Monday 10/28/96 5 P.M. outside Council Member Freed's re-election fundraiser at PRAVDA #281 Laffayette Street (between Prince and Houston).
provided through OPENAIR-MARKET NET
New York City's artists just won a major legal victory in Federal Appeals Court. Unfortunately, harassment by Council Member Freed and the N.Y.P.D. is continuing.
Protect free speech and expression on N.Y. City streets. Demonstrate against Freed at her re-election fundraiser, PRAVDA 10/28 5 P.M.
This past weekend in SoHo, 1st Precinct undercover police who claimed to have been riding around in a patrol car with Freed while she pointed out who to target for arrest, confiscation or summonses, approached numerous street artists. The artists were told to leave or face arrest and that the Federal Court ruling "meant nothing" to the N.Y.P.D.
They also asked artists, "Where's Robert Lederman, we're supposed to give him a ticket". On Friday 10/25 in Manhattan Criminal Court the D.A. dismissed Lederman's last three arrest cases and then threatened him with civil penalties if he continued to sell his art in SoHo.
Kathryn Freed on Art: "The Councilwoman...is seeking to overturn Constitutional protections for visual art". N.Y. Times 7/14/96
"Freed was a major supporter of the city's [unconstitutional] law that requires artists to get a general vendors license to sell their work in public...Freed said she got involved in the issue about three years ago because the SoHo Alliance asked her to do so." Downtown Express pg. 1 10/22/96
"To try to construe that the First Amendment doesn't extend to artists is extremely dangerous. She [Freed] purports to be supportive of artists and then stands against them selling on the street." Charlayne Haynes, New Museum of Contemporary Art quoted in the N.Y. Times 7/14/96
Kathryn Freed on street artists: "They're like parasites". Christian Science Monitor, 7/14/94
"Freed says she will reintroduce legislation that would set up a committee to certify artists." The Villager 10/16/96
On 2/28/96 Council Member Freed, Sean Sweeney (CB#2 Freed appointee and Director of the SoHo Alliance), The Fifth Avenue Association, The Alliance for Downtown New York, The Grand Central Partnership, The 34th Street Partnership and the Madison Avenue Business Improvement District filed a 30 page brief [95-9089] in the 2nd circuit Federal Appeals Court claiming:
"The sale of artwork does not involve communication of thoughts or ideas" and warning of, "the dangers...of allowing visual art full First Amendment protection". It sumed up its position by claiming that, "An artists' freedom of expression is not compromised by regulating his ability to merchandise his artwork", and, "..the sale of paintings and other artwork does not reach this high level of expression guaranteeing First Amendment protection...." .
If the Freed/Sweeney/Fifth Avenue Association position on art had been supported by the court, every artist and art dealer in the U.S. would have lost First Amendment protection.
In response, on 10/10/96 the 2nd circuit Federal Appeals Court issued its ruling in Lederman et. al. v. City of New York 94 civ. 7216 [95-9089]:
"Visual art is as wide ranging in its depiction of ideas, concepts and emotions as any book, treatise, pamphlet or other writing, and is similarly entitled to full First Amendment protection. Paintings, photographs, prints and sculptures, such as those appellants seek to display and sell in public areas of the City are entitled to full First Amendment protection....Displaying art on the street has a different expressive purpose than gallery or museum shows; it reaches people who might not choose to go into a gallery or museum or who might feel excluded or alienated from these forums. The public display and sale of artwork is a form of communication between the artist and the public not possible in the enclosed, separated spaces of galleries and museums. The sidewalks of the City must be available for appellants to reach their public audience...The City's requirement that artists be licensed in order to sell their artwork in public spaces constitutes an unconstitutional infringement of their First Amendment rights."
Immediately after the Federal Court ruling Council Member Freed renewed her attack on artists' rights. She called for street artists to be forced to submit to an unconstitutional certification process to qualify to buy one of a limited number of permits. The permit would allow art display in a handful of secluded lots. Artists who failed to achieve certification and tried to sell their art on a public sidewalk would again be subject to arrest, confiscation and fines.
For more information contact: A.R.T.I.S.T. at (718) 369-2111 or write : 255 13 St. Brooklyn N.Y. 11215 [E-mail: ARTISTpres.aol.com]. Visit the A.R.T.I.S.T. web site at: <http://www.openair.org/alerts/artist/nyc.html>.
Council Member Freed's phone number is 212 788-7722.