For Immediate Release: Giuliani Administration Appeals Street Artist Case to U.S. Supreme Court ["An exhibition of paintings is not as communicative as speech, literature or live entertainment, and the artists' constitutional interest is thus minimal". Quoted from pg. 22 of N.Y.C.'s appeal brief to U.S. Supreme Court.] New York may be the art capital of the world but the Giuliani Administration has zero tolerance for artists' First Amendment rights. City attorneys filed an appeal on 2/25/97 with the U.S. Supreme Court seeking to reverse a Second Circuit Federal Appeals Court ruling declaring that, "Paintings, photographs, prints and sculptures, such as those appellants seek to display and sell in public areas of the City...are entitled to full First Amendment protection." The Federal ruling had severely criticized the Giuliani Administration's street artist arrest policy, calling it "myopic" and, "unduly restricted" and concluded that, "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". The City's position, as described in its legal briefs, is that visual art is unworthy of Constitutional protection; that sidewalk art displays encourage petty crime, litter and a diminished quality of life; and that public displays of fine art are a serious threat to public health and safety. The controversial arrest policy began in 1993 due to pressure from real estate interests led by the Fifth Avenue Association, the City's four most powerful Business Improvement Districts, the SoHo Alliance and City Council Member for SoHo, Kathryn Freed. On 2/28/96 Freed and the real estate interests filed an amicus brief in Federal Court claiming, "The sale of artwork does not involve communication of thoughts or ideas" and warning of, "the dangers of allowing visual art full First Amendment protection". Between 1993 and 1996 more than 400 New York City artists were handcuffed and arrested for displaying or selling original paintings, photographs, sculptures and limited edition prints on the street. Not one artists' case was ever brought to trial yet the City systematically destroyed the thousands of works of art it confiscated. In 1994 members of A.R.T.I.S.T. (Artists' Response To Illegal State Tactics) filed suit in Federal Court [95-9089 Lederman et al v. City of New York] charging Mayor Giuliani and various Administration officials with violating their First Amendment right to speech and Fourteenth Amendment right to equal protection. To show paintings on the street, artists were required to get a vending license which the City's own legal briefs candidly described as, "unobtainable". At the same time the City allowed an unlimited number of book, magazine and baseball card vendors to sell on the street without a license or permit of any kind, based on First Amendment freedom. A.R.T.I.S.T. president Robert Lederman, a plaintiff in the Federal suit who has been arrested thirteen times for selling his paintings, promises to keep showing his art on the street regardless of how the case finally turns out. "The City officials behind this policy support the cultural venues of their wealthy campaign contributors but they neither respect nor understand artists, culture or the U.S. Constitution", he said. "Mayor Giuliani and Council Member Freed are attacking artists' rights to please the real estate interests that put them in office. If they prevail with this misguided policy before the Supreme Court this nation's artistic community will lose its present freedom to create, display and sell art". For detailed information on the street artist Federal lawsuit or A.R.T.I.S.T. visit the A.R.T.I.S.T. web page at: http://www.openair.org/alerts/artist/nyc.html [It includes contact #'s; a bibliography of newspaper articles; the case's rulings; previous press releases; descriptions of arrests, etc.] or contact Robert Lederman, [log in to unmask] (718) 369-2111 or (212) 334-4327 Press kits, photos of arrests and demonstrations etc. available on request. Office of the N.Y.C. Corporation Counsel (representing the City in the appeal) (212) 788-0303 Leonard Koerner, Elizabeth Friedman, Robin Binder attorneys.