Dear New Yorker:

This week, the New York City Council heard testimony on the City's budget for the Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA) for FY 2014.

I am writing to ask you to join Dance/NYC in requesting a restoration of DCA funds to adopted FY 2013 levels ($155.6 million) and advocating the possibility of an increase.

I am also writing to share Dance/NYC's written testimony and to acknowledge and thank some of you in the dance community whom I know have been working hard to make the case for public funds.

Thank you, New Yorkers for Dance, for joining our video campaign released to coincide with the budget hearings and featuring statements on why dance matters to the city - to its creativity, education, neighborhoods, and the economy. As choreographer and media artist Jonah Bokaer offers, the campaign may be used as a tool for leveraging "additional public and private support for the art form." (Subscribe to Dance/NYC's YouTube channel to follow the campaign and read more in The New York Times.)

Read Phil Chan's "Keep New York City Dancing" for budget testimony from Mary Hodges of Gaynor Minden, Denise Roberts Hurlin of Dancers Responding to Aids, Rachel Moore of American Ballet Theatre, and Virginia Johnson of Dance Theatre of Harlem. Thank you all.

Join these New Yorkers and be New Yorkers for Dance. Forward, post, and tweet this e-mail to your friends and colleagues. And connect with your legislative representatives - by phone, letter, e-mail, fax, or better still, in person.

To help make your case for funding, use Dance/NYC research.

With your help, I know we will succeed in keeping the arts in our City vibrant,

Lane and the team at Dance/NYC

Lane Harwell
Executive Director