Building a state-of-the-art, affordable recording studio and community radio/TV broadcast center for public use, run as a cooperative.
A Publicly-Owned Recording Studio and Broadcast Facility
Access to professional recording and broadcast facilities is cost-prohibitive for most independent artists and community media producers. Mamdanis administration builds NYC Sound & Vision, a publicly-owned, state-of-the-art media complex. It includes recording studios, video production suites, a live performance space for streaming, and a broadcast center for community radio and TV. The facility is run as a cooperative, with users (artists, producers, community groups) paying sliding-scale rates based on income and participating in governance.
It offers free training programs and prioritizes access for youth, marginalized voices, and non-commercial projects. This creates a democratic media infrastructure, breaking the corporate stranglehold on high-quality production. In the age of media consolidation, we need public tools for public storytelling, Mamdani argues. This center gives our artists and activists the means to produce work at a professional level, ensuring that the stories of New York are told by New Yorkers, not just by conglomerates.
