Diana Reyna speaks to a small group of “arts-identified” 34th City Council District residents. — Photo by Aaron Short

If you were at Tandem last night, meeting friends for potato tortillas and PBR, you may have come across a campaign event with Diana Reyna and about forty Bushwick-based artists and political activists.

With the general election approaching on Tuesday, November 3, the event was part of a flurry of appearances as churches, restaurants, and community organizations fill Reyna’s schedule.

Reyna came to Tandem after campaign staffers Antonio Reynoso and Will Florentino approached Arts in Bushwick’s Laura Braslow to set up an event in Bushwick for artists to meet the incumbent councilmember who is running for a third term (and a rematch with Working Families Party candidate Maritza Davila who Reyna outlasted in the Democratic primary by 251 votes).  Braslow, who has worked with Davila on the first-ever Summer Streets program in Bushwick, agreed to help facilitate the meeting, as long as she didn’t have to do or say anything on behalf of the campaign. However, Braslow attributed Reyna’s narrow victory in the primary to votes from the "arts-identified community" and hoped the event would remind Reyna to not forget about an overlooked constituency of artists and arts professionals with real issues and real problems.

"This is maybe the first time I’ve seen so many people from the arts community in a room with an elected official who represents us," said Braslow.

The New Kings Democrats took care of the rest.  Fresh after electing a new executive board and endorsing Diana Reyna in the race, NKD President Matt Cowherd and VP Lincoln Restler were on hand to talk about the Democratic Party locally and why they were supporting Diana.

"When you are the only game in town, nobody is pushing you," said Cowherd, referring to the overwhelming number of registered Democrats in Brooklyn.  "We approached the party in Brooklyn and they told us to get lost.  We reached out to local officials and the only person to give us support was Diana Reyna."

Reyna spoke for about ten minutes, deferring a formal Q-and-A period to one-on-one conversations with constituents after her introduction.  Her speech was more biographical than policy oriented, though with five days before the election, many in the room gave her a pass. 

"I have lived here all my live.  If I wanted to seek change, I want to be a part of that change.  I questioned why our neighborhood didn’t have certain things that other neighborhoods did.  I have pride in the work that I do.  I’m hands on and I don’t want another 35 years of failing schools, of industry decline, or displacement," said Reyna.

However, some artists felt it was a missed opportunity. Reyna mentioned NURTUREArt, which she has given $10,000 of discretionary money, but she could have used the talk to highlight her work with Jason Andrew of Norte Maar at María Hernández Park for a children’s arts event, or the work that Arts in Bushwick volunteers like Steve Weintraub and Braslow are doing to put together free arts festivals in the neighborhood, or any number of other arts outreach initiatives in the neighborhood.

After the talk, I noticed Katherine Denny, a Department of Cultural Affairs staffer, at the bar.  She has worked with NbPAC on the India Street Mural Project, which featured several Bushwick-based artists, and is friendly with Living Liberally’s Justin Krebs, who has submitted testimony to City Council on the scarcity of viable performance space.  It made me think that the vibe in the room resembled a Drinking Liberally event and Denny agreed.  The organization never had much of a presence in Brooklyn, (the Manhattan and Queens chapters in particular have regular social events), after the Williamsburg chapter diffused in the pre-Obama era, so maybe the AIB-New Kings relationship will blossom into something more.

I’m getting ahead of myself… there’s an election in November.

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