New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani announced the 28 members of his Committee on Arts and Culture, one of 17 advisory committees formed ahead of his inauguration next year.
Members include former NYC Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA) Commissioner Gonzalo Casals, curator and critic Kimberly Drew, Brooklyn Children’s Museum President Atiba Edwards, poet and Mellon Foundation President Elizabeth Alexander, The Kitchen Executive Director and Chief Curator Legacy Russell, and Hiba Abid, the New York Public Library’s first-ever curator of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies. A complete list of members is appended at the end of this article.
During a news conference in Central Park’s Conservatory Garden yesterday, November 24, Mamdani said the more than 400 appointees across committees were all united in “a love for hard work, a deep belief in the promise of New York City, and a commitment to the affordability agenda that New Yorkers are demanding.”
Each committee will be overseen by one of four transition team co-chairs — Lina Khan, Melanie Hertzog, Maria Torres-Springer, and Grace Bonilla — and will not only assist in selecting the best candidates from the pool of over 70,000 applicants to fill around 17,000 city government vacancies, but will also serve as “critical advisors” in policy guidance and implementation.
The Committee on Arts and Culture’s appointees span seasoned policy drivers and nonprofit leaders to industry professionals across film, visual, and performing arts, and fashion and accessory design who are intimately embedded in and involved with the city’s creative workforce.
Casals, a longtime Jackson Heights resident and currently co-director of the Cultural and Arts Policy Institute, told Hyperallergic that it was “an honor” to join Mamdani’s transition team.
“The culture and arts sector has long been central to New Yorkers’ social well-being and the City’s economic vitality, and its workers are essential partners in shaping the incoming administration’s affordability agenda,” Casals said.
Having served as the Mellon Foundation’s Senior Research and Policy Fellow for Arts and Culture, Casals helped the grants giant commission the National Survey of Artists. Published last month, the survey found that 57% of US-based artists are somewhat or very worried about financial security, with 22% concerned about having enough to eat. Over a third of participating artists reported that they worked at least two jobs in the last 12 months.
“Artists and cultural workers understand the pressures facing New Yorkers because they experience them directly — housing instability, inadequate compensation, and the high cost of creative production,” Casals told Hyperallergic.
Additional institutional and nonprofit administrators joining the committee include MoMA PS1 Director of Curatorial Affairs Ruba Katrib, Hip Hop Museum Co-Founder and CEO Rocky Bucano, BRIC President Wes Jackson, Asian American Art Alliance’s Executive Director Lisa Gold, Diya Vij, recently appointed vice president of Curatorial and Arts Programs at Powerhouse Arts, and Jessica Baker Vodoor, Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Garden’s executive director.
Representing the city’s non-executive creative workforce, Palestinian-American curator and bookmaker Jenna Hamed was tapped for the committee as well.
“As one of the only individuals on the Committee not affiliated with an institution, I will do my best to rep my fellow independent artists and cultural workers and advocate for Mamdani’s affordability agenda to extend to y’all,” Hamed wrote in an Instagram story.
A complete list of Committee on Arts and Culture members is below.
Committee on Arts and Culture
- Hiba Abid, New York Public Library
- Dr. Elizabeth Alexander, Mellon Foundation
- Suroosh Alvi, Vice
- Jessica Baker Vodoor, Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Garden
- Alexis Bittar, Jewelry Designer
- Rocky Bucano, Hip Hop Museum
- Gonzalo Casals, Culture & Arts Policy Institute
- Carolyn Concepcion, ARTNOIR
- Colm Dillane, KidSuper
- Kimberly Drew, Pace Gallery
- Atiba Edwards, Brooklyn Children’s Museum
- Kamilah Forbes, Apollo Theatre
- Lisa Gold, Asian American Arts Alliance
- Jenna Hamed, Curator and Book maker
- Kemi Ilesanmi, KG1
- Wes Jackson, BRIC
- Ruba Katrib, MoMA PS1
- Coco Killingsworth, Cultural Institutions Group
- Mino Lora, The Peoples Theatre
- Patricia McGregor, NY Theatre Workshop
- Lydia Pilcher, Cine Mosaic
- Victoria Rogers, Leadership Strategist
- Hal Rosenbluth, Kaufman Astoria Studios
- Legacy Russell, The Kitchen
- Kenny Savoca, IATSE 161
- Hannah Traore, Hannah Traore Gallery
- Diya Vij, Powerhouse Arts
- Dennis Walcott, Queens Library
Rhea Nayyar
Rhea Nayyar (she/her) is a New York City-based staff reporter at Hyperallergic. She received a BFA from Carnegie Mellon University and has a passion for small-scale artworks, elevating minority perspectives,... More by Rhea Nayyar
