Media in NYC: The Mayors Office Perspective
Neil Padukone, long time friend of New York International who recently joined The Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment as Director of Media & Entertainment, kindly opened the ‘Founders Dinner’ at our recent TEP Conference in NYC. This article is an extract from his speech. He kindly shares his thoughts on New York City, the inclusive people that call it home and the diverse media companies that have always been here; The Mayor’s Office of Media & Entertainment is the office that has overseen TV, film, theater, and broadcast production in the city for over 50 years. Mayor de Blasio decided that since media itself has evolved, that people share stories and information through vastly different means, and frankly, since it’s the 21st century - it would be a good idea to add music, digital media, and advertising to our purview. I’m very excited to be overseeing the new work in that portfolio.Much as this conference is about digital media, I’d also like to share some additional thoughts with you, and speak about my experiences as someone who was - very proudly - born and raised in this city. Thirty years ago, I was the only Hindu student in my Jewish preschool. That’s why today, I pronounce ‘challah’ with the chutzpah of someone straight out of the shtetl. Playing benefit concerts for Afghan refugees with my Indo-Latin Funk band brought the global into my backyard. And back in 9th grade, whenever I had a day off from school, I’d volunteer at the Holy Apostles soup kitchen. This is a Church that opens its doors to every single New Yorker: gay and straight, black, white and Brown, the banker and the street musician, the dreamers and realists, believers and even non-believers. It’s a building that even houses the Beth Torah Synagogue!Much as it may sound like I’m just checking names, these are just examples of the syncretism that growing up in New York City etches into a person. Two things that have always defined who I am as a New Yorker were a result of my environment: diversity and curiosity. Diversity and curiosity, edged forward by our dense urban fabric, are why we’re a “petri dish” where people explore what’s different in order to create what’s next.Diversity and curiosity are why Salsa music, which has become the music of choice for so many Latin Americans around the world, actually started here in New York when Cuban, Dominican, and Puerto Rican New Yorkers blended traditional rhythms with the jazz harmonies that they heard in Harlem.Diversity and curiosity of not just backgrounds but of experiences and needs. These are what compelled a startup founder in Brooklyn to look to his father, a construction worker, for inspiration in designing a robotic machine that helps workers to lift heavier loads without hurting themselves. Diversity and curiosity, these are elements that define this place as a city, and that have always been springboards to opportunity for so many. It’s why New York is not just a city of stories, but of storytellers. This fact is written into our history.For centuries, we’ve been the global capital of media and publishing. From the 1800’s, English novels were reprinted here and resold throughout the Americas. More recently, songwriters tied to Broadway and ad men producing TV commercials packed the city with editors and publishers; in the 1970s, printing and publishing became New York’s largest manufacturing sector.Similarly, hip-hop, which has become not only a multi-billion-dollar industry but the way for urban youth from Paris to Vietnam to shares their stories with the world - started here in the Bronx, where Jamaican-descended New Yorkers modified the art of “toasting,” or rapping, for the apartment complexes of their neighborhoods, and went on to take over the world.Today, this long tradition of storytelling and media has become disrupted by technology - and that’s an opportunity that we all embrace. The ability for new technologies to collide and intersect, just the way people from across the world have been colliding and intersecting on street corners here for centuries, makes New York the ideal place to remain the capital of media-technology.Our tech ecosystem has been growing faster (7.6% per year) than any other in the country. That’s because our tech ecosystem provides tech connections to stories and information about, and yes, funding and expansion opportunities through the many other sectors New York calls home: theater, logistics, music, real estate, architecture, finance, manufacturing, and more. Tech in New York isn’t a vertical; it’s a horizontal that is just as diverse and curious as New Yorkers are.It’s why media companies as different as Viacom and Buzzfeed, Verizon and InsiteVR are all based here. It’s a hub of talent, innovation, creativity, and every other buzzword you can think of! Every single person has a powerful, beautiful, and important story to tell, and we’re glad that you’re looking to tell yours here.Of course, for everything that Frank Sinatra said in his anthem to the Empire City about “making it here,” the rapper Jay-Z added an important caveat in his 21st century update: “the sidelines are lined with casualties.” Especially for startups going out on a limb, it can be really hard to get going. But please do look to the City for support: to our Tech Talent Pipeline when you’re hiring; to our incubators for space; to partnerships for your next big idea; and more.We’re all working to make sure that New York City remains a place where anyone can afford to take risks, and even fail along their way to success. But as you weather the inevitable storms, as you look for talent, for new opportunities, stories, and perspectives – look for them here. Absolutely look to the NYUs and Columbias, but also look to Silicon Harlem, to Startup Box and Per Scholas in the Bronx for talent—to communities in the city that have always had the talent, but haven’t always had the opportunity to share their stories or their skills. In other words, embrace diversity and be curious: be one another’s opportunities.And that starts right here, tonight—at this wonderful event that the team at New York International have organized. Even a few moments of serendipitous interaction can be priceless.I want to conclude by bringing it back to where we are and the time we live in. A few years ago, there was a ridiculous controversy about whether a Muslim cultural center should be built downtown. Since that time, and even more so now with everything that’s going on nationally, I’ve wondered about the prospects of a mosque being housed in a place like Holy Apostles, that Church Soup Kitchen I told you about, where I used to volunteer as a kid. I wondered if, in this political climate, in this day and age, a church and a synagogue could ever share the same space as a Muslim house of worship.But, just this month I found out that, for over 20 years, the very building that Holy Apostles calls home has also housed the Naqshbandi Sufi mosque. And that is important because that is who we are as a city; it is what we do. We are diverse, we are inclusive, we are curious. And we are a place where every single person doesn’t just have an incredible story, we are a place where they can tell it. I look forward to hearing yours! Thank you.