Tom Finkelpearl is an American arts promoter and former museum director who serves as commissioner of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in the aftermath of which hurricane, in 2012, that affected particularly New York City, its suburbs, and Long Island, he launched an initiative called "CultureAID" to "formalize the essential role artists and arts organizations played in relief efforts"?
Hurricane Sandy
Tom Finkelpearl
Tom Finkelpearl is an American arts promoter and former museum director who serves as commissioner of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.
 He was appointed in 2014 by New York City mayor Bill de Blasio.
 As commissioner, he oversees city funding of nonprofit arts organizations, and is leading an effort to promote cultural diversity in arts programs citywide.
 His department is in charge of a $156 million budget.
 His approach to arts has been described as populist and he sees art and artists as making a valuable contribution to the overall economic health of the city.
 In the aftermath of hurricane Hurricane Sandy, he launched an initiative called "CultureAID" to "formalize the essential role artists and arts organizations played in relief efforts".
 He is working with city authorities on efforts to provide affordable housing for artists living in the city.
 He said "every corner of this city needs to have art."
 He introduced a program to offer free access to member institutions using a municipal identification card.
 Finkelpearl served for 12 years as director of the Queens Museum from 2002 to 2014.
 While serving as director, he hired community organizers to emphasize the diversity of the immigrant population.
 He presided over the museum's $68 million renovation effort.
 He doubled the size of the Queens Museum and saw its budget grow from $2.3 million to $4.9 million.
 He served under mayor David Dinkins and Rudy Giuliani by running the city's "Percent for Art" program.
 He graduated from Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts in 1974, from Princeton University in 1979 and from Hunter College (MFA) in 1983.
Effects of Hurricane Sandy in New York
New York was severely affected by Hurricane Sandy in 2012, particularly New York City, its suburbs, and Long Island.
 Sandy's impacts included the flooding of the New York City Subway system, of many suburban communities, and of all road tunnels entering Manhattan except the Lincoln Tunnel.
 The New York Stock Exchange closed for two consecutive days.
 Numerous homes and businesses were destroyed by fire, including over 100 homes in Breezy Point, Queens.
 Large parts of the city and surrounding areas lost electricity for several days.
 Several thousand people in midtown Manhattan were evacuated for six days due to a crane collapse at Extell's One57.
 Bellevue Hospital Center and a few other large hospitals were closed and evacuated.
 Flooding at 140 West Street and another exchange disrupted voice and data communication in lower Manhattan.
Basement Workshop
Basement Workshop was an Asian-American political and arts organization in New York City active from 1970-1986.
 It was created during the Asian American Movement and acted as an umbrella organization to writers, visual artists, dancers and choreographers, and activists.
 It published Bridge Magazine and sponsored exhibitions and after school programs.
 Artists such as Tomie Arai, Fay Chiang, Larry Hama, Jessica Hagedorn, Jason Kao Hwang, Nina Kuo, and Chris Iijima were involved.
 Basement Workshop spawned numerous other organizations, including the Asian American Dance Theater, Asian American Arts Centre, Godzilla Asian American Arts Network, and Museum of Chinese in America. New York Dance Festival
The New York Dance Festival () is a multi-cultural festival of performing arts with three milestone events in the city of the world; New York City and with an annual multi week international festival each summer in Auburn, New York the heart of the beautiful Finger Lakes.
 Boasting history that includes the homes of Harriet Tubman and William Seward and the Merry Go Round Playhouse, the Festival is hosted by one of the region’s only African American led performing arts organizations.
 The Festival Dance Festival has become one of the nation's most novel cultural expressions and brings the world-class arts scene of New York City and the world to Upstate New York.
 The New York Dance Festival runs for two weeks in July, and includes the "New York Summer Dance Intensive", with additional offerings of the "New York Drum Festival", the "New York Musical Theatre Project", the "Carmen De Lavallade Awards for Dance", the "Thommie Walsh Song & Dance Man Gala", Fellowships, Residencies, and a World Class Concert Series. Downtown Brooklyn Cultural District
The Brooklyn Cultural District (formerly known as the BAM-Downtown Brooklyn Cultural District) is a $100 million development project that focuses on the arts, public spaces and affordable housing in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, New York.
