Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul Announces Over $90 Million in Capital Funding for Arts Organizations Across New York State

Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul announced a record $90.5 million in funding for large-scale capital projects at 19 arts and cultural organizations across New York State through the New York State Council of the Arts Capital Projects Fund. The announcement, which follows a $42 million investment in small and mid-sized capital projects announced in April, is part of the Governor's historic $150 million investment in capital improvements for the arts. Governor Hochul announced the new funding at the groundbreaking for the campus-wide improvement project at Storm King Art Center, a 500-acre outdoor museum in the Mid-Hudson Region and a $7.5 million NYSCA Large Capital Improvement Grants recipient.

VIDEO of the event is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format here.

AUDIO of the event is available here.

PHOTOS of the event will be available on the Governor's Flickr page.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:

How can you possibly beat this for a venue? This is spectacular. Welcome everyone. And I want to thank first of all Dr. Kristine Young for her work, as she described as Co-Chair of the Regional Economic Development Council, but also in her spare time, she's the President of one of our premier SUNY institutions, SUNY Orange. Let's give her another round of applause.

And to all the REDC members. You're often the unsung heroes. We know you have regular meetings, you're making decisions, but you're also leaving a legacy. So, to all the members who've toiled for many years, some of you who've been working hard as partners with the local communities to bring the projects that are meritorious to us. I want to thank all of those members as well.

We are also here to acknowledge some interesting individuals, John Stern, to continue the legacy that was started by your grandfather, the torch was passed to your father and in 2008 it was passed to you. And I would say that under your watch, that torch has grown even brighter, a beacon of what the possibilities are when people have vision.

And this marriage of the environment and nature and art is extraordinary. And as Governor, one of the joys I have is I can go anywhere I want in the State of New York, and I often do. I've traveled everywhere. But when I come to a place like this, and I've known about it, I've read about it, I've understood it, but to see it in person is a true joy.

So, I want to thank you, John, for being the keepers of the flame for so many years, you and your family. Let's give a round of applause to John Stern. Mara Manus, I want to thank you also for helping us find the very best and helping elevate culture and arts in our State. And as a result of that, in your many years of service, we are a better, more fascinating place.

Let's give another round of applause to Mara Manus. We have Katherine Nicholls; the Chair of the New York State Council on the Arts has joined us as well. Again, just one of those individuals who uses their own passion and their love of art to share with the rest of the world. And it really does help elevate our ability to attract tourists, but also the quality of life for those who we also call fellow New Yorkers.

So, thank you Katherine, for all you do. Hope Knight, I see her literally every day of the week, and it's never in the same place. She travels as much as I do, sharing the good news, but also letting people know that we are open for business. And to us, arts and cultures is a big business for us. And so, thank you for what you're doing as the leader of Empire State Development.

Ross Levi, the head of I Love New York. He makes us fall in love with New York every single day. So, thank you and your talented team for helping promote all of the great attractions and amazing things about New York. Also, we have great partners in government. We have our Assemblymember, Chris Eachus. I want to thank him for what he does, representing this area with such passion and heart.

We're here because there's a story behind this place. There's an incredible story. Many people know the story of Storm King Mountain as the place that the modern environmental movement began. And it all began because people decided they were not going to be pushed around, bulled over, or be subjected to a decision that was made from far away, but would have a direct impact on their lives. And that was when ConEd back in, I believe, 1960, decided that they wanted to use this space, the beautiful river just beyond, as a place for hydroelectric power.

Now, they didn't count on a community fighting back, they didn't count on a community banding together, or how far their voices would go - all the way to Washington, getting the attention of President Lyndon Johnson at the time. And certainly, I'm sure his wife had something to do with it because she was an environmentalist before it was a well-known phenomenon across the world.

So, what happened here in stopping that project really put this place on the map as a hotbed of passionate environmentalism, and I'm so proud of that. New York is the birthplace of so many incredible movements. We put the Women's Rights Movement up there. We talk about civil rights - the NAACP was founded in New York State, the LGBTQ movement, the labor movement, but I always put on my list the environmental movement that began right here on this hallowed ground.

So, this is an opportunity for us to tell that story, make sure everybody knows about it. And Ross, that's your job to keep doing that. But also, welcome artists and just embracing the incredible talent we have, not just in New York, but around the world. People wanting to be part of this story. And it is just an iconic place that evokes so many emotions and thoughts, but to have this be a place where we can showcase incredible sculptures and art and just get people to pause from their daily lives and soak it all in and realize how blessed we are, not just to live in a state like New York, but to have the talent surrounding us.

