For Immediate Release: Sunday 3/15/98

After Meeting At Mayor s Office Artists Told
Giuliani Wants Them Off The Street;
Metropolitan Museum of Art Reverses Policy on
Street Artist Permits;
More Arrests and Art Confiscations
Expected Today

On 3/14/98 Parks Enforcement officials led by
Deputy Chief of Enforcement Reeves and Lt. Berisha
told the artists demonstrating in front of the Met,
 The Mayor s office had a meeting about this
yesterday and the outcome is not good for you. Soon
you re not going to be here at all.  That day the
museum began distributing a leaflet claiming that it
was now in favor of an artist permit.

During the previous 16 days of artist arrests, art
confiscations and protest, the Metropolitan Museum
of Art has claimed to be against the Parks
Department imposing an unconstitutional permit
system for street artists. A carefully worded memo
from museum director Phillipe de Montebello and its
president William Leurs was issued to all museum
staff on 2/27 stating that the museum preferred,
 ...that this new system not be introduced .

During a NY 1 interview on 3/3/98 Parks
Commissioner Henry Stern contradicted the
museum s claim that it is against artist permits when
he said,  The Met is of two minds on this issue.
Some people feel this way, other people thank us
privately for doing what we re doing. There are a
lot of artists on the Met s staff and they have fears
that whenever any artist is regulated that it s a
Police State.

Since the artist-permit protest began on February
24th there have been 10 artist arrests and more than
40 separate incidents of art confiscations. On 3/13
Chief of Enforcement Brash personally confiscated
art from a disabled man in a wheelchair. Parks
Enforcement Police have also been confiscating
books, photographs of artist arrests, protest signs and
literature about the protest.

for information contact: Robert Lederman,
President of A.R.T.I.S.T.
(Artists: Response To Illegal State Tactics)
(718) 369-2111
E-Mail: [log in to unmask]
For the 2nd circuit s decision protecting street
artists  First Amendment rights and other releases
about this issue see:
http://www.openair.org/alerts/artist/nyc.html
Parks Commissioner Henry J. Stern (212) 360-1305,
Parks Enforcement 1-800-427-0933 (or) (212) 427-8700;
Thomas Rozinski, General Counsel Parks
360-1314, William Leurs, President Metropolitan
Museum  570-3900, Ashton Hawkins, Legal Counsel
Metropolitan Museum  570-3936, Central Park
Conservancy (212) 315-0385 Also see: NY Times
3/2/98 B1; Newsday 3/2/98 A7; Village Voice
2/24/98 pg 57; Newsday 2/26/98 A8; NY Times
6/3/97 B2; NY Times editorial 3/4/98