 The project reflected the joint efforts of New York City's Economic Development Corporation, the Department of Cultural Affairs, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, the Department of City Planning, and the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership to continue to develop the Brooklyn neighborhood area.
 Joining the area's longtime institutional stakeholders (BAM, the Brooklyn Museum and the Brooklyn Public Library) are new homes for Mark Morris Dance Group, Theatre for a New Audience (TFANA), UrbanGlass and BRIC Arts and the BAM's Fisher Building. GANYC
GANYC (Guides Association of New York City) is a non-profit organization and the professional trade association of licensed New York City tour guides, dedicated to promoting the highest degree of professionalism, continuing education, professional development and networking opportunities for its members.
 Its members are available for hire and provide a variety of tour guiding, escorting, managing and consulting services in many languages throughout the five boroughs of NYC.
 New York City tour guide licenses are issued by the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs.
 Established in 1974, it is one of the oldest tour guide associations in the United States.
 GANYC is a member of the World Federation of Tourist Guide Associations.
 With a present count of 336 members, GANYC represents 10.8% of the guides licensed in New York City with 3,259 guides currently licensed by the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs. Materials for the Arts
Materials for the Arts is a program of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs that provides free "new and gently used donated supplies to artists, nonprofit groups, and public schools."
 Its current Executive Director is Harriet Taub. New York City Department of Cultural Affairs
The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA) is the department of the government of New York City dedicated to supporting and strengthening New York City's vibrant cultural life.
 Among its primary missions is ensuring adequate public funding for non-profit cultural organizations, both large and small, throughout the five boroughs. Animal Care Centers of NYC
Animal Care Centers of NYC (ACC), formerly known as Animal Care & Control of NYC, is a not-for-profit corporation that was formed for the purpose of providing animal care and control services in New York City.
 ACC was created in 1994 to assume the responsibilities of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), after the ASPCA decided not to renew its contract to run New York City’s animal shelter system.
 ACC entered into its own contract with the New York City Department of Health (DOH), and on January 1, 1995, followed the ASPCA as New York City’s provider of animal care and control services.
 It has a nine-member board of directors, which includes as ex officio members the Commissioner of DOH, the Commissioner of New York City Department of Parks and Recreation and the Deputy Commissioner for Community Affairs at the New Tommy Demenkoff
Tommy Demenkoff (born January 31, 1952) is an American stage, television and film actor, director and musician who has worked in New York, Los Angeles, South America, and Europe.
 He is an award-winning teacher, Outreach Director, and Arts Education Activist.
 His work designing and delivering arts programs and classes is well-known in correctional facilities, including Rikers Island in New York and Twin Towers Correctional Facility in Los Angeles, therapeutic communities including Phoenix House and large city school systems like the New York City Department of Education where he successfully created an integrated approach to teaching literacy through playwriting in all five boroughs of the city.
 With over 50 years of experience as an artist in a variety of disciplines, he continues to focus on building communities of artists dedicated to serving humanity.
 Recent projects which best reflect the vast scope of his work include Teatro de Vieques on the island of Vieques, Puerto Rico, where he partnered with a local non-profit organization, Reach for Success, with a goal of helping teenagers on the island discover their voices and their hearts through their own talent and abundant passion by providing the necessary support for the realization of a summer arts immersion experience.
 Also partnering with Five Keys Charter School inside three of the jails they serve through their relationship with the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department and Education Based Incarceration (E.B.I.).
 His presence on the Commissioner's Adolescent Advisory Board, as the voice of the arts programming issues related to serving youthful offenders in the custody of The New York City Department of Correction reflects the impact of his career moving from Actor to Activist to Arts Education Activist.
 Leading a national conversation through the efforts of Theatre Communications Group (TCG), in a webinar entitled "Models of Activist Theatre", his work and his vision cast a bold spotlight on a movement that sees organizations and artists who share this vision joining arms and marching forward together.
 Demenkoff's personal life mission as an Arts Education Activist is to build communities of artists for the purpose of providing individuals and groups who have little or no access to the arts with an artistic home.
 He calls this effort a humanitarian response.