Please forward this to appropriate people:

Saturday July 28th, 2007

New York City is about to act on a proposal to require photographers, videographers, and sound artists to obtain permits from the City in order to film, take still photos, or record audio in the City. You will only be eligible for a permit if you have 1 million dollars liability insurance coverage. Therefore no independent artists will be able to get permits. Moreover, permits will be issued for specific times and places, so it will become illegal to make media art spontaneously in New York City.

I am planning to write to the Mayor's Office of Film, Theatre, and Broadcasting (public comment period ends next Friday, August 3rd, 2007):
Julianne Cho, Assistant Commissioner, Mayor's Office of Film, Theatre & Broadcasting, 1697 Broadway, New York NY 10019

or electronically to Ms. Cho at jcho@film.nyc.gov.

I also plan to contact WNYC (New York Public Radio) and the New York Times.

I hope others will join me in protesting this proposed restriction on art-making. Please write to your favorite media outlets to alert them to this issue. Artworks protesting the proposed rules are being solicited by a newly formed group Picture New York (http://www.pictureny.org/).
Here are the specific proposed rules, according to today's New York Times:

"The new rules, which were proposed by the Mayor’s Office of Film, Theater and Broadcasting, would require any group of two or more people who want to use a camera in a public place for more than 30 minutes to get a city permit and $1 million in liability insurance. The same requirements would apply to any group of five or more people who plan to use a tripod in a public location for more than 10 minutes, including the time it takes to set up the equipment. The permits would be free.
The full article is at: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/28/nyregion/28film.html?ref=nyregion"

I looked at the actual proposal on the website http://www.nyc.gov/html/film/html/news/080107_proposed_permit_rules.shtml of the Mayor's Office of Film, Theatre, and Broadcasting, and it is actually even more restrictive than is indicated by the article in the Times. The MOFTB also has the gall to say, "It's important to note that MOFTB has issued such permits for over 40 years.The process is remaining substantially unchanged." even though the changes are underlined in the full proposal that you can download http://www.nyc.gov/html/film/downloads/pdf/moftb_permit_regs.pdf and nearly all the substantive parts of the proposal are underlined...

If enacted (and apparently the enactment is imminent; the not-very-publicized Public Hearing was this morning), these rules would make it impossible for freelance media artists to use NYC in their art. It will make it impossible for any artists, however well-funded or well-credentialed, to film or photograph spontaneously. If NYC enacts these rules, it will be a precedent for other local and perhaps even state and national governments to similarly restrict the rights of their artists.

I personally have made a video, "Urban Eden" (http://www.perpetualartmachine.com/component/option,com_gallery2/Itemid,50/lang,en/?g2_view=core.ShowItem&g2_itemId=2439) that was exhibited in a major New York art show (2006 Scope New York Art Fair) which would have been impossible to make under the new rules. Much of my other work involves New York City as a theme, location, and even character, and I am not sure whether it could have been made under the proposed rules. The only way to get around the new rules is to collect media in a way that counts as "amateur" or "touristic" -- in other words film with minimal equipment very rapidly without staying in the same place for more than 10 minutes.

A group, Picture New York (http://www.pictureny.org/), has been formed to fight the new rules. I have not had any contact with them except to sign their petition. They are soliciting videos and other artworks that protest the proposed rules.

Millie Niss
men2@columbia.edu
www.sporkworld.org
www.sporkworld.org//index.php (blog)