Dear Senator Bottcher,
As a New York State resident, I am writing to support Qualified Cultural Studio Use, a proposal to help nonprofit cultural organizations protect, create, and sustain artists’ studios. I ask your office to advance its two New York measures: an amendment to Real Property Tax Law §420-a and a Senate resolution calling for federal action on tax-exempt bond financing.
Cities need ways to protect artists’ studios, create new ones, and keep them available for the long term. But artists’ leases can stand in the way of the tax exemptions and lower-cost financing that nonprofit cultural organizations need to provide and sustain those spaces.
The state amendment would make clear that studios owned and operated by a nonprofit as part of a qualifying cultural program can qualify for a property-tax exemption, including when artists remain under existing leases.
The Senate resolution would ask Congress to change federal law so that artists’ use of those studios does not prevent a qualifying nonprofit from obtaining tax-exempt bond financing. It would also ask the U.S. Treasury to determine whether it can provide relief under its existing authority.
Together, these measures would help nonprofit cultural organizations support artists’ work and keep artists in place.
The combined legislative proposal, including the proposed New York State bill, Senate resolution, and federal bill, is available here:
1 Proposed New York State bill — Amendment to Real Property Tax Law §420-a
2 Proposed New York State Senate resolution — Federal legislation and Treasury review
3 Proposed United States House bill — Amendment to Internal Revenue Code §145
Please work with legislative counsel and your colleagues to refine and introduce these measures.
Thank you for championing the arts. Your leadership in keeping artists working in New York and protecting their studios is deeply appreciated.
Sincerely,
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