money in situations in which there is an affront, an attack, or a debasement of religion, ethnicity, race, sexual orientation, or gender.

New Yorkers should understand that this Commission is not a new creation. The City Charter provides that the Mayor may appoint 15 to 21 Commission members to formulate and recommend goals with regard to cultural affairs and policy, foster coordination among government agencies and cultural institutions, as well as perform such other related functions and duties which may be deemed appropriate by the Mayor.

One of the things that I deem appropriate for the commission to accomplish is the development of criteria regarding the appropriateness of public funds supporting projects and exhibits that directly attack religions, ethnic groups, and racial groups - and to develop reasonable, common sense criteria for the investment of public funds along neutral, unbiased grounds.

In other words, if we're going to prohibit public funding of an exhibit because it attacks people for being Jewish, then it should also apply to Catholics, Protestants, Hindus and Muslims. If there is an exhibit that defames and demeans African-Americans and we don't allow that, then it shouldn't be allowed for any other race. We are one City, with one standard.

Because I so strongly want to build on our City's position as the cultural capital of the world, my administration has committed more than $1.2 billion in capital funds over the next 10 years to support the renovation and expansion of cultural facilities citywide.

Given the tremendous scope of that investment, people have a right to feel that it is wrong for millions of dollars of public money to go to an organization that portrays the Virgin Mary with cow dung thrown at her. That's a legitimate viewpoint that people are permitted to have - even in New York City.

The spending of public money is a public trust and entails serious responsibility. Any institution that takes taxpayer dollars has a responsibility to be sensitive and respectful to the deeply-held beliefs of the people it's taking money from. Taxpayer dollars should not be spent on the aggressive desecration of national or religious symbols.

On behalf of all New Yorkers, I want to thank all of the members of the Cultural Affairs Advisory Commission for agreeing to serve the City by focusing on this very difficult and important question.