Mike Rosenberg, President and CEO, New York City Center: Good morning. All right, my name is Mike Rosenberg, and I am the president and CEO of New York City Center. And I am honored to welcome you to this historic building - Manhattan's first performing arts center and still proudly owned by the City of New York. Yeah, we can clap for governments owning arts organizations and buildings. It's a great thing. Now, we here are profoundly and passionately committed to our mission of more than 80 years, which is presenting the most extraordinary dance and musical theater; it's inviting artists from around the world to share their perspectives; and its inspiring students of all ages through education and community engagement programs.
And this fall, on this very stage, we'll have the musical "In the Heights" by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Quiara Alegría Hudes. Now, in case you don't know, that is a musical that celebrates the people and culture of Washington Heights, one of the great neighborhoods in the greatest city in the world. Now, on behalf of our dedicated staff, our community of artists and our board of directors, we are excited to partner with Mayor Mamdani and TDF to make the arts more accessible to all because here at City Center, we believe, just like the mayor does, we cannot be the cultural capital of the world if the people cannot afford a ticket. All right, I'm gonna get out of the way. Ladies and gentlemen, Mayor Mamdani.
Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani: Good morning, everyone. Or should I say, "Oh, what a beautiful morning." It is a privilege to be here as the first mayor to have ever played Curly in an eighth-grade production of "Oklahoma!" on the Upper West Side. I want to say thank you to Sam Tutty and the students for that incredible performance. Can we have a round of applause for them again? I'm glad to know that I'm in good company and enjoying a slice of pizza for breakfast. And I want to thank every New Yorker who has worked to make the incredible art and culture of our city accessible to all. And I am so happy to be here alongside leaders both inside and outside of our City government. We have Michael Rosenberg, the president and CEO of New York City Center. Thank you again for kicking us off and for hosting this event. We have TDF executive director, Deeksha Gaur. And the members of the Cultural Institutions Group for making today's announcement possible. I want to thank all of the Coalition of Broadway Unions and Guilds members here today. I want to thank my partners in government that are here with us. We have Deputy Speaker Dr. Nantasha Williams, the Chair of the Committee on Cultural Affairs, Libraries [and] International Relations. And we have the elected officials who are hosting us in their district; we have Assembly Member Tony Simone and the one and only Council Member Gale Brewer. And lastly, I want to thank leaders within our administration, our deputy mayor for Economic Justice, Julie Su, our commissioner for the Department of Cultural Affairs, Diya Vij; our chancellor of New York City Public Schools, Kamar Samuels; our commissioner of the Department of Youth and Community Development, Sandra Escamilla-Davies; and our commissioner of the Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment, Rafael Espinal.
Now, New York City has long been synonymous with the lights, music and spectacle of Broadway. This is where the star-to-be arrives with three bucks, two bags and the dream. But if they can make it here, they can make it anywhere. We want to keep that opportunity to dream big alive, not just to hopeful out-of-towners but also to those growing up right here and across these five boroughs. So, to the students behind me and across from me, who have taken some time out of their precious summer days to be here with us. I have one more request for you: start spreading the news. I was debating whether or not to sing it, and I got intimidated by your performance. So, I went with the whisper. Thank you to the Ying Yang Twins for inspiration.
Beginning today, City Hall, in partnership with the Theater Development Fund, is opening a lottery of more than 2,000 free tickets for high schoolers to seven marquee Broadway shows right here in New York, New York. This is justice for the theater kids who have watched City Hall roll out lotteries for major sporting events all summer long, and ask, "Why not me?" If you are a high school student anywhere across the five boroughs, you are eligible to enter this lottery. To do so, head to on.nyc.gov/broadway. The lottery will remain open from today through next Monday, August 17 at 10 a.m.
And every single student who enters, whether or not they win, will automatically receive a free two-month Theater Development Fund membership. This membership will give them access to significantly discounted tickets between $20 and $40 to shows, concerts and dance performances on Broadway, Off-Broadway and across the city. And it will also grant them free admission to some of our city's most iconic cultural institutions, including Carnegie Hall, the Brooklyn Museum, the New York City Ballet and the New York City Center, where we stand today. There are so many kids growing up in our city for whom Broadway feels as if it is a world away, like something that only belongs to other people.
We are together today to prove differently, to make it possible for kids from Sheepshead Bay to Morrisania, no matter how much money their parents make, to enter that different world, to experience that magical moment when the lights go down, the curtain goes up and they're transported on the journey of a lifetime, one they will carry with them for decades to come. From the plays of ancient Greece to the public gardens of Mughal India to Shakespeare's Globe Theater, history teaches us that the best art has always been made accessible to working people.
That conviction has long lived in New York City too. In 1942, City government purchased this building in a foreclosure auction. Instead of selling it to developers, Mayor Fiorello La Guardia proposed that the city transform it into a center for music, dance and theater for the working people who call this city home. On New York City Center's opening night in 1943, tickets were sold for just a dollar as opposed to the Metropolitan Opera's average of $10 per ticket. What a time.