So, take a walk, breathe it in, embrace it, and you'll leave this place just re-energized and perhaps even a better person with greater appreciation for art, how artists lift our spirits. They lift our hearts, and they lift our souls. That is what we're celebrating here today.

And we can also use this as a way to fuel our economy. Without a doubt, more people come, the more attractions we have. The more investments we make, people will start taking notice. Tour operators start talking about us, not just here, but in other countries saying, "You have to go see how magnificent it is - the place where a whole school of art was founded because you couldn't fit it into a description of any other kind of art because it is so magnificent." And right here in this beautiful area.

And I truly do love coming here, a sense of place, as Dr. Young mentioned, but also, a sense of peace. And that is what I want the rest of the world to understand. So, it can be a driver for our economy. Local businesses benefit, hotels benefit. It can also anchor our economy beyond just these communities.

But as I mentioned, sometimes it takes a little bit of resources. That's why I'm really proud to be here today to announce $90 million - not just for here, don't get too excited, $90 million, the Council on the Arts is awarding to cultural organizations all over the State. Someday you'll get $90 million, I'm sure of that. That's part of a larger grant of $150 million we're putting toward capital grants that we announced back in September, and these are going to be the larger scale projects, the ones that sometimes it's hard to fundraise for, but are masterpieces that we never want to lose.

So, we're going to continue supporting these. We also want to reach new and diverse audiences. There are a lot of people who may have grown up in a household where they're constantly taken to museums, and they get a chance to experience the art. But what about the families where they don't? What about those children? What about those adults who grew up without having parents lead them to that path?

We can do that. We can make sure that we are reaching out to diverse audiences, letting them know that they're also part of the story, but also, we want them to have the same amazing experiences. So, we're going to continue bringing art and culture here. This place here is going to receive an additional $7.5 million for the Storm King Art Center.

That means we're tripling our entire investment to this magnificent place, to the tune of $11 million. And I think that's going to go a long way here. And Storm King is one of the 19 recipients from New York City to the North Country, we have found the most incredible venues. We also are supporting places like the National Black Theater in Harlem, and I want to thank Sade Lythcott, how do you pronounce this right?

Sade Lythcott. Everyone screws up my name Sade, so I'm always going to make sure I get it right. Thank you. I cannot wait to come visit. There are so many incredible things going on in Harlem. I will say this, I stopped at Sylvia's not that long ago. I thought I could say hi to some locals. Don't bother.

There's nobody local there. I met someone from France, someone from England, from someone from South America. So, Harlem is on the map. And for you to be able to be the keeper of this magnificent resource for us, we're so grateful and I look forward to coming and visiting time and time again.

It's one of the first theaters of its kind. It's been founded and run by women of color for over 50 years, so that's extraordinary. Rebecca Calos of the Empire State Youth Orchestra. With our support, we'll be able to take more young people to Carnegie Hall. And by the way, Carnegie Hall also getting support from us too. So, we're making sure that is well preserved and taken care of.

Davis McCallum and Kendra Eckelund, we're going to continue bringing Shakespeare to the Hudson Valley, and I had a chance to go visit and see the incredible work that you're doing. And I just knew that we had to continue supporting this. There are so many different ways that you can touch the soul. It's with your eyes. It's with your ears, listening to the music. It's also just becoming engaged in a story - a story that's over, I don't know, 500 years old, hundreds of years old, that it continues to this day to tell stories that have incredible relevance to what is going on often in our politics as well.

There's a lot of Shakespearean things going on out there. I'll leave that alone right now. Look it up. So, we want to make sure that arts and culture remains indispensable as part of the New York story, and that's what this commitment is all about. And I will always make sure we do that. And to all the others, and to the other elected officials who've joined us here today, this is a statement of our priorities.

That's why when we do our budgeting, it can be a little bit rough and tumble sometimes, but the end product allows a Governor and the legislature to telegraph our priorities - what's important to us - $90 million allocated to 19 organizations across the State of New York says our priorities are with our people. We want our people to have a life experience, whether they're touched by music or culture, visiting museums, visiting nature in a place like this. We want that available and accessible to all New Yorkers. That is what today is all about, and I thank everyone who has helped make this possible.

And no one who has made it more possible on this site than John Stern representing generations of support for just this ideal, saying that we can blend all these amazing experiences together in one place, just come and find us, and you'll leave here a more enriched individual. John Stern. Let's let you take it away on behalf of your family.