Cultural Affairs Advisory Commission

Susana Torruella Leval, Chair
Director Emerita, El Museo del Barrio

Ben Rodriguez-Cubeñas, Vice-Chair
Program Director, Rockefeller Brothers Fund

Candice Anderson, Executive Director, Cool Culture

Steve Buscemi, American actor, director, and writer

Dr. Valerie Capers, Educator, jazz pianist, and composer, and arranger

Gabri Christa, Filmmaker, choreographer, and dancer; Artistic Director, Snug Harbor Cultural Center

Alan Fishman, Chairman, Ladder Capital Finance; Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Brooklyn Academy of Music; Chairman, Brooklyn Community Foundation

Lane Harwell, Executive Director, Dance/NYC

Jane Steiner Hoffman, Environmentalist and former Commissioner of New York City Department of Consumer Affairs

Kemi Ilesanmi, Executive Director, The Laundromat Project

Sandra Jackson-Dumont, Chairman of Education, Metropolitan Museum of Art

Simi Linton, Author, filmmaker, and arts consultant

Arnold Lehman, Ford Foundation Fellow; Trustee, American Federation of Arts; Executive Committee Member, Bard Graduate Center

Raymond J. McGuire, Global Head of Corporate and Investment Banking, Citigroup; Chairman of the Board, The Studio Museum in Harlem and De La Salle Academy

Aedin Moloney, Founder and producing artistic director, Fallen Angel Theatre Company

Prerana Reddy, Director of Public Programs & Community Engagement, Queens Museum

Dr. Cristián Samper, President and CEO, Wildlife Conservation Society

Robert Soros, President and Deputy Chairman, Soros Fund Management LLC

Judith Rubin, Board Chair, Playwrights Horizons

Kellie Terry, Program Officer in Sustainable Environments, Surdna Foundation

Fred Wilson, Artist; MacArthur Foundation grant recipient

Honorary Members

John Calvelli, Chair of the Cultural Institutions Group; Executive Vice President of Public Affairs for the Wildlife Conservation Society

Hoong Yee Lee Krakauer, Executive Director, Queens Council on the Arts

Ex-Officio

Deputy Mayor Vicki Been
Cultural Affairs Commissioner Tom Finkelpearl
Parks Commissioner Mitchell Silver

The Cultural Affairs Advisory Commission is mandated by the New York City Charter to advise the Department of Cultural Affairs on issues relating to the City's cultural life. The current Commission, under the chairmanship of Susana Torruella Leval, was appointed by Mayor de Blasio in October 2015.

Read the press release annoucing the Commission's appointment.