Sara Rutkowski, DCA
The Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA), in conjunction with the Office of the Mayor, the Department of Education, the City University of New York, and the New York Times are pleased to announce the second annual Poem in Your Pocket Day on April 30th. As part of National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day will celebrate literacy and excellence in New York City’s public schools, and will reach the general public as well, highlighting poetry as an art form and a powerful means of expression.
On April 30th, New Yorkers are encouraged to carry a poem in their pockets to share with friends, family, coworkers, and classmates. Last year’s Poem in Your Pocket Day was tremendously successful in its mission of promoting visibility for poetry.
This year, professional poets will celebrate poetry in the public schools by reading original works and works of their favorite poets. In addition, teachers will have specifically designed lesson plans for Poem in Your Pocket Day, and several leading publishers and poetry organizations have donated thousands of poetry anthologies to the city’s public schools and libraries. Cultural organizations and libraries throughout all five boroughs have planned hundreds of events celebrating Poem in Your Pocket Day—from readings to poetry discussions to open mic forums—all providing New Yorkers with venues to hear poetry and share their own. A comprehensive listing of these events will be posted on the www.nyc.gov site as well as DCA’s own website. Some cultural organizations are also offering reduced or free admission for those visitors who bring a poem. As another means of gaining visibility for poetry, the New York Times will print a diverse selection of poems from April 26-30 during the week leading up to Poem in Your Pocket Day. These poems and other resources for poetry lovers will be available on the city and DCA websites. WNYC and NYCTV will be airing information on Poem in Your Pocket Day, and New Yorkers interested in learning about poetry events can also call 311 for a listing of events in their neighborhoods.
Updated DCA Website
DCA recently revamped and re-launched the agency’s website, transforming it into a valuable way to communicate with both the cultural field and the general public. In addition to information about the organizations we support and links to city-owned institutions, the website features news from the agency and updates about cultural attractions throughout the city. In January, we profiled the winter celebration of arts and parks Cool New York, linking our site to the specially designed Cool New York site. Also, in February we compiled a listing of Black History Month events. In April, we will profile Poem in Your Pocket Day and link to both the city’s Poem in Your Pocket Day website and other poetry-related sites.
One of our ongoing web features is a self-guided walking tour of New York’s cultural districts. We are currently featuring a walking tour of Harlem, complete with printable map and a listing of events taking place at the tour’s cultural attractions, which include a variety of fine and performing arts venues. Each month we will add a new neighborhood and update the event listings for each tour. We are extremely excited about expanding this resource to effectively promote the city’s cultural offerings and highlight the agency’s support and initiatives on behalf of the nonprofit cultural community. Visit the DCA website at www.nyc.gov/culture.
Materials for the Arts
DCA is proud to announce that Materials for the Arts (MFTA) has recently expanded its services to the nonprofit community by launching phase two of its website, www.MFTA.org, to accommodate online registration, appointments, and inventory listings. MFTA, featured on NY1 last month as the news channel’s New Yorker of the Week, was created by DCA in 1978. The program provides thousands of organizations with the materials they need to prosper and endure. MFTA collects reusable items from a host of reliable donors, and distributes them free of charge to nonprofit arts organizations, city agencies, public schools, and social, health, and community service organizations that have arts programs in New York City. Located in Long Island City, Queens, MFTA is among the oldest and most well-known reuse organizations in the country. It currently serves 2,800 organizations and hundreds of thousands of artists, students, teachers, and art service providers. Each week up to 120 organizations send representatives to visit the MFTA warehouse. Each organization takes an average of $1,500 worth of materials per shopping trip, from stage curtains for productions to post-its and chairs for their administrative offices.
The revamping of the MFTA website now allows organizations wishing to register with the program to begin the process online. In addition, already-registered recipient organizations can add to their wish-list of items electronically. When an item on an organization’s wish-list is donated, an email notification is sent to the organization so that an appointment can immediately be made, allowing groups to secure such coveted items as mannequins and the most up-to-date technology, such as computers, printers, and scanners. MFTA encourages its organizations to think big—to request items such as couches or stoves if they are needed, and to shop at the warehouse frequently.
Prior to the website’s launch, MFTA personnel spent close to 40% of their time making appointments and conducting administrative work. The new online registration and appointment system has reduced those tasks and allowed MFTA staff to focus on the needs of the groups they serve. In addition, the new website allows organizations to browse “direct donation” lists to find items that people in the community are willing to donate. Rather than shopping for these items at the warehouse, organizations arrange for their own pick-up and delivery. The website essentially allows recipient groups to shop online 24 hours a day.
Shopping at MFTA directly impacts the budgets of many organizations. The money that these groups save by not having to purchase materials translates into increased staffing or programming. The only requirement for recipients post-shopping is that they send a letter of thanks to a donor. The MFTA website provides its organizations with sample letters and guidelines.
Recipient groups are encouraged to post their mission statements on the website so others can learn more about them. View the MFTA website at www.nyc.gov/culture or www.mfta.org. To make a donation call 718.729.3001 x207.
The creation of the Materials for the Arts website was made possible through a grant from Lu Esther T. Mertz Community Trust, who supported the project through a Donor-Advised Fund at New York Community Trust.
New York City Department of Cultural Affairs
The Department of Cultural Affairs, the artistic wing of New York City government, is dedicated to supporting and strengthening the vibrant cultural life of the city. Among its primary missions is to ensure adequate public funding for nonprofit cultural organizations, both large and small, throughout the five boroughs. In fact, New York City is the largest public funder of the arts in the country.
But providing dollars is not all DCA does. DCA also works to promote and advocate for quality arts programming and to articulate the contribution made by the cultural community to the city’s economic vitality.
The Department of Cultural Affairs represents and serves:
• Nonprofit cultural organizations involved in the visual, literary, and performing arts;
• Public-oriented science and humanities institutions including zoos, botanical gardens, and historical and preservation societies;
• Creative artists at all levels, student to master, who live and work in the city’s five boroughs.
Structured primarily into funding divisions and services to the field, DCA provides:
• Operational support for major cultural institutions occupying city-owned buildings or land;
• Capital design, construction, and equipment funds for those institutions and other cultural groups in city-owned facilities;
• Programming opportunities for arts organizations representing a full spectrum of cultural traditions throughout the city;
• Access by artists and cultural institutions to the information, materials, and resources to reinforce their creative contributions to the city.
