The Dispatch

$323 MILLION AND STILL NOT ENOUGH.

Dear sovereign renaissance,

Four updates this week. New York City set a record for culture funding while simultaneously creating a new emergency fund for struggling arts organizations, in the same week the mayor named an affordability crisis as the reason artists are being pushed out. Our Midwest Bitcoin Summit programming is locking in and we are calling for volunteers and one specific sponsorship. Episode 10 of Share Your Bitcoin Journey is live with Mississippi mother, homeschool advocate, and author Lindey Magee. And our Q3 grant review cycle is under way, with Bitcoin micro-grants headed out to working artists in the coming weeks.

◆ The New York Record

A record public budget, still eaten by the currency.

On June 30, Mayor Zohran Mamdani and City Council Speaker Julie Menin reached a handshake agreement on New York City's 2027 budget. The headline number is real and worth naming: $323.8 million for culture, the largest allocation the Department of Cultural Affairs has ever received, up from last year's record of $299.6 million. The city also created a new Cultural Stability Fund: $10 million per year for the next three years to help arts organizations experiencing unexpected or emergency circumstances. Mamdani called artists the beating heart of the city.

Now sit with the math. The total New York City budget for 2027 is $125.8 billion. The record culture allocation is 0.26 percent of the city budget. The council's preliminary plan had culture at only $216 million; the handshake pushed it 50 percent higher because the previous number was not enough. The new Cultural Stability Fund exists because even at $323 million, arts organizations are still going to need emergency money. And it was all announced in the same week as a rent freeze for stabilized apartments, because the same mayor knows perfectly well that his artists cannot afford to stay in the city he governs.

This is the third fiat arts funding story we have brought to you in as many issues. In Issue #14 we ran the Royal Ballet cuts in London alongside the Manhattan Borough President's $50 million discretionary bandage. Different cities, different politicians, same pattern. Every headline is a record. Every record is followed by a new emergency fund. Every emergency fund is denominated in a currency that has lost purchasing power every year of Mayor Mamdani's life, and every year of his predecessors, and will continue to lose purchasing power throughout the three-year Cultural Stability Fund window.

Bitcoin for the Arts is not against the record. Mamdani is doing what a mayor can do. Menin is doing what a council can do. The Cultural Stability Fund is a serious act of public will. And it will still not be enough. Because there is one thing a city cannot do, and it is the thing that matters most: a city cannot fix the money. That is Bitcoin's job. And that is exactly the parallel rail we are building.

◆ Midwest Bitcoin Summit

Bitcoin Arts Park is locking in.

BFTA's dedicated cultural footprint at the Midwest Bitcoin Summit on September 23 and 24 in Columbus is now programming end-to-end. Inside our 30-foot Bitcoin Arts Park on the Expo Hall floor, we will run a curated Film Cinema screening independent Bitcoin-aligned documentaries, a Living Room with a Lightning wallet activation and merchandise counter, and a Gallery wall with a peer-to-peer Lightning silent auction. Just outside the footprint, on the Secondary Stage, two days of live lunch-hour performances anchored by Ainsley Costello and additional working artists paid in Bitcoin.

The Film Cinema. We will screen several independent Bitcoin-aligned documentaries across both show days. One film at the top of the list is Dirty Coin, the most-screened Bitcoin documentary in the world, with a live audience Q&A by director Alana Mediavilla. Bringing Alana in person requires targeted funding, and we are actively seeking a sponsor for that piece of the program. If underwriting a live director Q&A of Dirty Coin at Bitcoin Arts Park is interesting to you or someone in your network, we have a specific sponsorship proposal ready to send. Reply to this email and we will get it to you the same day.

Volunteer call. We are looking for one to two stagehand assistants to work with our production engineer across load-in on September 22, the two show days, and load-out on September 25. Real production experience, meals provided, BFTA gear, on-camera credit in the produced recap, and a written reference letter on request. Must be 18 or older, comfortable on your feet, and able to lift up to 40 pounds. If you are near Columbus and want in, reply to this email with a short note about your experience and availability.

The eight-tier public sponsorship structure remains open. Our Midwest fundraising target is $80,000+. Everything we raise goes into building Bitcoin Arts Park to production standards and paying the working artists who show up.

◆ Share Your Bitcoin Journey, Episode 10

Lindey Magee.

Mississippi mother  ·  Homeschool advocate  ·  Author of Bitcoin: A Treasure to HODL  ·  Debuted at Bitcoin 2025

Episode 10 of Share Your Bitcoin Journey is live. Lindey Magee, the Mississippi widow and mother who wrote the Seuss-style children's book Bitcoin: A Treasure to HODL, joins us for the most remarkable Bitcoin story we have ever recorded.

The headlines:

• A 12-year-old orange pill. Her son Bennett tried to convince his parents to buy Bitcoin in 2012. It took twelve more years and a life insurance check for the message to finally land.
• From widow to Bitcoin standard. Twenty-five years of marriage, her husband Chuck's passing to cancer in August 2024, and a conviction she could not shake to put the life insurance into Bitcoin.
• A children's book funded by Bitcoin. Thirty thousand dollars invested, a ten-thousand-copy offset print run, a glossary, and a Did You Know section, all built to introduce sound money to the next generation.
• Living on a Bitcoin standard. Strike Bill Pay for the mortgage, the Coinbase debit card for daily spending, and the rest of the stack in cold storage, in a bear market, at more than half off.
• The Winnebago and the mold. Currently raising her 17-year-old daughter Palyn and three dogs in an RV while she pursues an HVAC company whose work filled her home with toxic mold.

◆ Q3 Grant Review

Grants under review this quarter.

BFTA is reviewing Q3 grant applications this month. Micro-grants ranging from $500 to $2,000 per project, paid in Bitcoin, will be awarded to a small number of working artists whose projects most closely align with the BFTA mission and demonstrate long-term creative value on a Bitcoin standard.

If you are a working artist and have not yet applied, the Q3 window is still open. Read the guidelines and submit at the link below.

Until next time.

Bitcoin for the Arts

Where to Start

Bitcoin for the Arts  ·  501(c)(3)

Sound money for timeless creators. Empowering artists with Bitcoin micro-grants & workshops.

bitcoinforthearts.org

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