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