New York Lawmakers Eye Culture Zones -Bill Includes Tax Incentives for Low Rents to Artists

A bill which would create a culture-zones program for towns and cities currently sits in committees of the New York State Legislature.

By Roger Armbrust NY Times

The program would provide for designation of culture-zone areas, and calls for tax incentives for owners to improve properties and provide low rents for artists.

Local governments would receive the ability to identify specific geographic areas that would benefit from "enhancements to the local arts community," according to a memorandum filed with the bill. "Essentially, tax incentives would be supplied to those qualifying arts businesses within the Culture Zone, which would allow localities to assist in the development of an arts community in areas of need?These newly created Culture Zones would be useful in catalyzing economic development."

The bill provides tax incentives to encourage the development of "artist housing, galleries and other facilities necessary to support and maintain a vibrant arts and cultural community," according to the memo. One tax incentive for property owners would come from providing "below market rent rates to artists, galleries and other arts institutions that will lease the space."

Another tax incentive is available for philanthropic contributions to qualifying projects within the culture zone.

The bill also creates the New York State Capital Fund for the Arts, which would be partially funded by revenue to the state from casino gambling. The funds would be allocated to qualifying projects as a 25% match, provided the local government seeking the culture-zone designation provides an equal match.

"It has been shown — as detailed in Richard Florida’s report, ‘The Creative Engine’ — that those communities with a strong local arts community often are home to creative thinkers in all industries," the memo declares in its justification of the legislation. "Vibrant arts communities often supplement arts education, and provide for leisure and intellectual stimulation. By supporting a local crop of creative people, companies seeking ingenuity in their workforce often gravitate to those communities that can cater to this population."

Florida is primarily known for his best-selling book, "The Rise of the Creative Class: And How It’s Transforming Work, Leisure, Community and Everyday Life." The New York Times’ architecture critic Herbert Muschamp hailed the work as "an important book for those who feel passionately about the future of the urban center," according to Florida’s website.

The bill provides that the state Economic Development Department would administer the program, and a 19-member state Culture Zones Council would set policy for the administration.

The Assembly version of the bill is A7018, which has 14 sponsors, and currently sits in the Tourism, Arts, and Sports-Development Committee. The Senate version is S3109, and is in the Commerce, Economic Development, and Small Business Committee.