In what might be his administration’s lone gesture of sustained goodwill towards the city’s ailing arts and culture sector, Mayor Eric Adams and the Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA) have announced a reinvigorated Cultural Development Fund for 2025.
Unveiled in February, this year’s CFD will distribute a new record of $59.3 million—north of $1 million more than the previous record—in grants to over a thousand non-profits across the boroughs. Recipients span a wide breadth of cultural, arts, and historical organizations, from marquee NPOs to smaller, more specialized outfits.
This week, the DCLA released the full list of awardees, revealing dozens of Brooklyn-based nonprofits that stand to receive grants from the fund. They include rooftop experimental arts and theater group NOoSPHERE, culinary podcast network Heritage Radio, digital arts education collective POWRPLNT, avant garde art book archivists Franklin Furnace, incarcerated arts education program Musicambia, Coney Island-based poetry purveyors Parachute Literary Arts, and park restorers and caretakers The Prospect Park Alliance.
Each of those organizations, amongst others—Brooklyn Music School, Art of Brooklyn Festival, Central Brooklyn Jazz Consortium, Brooklyn Book Bodega, and more—will receive up to $50,000 in funding. But some of the borough’s most established hosts of vital cultural programming are getting grants of $100,000 or more. The big bags are going to cherished multi-purpose Red Hook event space Pioneer Works, mobile cinema specialists Rooftop Films, community arts activists Cool Culture, and local art and media incubator BRIC. You can see the full list of this year’s Cultural Development Fund grant recipients here.
“At a time when arts funding is facing cuts across the nation, the city’s decision to bolster its investment in Brooklyn signals a steadfast dedication to supporting the welfare of our creative community,” remarked Brooklyn Arts Council executive director Rasu Jilani in a press release. “It is a powerful symbol that New York City values its artists and cultural institutions, and we are proud to partner with the commissioner via DCLA in ensuring that the arts continue to flourish in Brooklyn and beyond, securing NYC’s place as the unrivaled hub of creativity,” Jilani added.
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