The public can nominate women, groups of women, or moments in women’s history starting today at women.nyc
Today, First Lady Chirlane McCray, Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen and the Department of Cultural Affairs announced She Built NYC, a new effort to commission a public monument or artwork on City property that honors women’s history in New York City. The effort kicks off with an open call for nominations from the public which will run through August 1, 2018. During this time, New Yorkers can submit their ideas for how to honor the inspiring, diverse people and events that comprise the history of New York women. Visitors to women.nyc can submit nominations of women, groups of women, and events involving women that significantly impacted the history of New York City. Nominated individuals must have been deceased for at least 20 years, and nominated events must have taken place at least 20 years ago.
“There are big gaps in our City’s public art, with few statues of women, trans and gender nonconforming people,” said First Lady Chirlane McCray. “The message that lack of representation sends is that these people have no value and did not make contributions to our city. This first step we are taking will help us more accurately show the diversity in the people who helped make New York City so great.”
“She Built NYC puts women in their rightful place – on pedestals,” said Alicia Glen, Deputy Mayor for Housing & Economic Development. “The people we celebrate in our public realm can either inspire young girls to dream big, or it can perpetuate the message that women have not contributed to society – something we know is untrue.”
She Built NYC builds on the recommendations of the Mayoral Advisory Commission on City Art, Monuments, and Markers to expand the stories, histories, and narratives represented on public property in New York. These representations have historically failed to reflect the trailblazing women that have contributed to the City. The Department of Cultural Affairs has committed up to $10 million over the next four years to commissioning new permanent public monuments and commemorations.
“New York was made into the extraordinary city it is by people from all backgrounds who have come here to live, work, advocate, play, raise families, make art, and everything in between,” said Cultural Affairs Commissioner Tom Finkelpearl. "But this rich history is not reflected in our public spaces, where a story focused on a small group - overwhelmingly men - dominates. Starting today, I’m humbled and honored to be a part of the She Built NYC effort to tell a fuller story in the art and monuments on City property. This is just one more step toward creating a more inclusive public realm, and we invite all New Yorkers to share their ideas."
In the fall, using submissions from the open call, an advisory panel with individuals representing a broad range of expertise and backgrounds will create a list of nominees for commemoration. The woman, group, or event that is honored with a monument, and which artist will create the monument, will be determined by DCLA and the City’sPercent for Art commissioning process. The subject and site of the monument will be announced in January 2019.
Chair
Pauline Toole, Commissioner, NYC Department of Records and Information Services
Members
1) Amy Freitag, Executive Director, JM Kaplan Fund
2) Catie Marron, CEO, Good Companies
3) Harriet F. Senie, Director of the M.A. program in Art History and Art Museum Studies, City College of New York
4) Mabel O. Wilson, Professor of Architecture at Columbia University GSAPP
5) Susana Torruella Leval, Director Emerita, El Museo del Barrio
6) Kemi Ilesanmi, Executive Director, The Laundromat Project
7) Sandra Jackson-Dumont, Frederick P. and Sandra P. Rose Chairman of Education, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
8) Simi Linton, Co-Director of Disability/Arts/NYC Task Force (DANT), author, and filmmaker
9) Prerana Reddy, Program Director, Blade of Grass
10) Robina Afzal, Student, Urban Assembly School for Criminal Justice
11) Janice Monger, CEO & President, Staten Island Museum
12) Elia Alba, Visual artist; exhibits internationally and has work in the collections of the Smithsonian Museum of Art, El Museo del Barrio, Lowe Art Museum, etc.
13) Ahsia Badi, Vice-Chair Manhattan's Community Board Six; Senior Policy Associate The New York Academy of Medicine
14) Alessandra Belloni, Singer, Percussionist, Dancer, Author
15) Rick Chavolla, Chair, American Indian Community House
16) Ramona Hernandez, Director, CUNY Dominican Studies Institute & Professor of Sociology, The Colin L. Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership/Division of Social Science
17) Valerie Paley, Vice President, Chief Historian and Director, Center for Women's History, NY Historical Society
18) Cecilia Gentili , Director of Policy at GMHC
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