WHY ARTISTS ARE PROTESTING
AT THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM

Giuliani s Corporate Police State Targets Street Artists
 New York City claims to be the Art Capital of the World. It  may
end up being known as the Artist Persecution Capital of the World.
Since Mayor Giuliani s election street artists have been illegally
arrested, their paintings, photographs, limited-edition prints and
sculptures routinely confiscated by the police and destroyed or sold
at a monthly police auction. Artist arrests have become a daily
feature of the Mayor s so-called  quality of life  initiative. In reality,
this war on street culture and civil freedom is intended to satisfy
the powerful real estate interests whose members financed his
election campaigns. These elite interests view street artists as
 undesirables  and want them ghettoized or eliminated.

The First Amendment: Freedom of Speech
The Bill of Rights of the U. S. Constitution s First Amendment
reads,  Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of
religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the
freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people
peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress
of grievances.  Besides protecting the sale and distribution of
written material such as books and newspapers and the spoken word,
freedom of speech has been interpreted by the U.S. Supreme Court
to include communicative and purely artistic works such as music
and visual art.

Licenses and Permits vs. Free Speech
Governments often use licensing as a subtle means of repressing
speech. Once a license or permit for speech is required all that s
needed to stop someone s speech is to deny or delay issuing the
license or permit. By requiring a permit the government gets to
decide who can speak and when, if at all, they will be allowed to
speak. This is the opposite of freedom of speech. For this reason,
First Amendment activities require no permit or license.

Artists  Response To Illegal State Tactics, A.R.T.I.S.T.
 Since 1993 more than 500 street artists have been arrested for not
having a vending license. After the arrests began we formed
A.R.T.I.S.T. This group s purpose is not only to protect the rights of
street artists but to protect everyone s First Amendment right to free
expression on public property. In October of 1996 we won a 2nd
circuit Federal court case against Mayor Giuliani, the Police
Department and the Department of Parks. The ruling states,  ...the
City's requirement that appellants be licensed in order to sell their
artwork in public spaces constitutes an unconstitutional
infringement of their First Amendment rights.   Despite winning
our case in court the City, the Parks Department and the real estate
interests that instigated the artist arrest policy in 1993 continue to
seek ways to illegally impose a license or permit system on artists.

Privatizing Our Public Parks
On 2/11/98 Mayor Giuliani officially turned over Central Park to
an elite group, The Central Park Conservancy [see, NY Times
2/12/98  Management of Central Park Going Private  and Daily
News 2/12/98  Central Park's Going Private  ]. Privatizing public
property is a key goal of the Giuliani Administration and the real
estate interests that put him in office. The Conservancy, which the
Daily News describes as a private group that,  ...gets the bulk of its
money from foundations, corporations and wealthy individuals,
many of whom live near the park...  uses Parks concession money to
promote their pet projects, among which is the elimination of
unionized workers in the parks system. The Conservancy uses
Central Park and the Metropolitan Museum for  cocktail parties,
society weddings and elite fundraising activities. The general public
is never invited to these events, yet both Central Park and the
property the museum stands on are public property.

$150,000 to Sell Hotdogs vs. Free Speech
 After the Conservancy took over Central Park, the Parks Department
announced that, beginning March 1st artists, who have sold their
works in front of the Metropolitan Museum for more than 100
years without a permit based on freedom of speech, would be forced
to apply for a permit and compete in a monthly lottery for one of 24
spots. By taking away artists  constitutional right to be in front of
the Met for free and replacing it with a $25 permit, the Parks
Department intends to gradually introduce a system of bidding for
concessions. According to Parks commissioner Henry Stern, quoted
in an article in the 2/26/98 issue of New York Newsday,  These are
extremely valuable spaces and people who sell hot dogs there pay
$150,000 a year for the privilege and may not like having to set up
next to an artist who is there for free .

The Metropolitan Museum of Art Collectors
 The Metropolitan Museum is the only major New York City art
museum that refused to join the street artist Federal lawsuit and that
still refuses to publicly acknowledge that artists have a First
Amendment right to create, display and sell their art on public
property. While spending millions to present elitist shows like the
tribute to Gianni Versace, the museum allows working artists to be
arrested right outside their door and does nothing. Artists, not art
collectors, create the value inherent in the world s art. If we as a
society are going to treasure famous art collections, how much more
should we value living, working artists?

Join the ONE CENT PROTEST
 The suggested fee to enter the Metropolitan Museum of Art is $8.00
but a donation of as little as One Cent will gain you admission. To
support our struggle for First Amendment freedom we ask that you
pay only One Cent. We are not demanding special privileges or
handouts by making this protest. All we are seeking is for the
Mayor, the City of New York, the Parks Department and the
Central Park Conservancy to stop surpressing constitutional rights
and to respect the public nature of public streets and parks. We hope
you will help us to stand up for the First Amendment freedom that
makes this nation unique. Thank you for your support.
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]
http://www.openair.org/alerts/artist/nyc.html
Call the following numbers to express your opinion:
Parks Commissioner Henry J. Stern (212) 360-1305, Thomas Rozinski, General
Counsel Parks  360-1314, William Leurs, President Met Museum  570-3900,
Ashton Hawkins, Legal Counsel Met Museum  570-3936, Central Park
Conservancy 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