Justin Krebs - Zoom House Party for Arts & Culture

By Henry Petrillo

At around 8pm on Tuesday, March 30th, Justin Krebs joined a zoom house party, moderated by long-time friend and comedian Negin Farsad, to discuss his ideas around supporting District 39 and New York City’s arts and culture. The meeting included a wide variety of creatives, including comedians, artists, actors and producers from the city. 

Some participants were long-time friends that Justin has cultivated after years of involvement in the city’s arts scene, primarily through his co-founding of The Tank theater. This theater has produced more first-time shows than any other venue in the city over its 18 year run – making it, and Justin, a vital part of the arts and culture ecosystem of New York. Justin has also been a part of launching Drinking Liberally and Laughing Liberally, both creating opportunities for a range of artists to perform while functioning as a progressive social space. 

While describing the origins for why he is so passionate about prioritizing investment in arts and culture, Justin said, “I grew up in a family invested in theater,” sharing his experience growing up with a father active in the theater-world.

“Sometimes the discussion around arts and culture in New York is only halfway there when it only considers ‘how does the city support the arts.’ But the other half of that conversation is how can the arts support the city? The city can not recover until the arts are back. The conversation should never just look at the arts as a form of charity,” said Krebs.

A lot of the concerns raised by the calls participants related to finding affordable venue spaces and uncompromising landlords. As a small business founder of The Tank, a non-profit independent theater, Justin shared his own experience dealing with landlords. Having experienced rent hikes and unsupportive landlords, Justin knows the obstacles many small businesses and independent arts venues face in New York real estate.

“Whether it's bars, restaurants, businesses, arts venues, when you have a landlord that’s able to work with you - you can work it out. However, landlords often don’t have a reason to work with small businesses,” said Krebs. “The city has a lot of tools to incentivize better working relationships between landlords and small businesses. Some of these tools include a vacancy tax on properties left empty, required arbitration for denied lease renewals, and city-provided legal counsel for small businesses. And on the state-level: mortgage relief and real estate tax abatements.” 

In essence, Justin believes, “There are real estate opportunities that can be used to rebuild the arts, which the city can have a role in supporting. With the right plan, this city can have a cultural renaissance.”   

Participants on the call, many of them small business owners and independent performers, raised concerns about dealing with the lingering consequences of the pandemic, specifically availability of financial support for increased sanitation requirements and reduced capacities.

Justin plans to address these concerns with the city matching federal fiscal support to help artists and venues cope with additional costs and reduced revenue streams. This financial support will help these businesses keep up with contact tracing, more extensive cleaning and temperature-taking tools. 

Some strategies have been proposed by Mayor de Blasio for Broadway, to which Justin added, “It’s great to see plans for getting Broadway back on its feet. However, I want to make sure my work focuses on extending all support to the entire arts ecosystem, not just those at the top. New York arts and culture cannot work without small, independent venues that are able to operate.” 

Justin has made it arts and culture an integral part of his platform and has a dynamic plan combined with a powerful passion for the industry to help it bounce back. The city needs its arts and the arts needs its city to support each other for a successful recovery following an unprecedented year. Justin Krebs is the candidate that can make that process work for artists, creatives, and small, independent venues. 

Throughout his career, Justin has remained steadfast on the principle, “Our money will always go further and help more people when we invest at the bottom and watching it grow rather than investing in the top and hoping it trickles down. Local and independent arts and culture deserves the city’s support, and I will fight to make that happen.”