Why down, please.

Good afternoon, and welcome to today's New York City Council hearing from the Committee on Cultural Affairs Libraries, International Intergroup Relations.

At this point, I'd like to remind everyone to silence all electronic devices and at no point anyone to approach the dais, additionally known as to approach the witness table, unless invited to testify.

If you would like to sign up for in-person testimony, please feel free to sign up by filling out a slip located outside in the hallway.

Chair, we're ready to begin.

Good afternoon.

I am Deputy Speaker Nantasha Williams, Chair of the Committee on Cultural Affairs, Libraries, and International Relations.

Welcome to our oversight hearing on What's Next for Create NYC.

In addition to our oversight topic today, we will be hearing the following legislation.

Proposed resolution number 163A, which I sponsored, which would designate the fourth week of November as the Shangra Law Week in the City of New York in celebrating the Shenger Law indelible impact on the music of the 1960s and ever since.

Resolution number 164, which I also sponsored, which would call on the New York State legislature to pass and the governor to sign legislation to designate Kwanzaa as a public holiday in New York.

And proposed resolution number 625A, sponsored by Councilmember Farah Lewis, which would declare October as reggaeton Heritage Month in the city of New York to honor the legacy of reggaeton as a prominent expression of Afro-Caribbean and Latin American identity and to recognize New York's pivotal role in facilitating the blend of cultures that is at the heart of this grassroots musical genre.

Before we hear oh, and then also resolution number 186, sponsored by Council Member Amanda Fadia, which would declare which would declare uh and designate November 28th annually as Albanian Independence Day in the City of New York.

Before we hear about the resolutions and our oversight topic, let me say a few words about a perfect meetup of the arts and the libraries.

It happened on October 6th when the Brooklyn Library held a noteworthy event at the Central Library commemorating Banned Books Week.

In February 2024, this committee held a hearing entitled New York City Libraries Fight Against Banning Books.

In that hearing, the committee honored the remarkable work that our libraries were doing to support the freedom to read for people throughout the US, not just here in our city.

Our public libraries are still doing that work in the midst of an even more dire and repressive circumstance nationally, and we commend them for it.

Brooklyn Public Library's October 6th event was entitled On Artistic Freedom.

It

was a panel discussion by notable and award-winning visual and performing artists, producers, and publishers.

All the panelists were outstanding as they spoke about censorship of artists and writers and performers in our current national climate.

Among many other works, Chris wrote and illustrated Black Cat, and I have the book, that's my new thing, bringing books, illustrated Black Cat as one of the best children's books ever.

Now his newest works are displayed throughout the lobby of Brooklyn Central Library.

They are a series of large stained glass works that capture a group of New York City kids bicycling past the landmarks of the city with a kind of youthful exuberance and freedom of collective movement under the night sky.

In the words of the library, these literally brilliant works are represented on paper in Chris's newest children's book entitled Night Ride.

Further, Chris has made 2040-feet tapestries, which are also on display.

On them, you can see giant characters from well-known banned books, reminding us what can be lost when books are banned in schools and public libraries across the country.

As Chris said, it was important to him that his art be displayed not just in museums, but also in a public library, because he was, as he said, born into book worlds.

His father was the late and very great young adult books author, Walter D.

Myers, with whom Chris works on the well-known book long Poetic Masterpiece Harlem, among other projects.

Our committee is especially happy this month that our purview is both culture and libraries because what a pair they make.

Now let me invite Councilmember Lewis to speak about her resolution.

Thank you, Deputy Speaker and Chair Williams, for your leadership and for championing this resolution through the committee.

Today I am proud and generally excited to bring forward resolution 625, designating October as Reggaeton Heritage Month in New York City.

And I want to tell you why this one is personal to me and some advocates that we have here in the room today.

And I want to tell you why this one is personal to me and some advocates that we have here in the room today, Gregario Mayers, founder of the Panamanian 507 Roundtable, and Dr.

Mita from the Evenita Records.

I grew up in Brooklyn.

I was a dancer, and as a dancer, I had to learn every genre of music to choreograph routines and showcases, from jazz to hip hop to Latin styles.

And Reggaeton was not optional.

It was essential.

Reggaeton builds body isolations, rhythmic musicality, and dynamic hip mobility that translates across every urban and Latin style there is.

During undergrad at LIU Brooklyn, my classmates and I didn't just enjoy reggaeton.

We studied it.

Our professors integrated it into our modern dance curriculum because it belongs there.

It is a rich cultural layered and physically demanding art form that deserves to be taken seriously.

And that tradition continues right now on college campuses across the city, L.I.U.

Brooklyn, and NYU Tandon, Pratt, Brooklyn College students are all gathering, networking, and building community around the gueton.

It is not just music, it's a cultural home.

But this resolution is also about honoring where it all began.

In the 1980s, Afro-Caribbeans in Panama took Jamaican reggae and dance hall and translated it into Spanish, giving birth to reggae Espanol.

Pioneers like El General, Chico Man, Galito Sol, and Renato laid a foundation that would change music forever.

When El General came to New York City, he worked with Caribbean producers to craft the fusion of dance hall, reggae, and hip hop.

That world would come to be known as Reggaeton.

Puerto Rican icons, Daddy Yankee, Ivy Queen, Bad Bunny carried that legacy to every corner of the globe.

New York City was part of that story, and it is time we made that official.

Reggaeton is a symbol of cultural identity.

It is an economic powerhouse for Latin music.

It is a platform for social and political expression.