Letter from the editor:

As the old adage goes, life is either comedy or tragedy. While current events have veered more towards the latter, Governor Cuomo’s recent stunt involving a COVID-19 “mountain” sculpture offered some rare comedic relief by unleashing a “litany of parodies” online, as our staff writer Hakim Bishara reports. 

Hakim also shares news of the nonprofits La Jornada and Together We Can Community Resource Center Inc., which have teamed up with the Queens Museum to host a food pantry. Since mid-June, they have distributed a week’s worth of groceries to over a thousand families in the borough once described as the “epicenter of the epicenter” of the pandemic. Learn more about how to sign up or volunteer here.

Hakim, who’s been on a roll lately, has also put together a report on New York City’s recent budget, which includes drastic reductions to the city’s art education programs. 

Elsewhere in New York, contributor Ilana Novick rounds up the vibrant street art that has bloomed amid the shutdown, noting “For the first time in decades, Soho is teeming with art.”

Last but certainly not least, news editor Jasmine Weber penned a must-read report on the events that led to the cancellation of a solo exhibition by New York-based artist Shaun Leonardo at moCa Cleveland. Centering the voices of Black activists and art workers—including Samaria Rice, mother of the late Tamir Rice—Jasmine’s report provides a much-needed counterweight to institutional statements which “reduce[d] the voices of the Black women who said [the show wasn’t] a good idea,” as Rice’s former consultant Amanda King states. 

Stay safe.

In SoHo, Artists Turn Boarded-up Storefronts Into Canvases

As stores begin to reopen, the future of these artworks remains in limbo but one thing is certain: for the first time in decades, the Manhattan neighborhood is teeming with art again.

Ilana Novick

News

Samaria Rice, Mother of Tamir Rice, Asks Shaun Leonardo to Stop Exhibiting Artwork Featuring Her Son

After an exhibition at moCa Cleveland was canceled, the museum issued an apology to Leonardo for its decision-making process. Activists and art workers in the Cleveland community, including Rice, have come forward as critics.

NYC’s Public Art Education Budget Reduced to 70% of Previous Year

Approved on July 1, the city’s overall arts and culture will be reduced by 11% in fiscal year 2021.

In Rochester, Frederick Douglass Monument Torn Down and Found in River

The city, where Douglass made his famous “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” speech in 1852, has 13 statues of the abolitionist.

New York Governor Cuomo’s COVID-19 “Mountain” Sculpture Is as Bad as It Sounds 

“This is the mountain that New Yorkers climbed,” Cuomo said of the styrofoam sculpture, which people have likened to Jabba the Hutt.

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