Cultural Institutions Group

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The Cultural Institutions Group (CIG) is a coalition of institutions providing cultural and educational resources to the public in New York City that are subsidized by the city government. The group originated in the last quarter of the 19th century with planning efforts by New York City to cope with becoming a major city. The organizations joined together in the mid-20th century to discuss and improve working conditions in New York City. Today, the CIG includes 34 cultural institutions.

History

The basic framework for the public-private partnerships between New York City and its 34 cultural institutions was established in the 19th century. The original concept of the partnerships has succeeded beyond its founders' most ambitious expectations.

1877-1945: The original partnerships

In the last quarter of the 19th century, the

Staten Island Zoological Society
, 1936.

1945-1976: Conflict and policy

From 1952 to 1967, an additional five organizations would begin to receive regular city support: Brooklyn Academy of Music, 1952; Queens Botanical Garden, 1962; New York Hall of Science, 1965; Wave Hill, 1965; Staten Island Historical Society, 1967.[1] In the 1950s the City and the cultural organizations engaged in protracted discussions over the issue of wages and working conditions of employees who were City reimbursed. Following a strike action against eight of the institutions in 1958 and 1959, the institutions met in 1960 in an informal organization which came to be known as the Cultural Institutions Group or CIG. The labor settlement that was eventually reached was an unconventional one that involved "tri-partite" bargaining and obligated the institutions and the City of New York to negotiate (and the city to pay for) wage and benefit increases, while working conditions were negotiated between the union and the individual organizations.

Having recognized a valuable community of interests, the CIG continued to meet to address other issues. In 1962, Mayor

Abraham D. Beame
appointed the Committee on Cultural Policy, which recommended removing cultural affairs from PRCA and that the city concentrate its funding in the areas of facilities and basic support.

1976-1990: Cultural affairs

Enabling legislation for a City

Staten Island Botanical Garden, 1983; and Carnegie Hall
, 1986.

1990-Present: Government transitions and the budget

By the 1990s, two new organizations had joined the ranks of the CIG: Flushing Town Hall and the Museum of Jewish Heritage. With a new city charter redistributing budgeting powers from the Board of Estimate to the Mayor and a larger City Council and the implementation of term limits in 2001, the tentative pas de deux of the 1980s budget negotiations became a full-fledged ballet in the 1990s. Between 1980 and 2007, there were only two years when the proposed Executive Budget and the Adopted Budget for the Department of Cultural Affairs were the same.

Mayor

Christine C. Quinn jointly announced a preliminary budget for 2008 that established a new base level of funding for cultural organizations.[2]
In addition, the administration brought new reforms to the city’s approach to cultural funding. The agency increased its competitive Cultural Development Fund nearly tenfold to $30 million to support non-CIG organizations.

Member organizations

References

  1. ^ Historic Richmondtown
  2. ^ Pogrebin, Robin (13 August 2007). "New York City Department of Cultural Affairs - Arts Funds". The New York Times – via www.nytimes.com.

External links