The multiplier effect of culture in New York is huge both in economic and human terms. But arts funding does not consistently rise to meet it. From one vantage, the city’s cultural funding can look robust. Over the past decade, the money allocated to the Department of Cultural Affairs has increased considerably, as City Hall officials will point out. And at any rate, between 2023 and 2024, the overall budget decreased by $7 million to $241 million, as the migrant crisis required cuts across municipal divisions.

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Persons: Mark Morris’s, Burt Bacharach, Shakespeare, Kathleen Chalfant Organizations: Broadway, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Department of Cultural Affairs, City Locations: New York, America, Forest Hills, Queens