New York Seeks to Restrict City Art Vendors, Protest Planned

Last week, The NY Times covered The NYC Department of Parks’ proposal of new rules for street artists who display or sell art in NYC Parks. It was published in The City Record on 3/24/2010. According to Robert Lederman, president of advocacy group ARTIST, there will be a public hearing on April 23, 2010 at Chelsea Recreation Center, 430 West 25th Street, New York, NY  10010 at 11:00 AM. The ARTIST group will hold a large protest before the hearing.

The full text of the proposed rules and a link to maps showing each vending spot are located here. The most significant change is that First Amendment protected street artists will now be severely limited as to where they can set up an art display in a park and as to how many artists can set up in each park.

The Department of Parks has set a specific arbitrary numerical limit within each of the parks or park controlled areas around parks that routinely have artists selling in them, as follows:

* Battery Park, only 9 artists allowed

* Metropolitan Museum of Art (between 79th and 81st streets) 12 artists.

* Fifth Avenue (between 84th and 85th streets) 12 artists.

* Union Square Park 18 artists allowed.

* Columbus Circle, 4 artists.

* Wein Walk (near the Central Park Zoo) 8 artists

* High Line Park, 5 artists

* Central Park South, 5 artists

* Grand Army Plaza (by Plaza Hotel), 8 artists

In the above noted parks, all legal vending spaces for artists will be marked with a Parks Department sticker. While the proposed rules claim it will be first come, first served as to how these very limited spots will be allocated (see below), the Parks Department’s real intention is to set artist against artist so as to justify replacing this unworkable arrangement with a permit and concession system in which artists must bid hundreds of thousands of dollars to win each spot, just like a hot dog vendor. The highest art vending bid will get the concession.

For more information on the protest or details of the new proposed rules, contact Robert Lederman, president of ARTIST, at 201-896-1686, or e-mail him at artistpres@gmail.com

Tags: Art Law, public space art vendors, restriction of speech