Sex educator clowns and BDSM classical music: How New York City arts group wasted $800K of taxpayer’s money

Taxpayer-funded arts events, including erotic poetry readings, “sex ed clowns,” a mashup of classic S&M music and performances in support of prison abolition, have rankled a New York government watchdog.

One City Rising (OCR), a nonprofit good governance organization, has stoked a fight with the New York City Council by writing a letter demanding a review of $787,000 in taxpayer money given to an organization that performs controversial art acts.

The row is a microcosm of a culture war raging in the US – one side fears they are being attacked by prudish meddlers who police free speech, while the other side claims government institutions are fueling “woke” propaganda.

Last year, the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs donated $130,000, one of the largest grants for cultural development, to the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC), a group founded in 1973 to promote the arts in the Big Apple.

LMCC also received Records show $657,600 in New York State government funds were spent in 2023.

One City Rising said in a Dec. 18 letter to New York City Commissioner Laurie Cumbo that there are “important questions about the appropriateness, oversight and fiscal responsibility” of the cash distributions, which they say are being used “for purposes that taxpayers find objectionable’.

The letter highlighted taxpayer-funded events including a “BDSM-themed concert series celebrating queer identity through classical music and the aesthetics of the Leather subculture” and a show by a self-described professional clown who provides sex education.

It also pointed to a series of “socially conscious musical works” by Black and Pink, a group “dedicated to abolishing the system of criminal punishment and liberating LGBTQIA2S+ people,” and “raising money for bail bonds across the country .’

The classical music event was called ‘fetish fantasia’ which ‘explores the homoerotic undercurrent of British music history’ ERATO and held in June, featuring promotional photos of two men in leather fetish gear, one playing the violin.

Black and Pink’s show was called ‘Our Anthem: An Orchestral Activation’. It was described by LMCC as ‘bring[ing] join the orchestral forces of musical abolitionist collective Sound Off: Music for Bail and justice seekers Black & Pink NYC to perform socially conscious musical works by leading Black composers and imagine new ways to create public safety in our city and our world.”

“While we believe that art is a form of freedom of expression, art that is explicitly political expression that advocates the overthrow of our criminal justice system at a time of rising crime – funded by the government with taxpayer dollars – should receive more attention,” he said. OneCity. Rising said in his letter.

Una Osato, a self-described “real-life sex educator, clown and long-distance runner,” received an LMCC grant to produce “Ask Me Anything: Even MORE Teaching Sex Ed in a Pandemic,” which was listed as “a hilarious show about the ups and downs of a Sex Ed teacher, pandemics and friendship.”

Osatowho has been a recipient of LMCC grants since 2011, has won awards for her shows, including Best Female Solo at the San Francisco Fringe, Best of Fest in Winnipeg and honors at previous FRIGID NY arts festivals, according to her website.

“As stewards of public resources, it is critical that we ensure that taxpayer-funded arts are also appropriate and visible to all New Yorkers, including children and families,” the One City Rising letter said.

One group funded by the Cultural Council, Shrew Brewerdescribes itself as ‘works by composers with wombs to create space for the stories of people with wombs’, referring to women and non-binary musicians.

In its letter, which copied New York City Mayor Eric Adams, OCR also claimed there was “insufficient oversight” of the LMCC grants and questioned “whether a project was implemented at all” after the city money was received.

Archives of LMCC events also show that the arts organization had direct ties to the city’s current leadership.

A city council member, Shahana Hanif, was previously paid through LMCC taxpayer subsidies for a poetry reading from her erotic diaries about sexual escapades in a public park.

In 2014, before her election as councilor, Hanif received an ‘honorarium’ for performing at an LMCC event called ‘Lust, With Some Caution! An evening with erotic lectures’.

At the stimulating event, Hanif read her autobiographical prose about naked “make-outs” in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, where “we walked deep into what was only green because I was always afraid that my father or a Bengali uncle or aunt would see me braless see and catch. a glimpse of my luscious 36 double D’s.’

She described how she was “jealous of the white women I had seen in porn. They knew how to maneuver the penis so comfortably […] I pushed him to show me the way, but I think his lack of response and happy moans meant I was fine.”

And she confessed that when I was bedridden with lupus, “all I could think about was masturbating.”

A flyer for the event stated that performers “received a modest honorarium.”

The disgruntled nonpartisan group argued in the letter that as the city faces budget constraints, it is the city council’s responsibility to “ensure they represent the best use of taxpayer dollars.”

Mayor Adams announced that cuts to all departments were needed after the city spent $1.45 billion on the migrant crisis in the 2023 budget year, including cutting NYPD officers by a fifth, education taking a hit in two years of 1 billion dollars and the municipality’s public libraries were forced to make cuts. close their doors on Sundays.

One City Rising requested that the council provide them with a ‘comprehensive’ overview of how LMCC uses their funds, a review of the city’s selection process for funding, ensure that the chosen projects have oversight to meet standards and a reevaluation of where the funds currently are. with a focus on NYC’s pressing needs.

The organization did acknowledge that cultural programming “plays a critical role in the vibrancy and diversity of our city,” but argued that they must be aligned with the values ​​of “all New Yorkers.”

One City Rising describes itself as a “nonpartisan, independent grassroots organization committed to tackling New York City’s most pressing issues,” including homelessness, mental health and public safety.

Other grant recipients, Hanif and LMCC, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.