Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment311Search all NYC.gov websites
News & Reports

Press Releases

Print icon Print

Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment Celebrates Accomplishments Made During Mayor Adams Administration

2025, and the collective years of the Adams Administration, Saw MOME Further its Mission to Support NYC's Creative Sectors, By Adding to the Local Entertainment Workforce, Enabling Film & Television Production, Investing in Educational Programs, and More

Photos Available Here


NEW YORK – As 2025 comes to a close, the New York City Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME) is proud to release a list of accomplishments made during the Adams administration through this office – which includes the Film Office, the NYC Media Broadcast Network and Production Group, the Press Credentials Office and Creative Sector Programs – and key wins achieved for NYC’s creative industries for this past year. These industries, which help to generate billions in economic activity and support hundreds of thousands of jobs for New Yorkers, include film & TV, music, theatre, live performance, digital games and more.

"We took office with a simple promise: to 'Get Stuff Done,’ and, four years later, our administration can say we delivered that every day for working-class New Yorkers," said New York City Mayor Adams. "We drove shootings to record lows and pushed jobs and small businesses to record highs. We rewrote the playbook on homelessness and mental health to finally get New Yorkers living on our streets the help they need, and, after decades of half-measures, passed historic housing legislation to turn New York into a 'City of Yes.' We overhauled the way our students learn to read and do math, cut the cost of child care, and forgave medical debt. We eliminated taxes for low-income families, launched free universal after-school programming, and set hundreds of New Yorkers up for good-paying careers in the film and television industry through our ‘Made in NY’ workforce initiative. We got scaffolding off our buildings, trash bags off our streets, and opened up new public spaces for New Yorkers to enjoy. The haters may have doubted us, but the results are clear. On issue after issue, we brought common-sense leadership to create a safer, more affordable city, and our work has changed our city for the better; it will stand the test of time because we made New York City the best place to live and raise a family."

“When New York City’s creative industries thrive, New York City thrives, and I’m so proud of the work MOME has done in 2025 to support these sectors as we strive to make both entertainment experiences and jobs more accessible to all New Yorkers,” said NYC Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment Commissioner Pat Swinney Kaufman. “We have worked hard to bring Mayor Adams’ vision for a City of Yes to life, especially in regards to our world-renowned film & television industry, as we continue to make it possible for productions of all sizes to film here.”

Highlights from MOME in 2025 include:

Film & TV Production:

Workforce & Career Development Programs:

  • Supported MOME’s signature “Made in NY” workforce programs – Production Assistant, Post Production, Animation and Stagecraft Bootcamp, along with career exploration through Sound Thinking NYC, MediaMKRS, and the Broadway Musicians Equity Partnership – that saw the graduation of 380 participants in 2025.
  • Reached over 22,000 New Yorkers with media & entertainment career development programming, including our “Made in NY” Talks series.

NYC Media:

“Made in NY” Grants, Funds and Awards:

Creative Sector Programs:

  • Created the first-ever NYC Video Game Festival, a full day event that welcomed 1500 attendees to the Mayor’s Cup Final for the Minecraft Education Battle of the Boroughs Esports Competition, the first-ever New York Statewide Collegiate Esports Competition, and Games Expo, featuring NYC-based indie developers, game studios and gaming vendors.
  • Organized the City’s annual NY Music Month celebration, which returned for its 8th year with 59 partners represented, 56+ in-person/online programs/events, including an industry conference, concerts, and free rehearsal spaces, all to boost NYC's reputation as a global music capital and reaching more than 10K in person participants and potential reach of more than 40 million across social media accounts.
  • Curated the 13th annual JanArtsNYC, an annual initiative of 12 partners that collects and spotlights the variety of world-class theatre and live performance events taking place throughout the month of January at various NYC venues, in an effort that supports local theatre and attracts global audiences.
  • Presented the 7th annual NYC Public School Film Festival, which celebrates the talent and diversity of student voices and looks to open doors for the youngest New Yorkers into the city’s world-renowned film & TV industry. In 2025, nearly 150 films were submitted for the festival (up 15% from 2024) from NYC middle and high school students spanning 43 schools throughout the five boroughs, including 19 schools that hadn’t submitted to the festival before.
  • Partnered with the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs to expand the Materials for the Arts program, and distributed 3.2 million pounds of free items donated by film, television, theater, and entertainment productions, valued at a total $7.4 million to its members – including cultural nonprofits, public schools, and more.
  • Collaborated with Seats on the Spectrum to make mainstream theater performances more welcoming to audience members on the autism spectrum.

Highlights from MOME Throughout Adams’ Administration:

NYC Women’s Fund:

  • Expanded the NYC Women’s Fund for Media, Music and Theatre twice, in 2022 and 2023, for a grand total investment of $10 million by the City of NY, which provided grants to a total of 415 projects in an effort to target the underrepresentation and equity challenges of the media and entertainment industries.

Workforce & Career Development Programs:

  • Oversaw more than 4,000 total graduates who received a5% placement rate into jobs and paid internships.
  • Assembled workshops, panels, summits and conferences for over 40,000 New Yorkers.

Film & TV Production Industry:

  • Created the first-ever Film and Television Production Industry Council to advise the city’s production policies and programs.
  • Introduced Executive Order 21, requiring each city agency to have a film office liaison and expedite filming on New York City property.
  • Supported expansion of studio infrastructure at ground breaking and ribbon cutting events in Queens, Manhattan and Brooklyn.

Digital Games Industry:

  • Engaged more than 10,000 NYC Public School students in the Minecraft Education Battle of the Boroughs Esports Competition and Mayor’s Cup final, with steady growth in both participation and submissions - from 1,200 students in 2021 to 3,295 in 2025, and from 385 submissions in 2023 to 658 in 2025.
  • Commissioned the first-ever NYC Digital Games Industry report, detailing specifics on the sector's contribution to NYC's economy, and reported on subsequent growth, including a 90% increase to the number of game development studios and a 30% increase in the economic impact of the industry to $2.6 billion.
  • Invested $2 Million in the first-ever Bachelor's Degree program in Digital Game design at CCNY.

Music, Theatre and Live Performance Industries:

  • Convened the first-ever Live Performance Industry Council to gather leaders in live performance and government together to address challenges and identify strategies for growth.
  • Supported content creation at Power Station @ Berklee NYC - NYC’s legendary recording studio - which includes offering 400+ free hours to musicians, 48 free concerts, and producing nearly 50 episodes of the series Inside Power Station @BerkleeNYC available on NYC Media.

Press Credentials Office:

  • Processed 7,500+ applications since the Press Credentials Office (PCO) was created in January 2022, and received an overall 86% positive rating in a customer satisfaction “quality of service” survey, which measured the application process, staff responsiveness, digital platform usability and multilingual support.

For updates on the above and future initiatives to support NYC’s creative sectors, follow the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment @MadeinNY on Twitter/X and Facebook, and @madein_ny on Instagram and Threads.