May 29, 2015Mayor Bill de Blasio: Thank you. Thank you so much, Becky. I want to thank you for leading us this evening. I want to thank everyone for being here to support this extraordinary institution. Now, Carnegie Hall – I don’t have to tell people in this room, but I want to note it – this is part of the fabric of the life of this city. This is not an institution that people feel a distance from. It feels to New Yorkers throughout the city – every walk of life, every background. This feels like part of the fabric of who we are. And I will test your knowledge by invoking the classic story, the classic truism – a man goes up to another man on the street in New York City and says, excuse me, sir, how do you get to Carnegie Hall? Do you know the answer?Audience: Practice.Mayor: Practice is correct. And I say that – first of all, it is true about all things in life – but second, because when a saying like that – a joke like that is part of the identity of a place, it’s a little indication of what it means to people. This is an institution that speaks to everything special about New York, and it’s something people are proud of very, very deeply. So I want to thank you for all you are doing to support Carnegie Hall. And I want to tell you, this is one of the reasons – this place is one of the reasons why people flock to this city. They flock to live here. They flock to build businesses here. They flock here as tourists. 56.4 million tourists last year, which is an extraordinary tribute to this and so many other cultural institutions that are one of the biggest reasons people come here.Let me just take a moment to thank some people who are worthy of it this evening. Clive Gillinson, as executive and artistic director of this place, has guided Carnegie Hall in an even more extraordinary direction, a bolder direction in a way that brings all that happens here out – and not only around the city, but around the nation – and helps to reassert the meaning of the great music heard here for a new generation that has to hear it in a new way and has to feel it in a new way for it to be sustained for future generations. And that is a sense of mission truly worthy of this place. Let’s thank Clive for all he does.[Applause]I want to thank my friend, Ronald Perelman, for taking the baton from Sandy Weill. Now that is not a minor matter. First of all, it is a big, big job. And second, you have to have confidence to follow in the footsteps of Sandy Weill. Ronald, you have done so much for this city already. I have enjoyed the depth of our friendship and the things we’ve already done together. But you have been there for this city. I can’t even name how many good causes – cancer research, women’s health, the environment – wherever there’s a need, you seem to be there. I don’t know where you find the hours in the day, but I’m glad you do. So, we welcome you as the new chair. Let’s thank Ronald Perelman.[Applause]And finally, I had the tremendous pleasure – one of the joys of executive office is you get to choose great people for important roles. So I have to choose a cultural affairs commissioner. Imagine someone who could epitomize the cultural world of a city of 8.5 million people that, I dare say modestly, is the cultural capital of the earth.[Single Clap]Yes, I agree with that.[Laughter]And the man I chose has been a hit all along. He’s brought culture first. He did it through the Queens Museum. Now he’s helping to bring culture deeper and deeper to people in all five boroughs and every neighborhood. Let’s thank Tom Finkelpearl for all he does.[Applause]Now, 120 years of this place – I’ll be brief. I will not review all 120 years. But I will tell you, 120 years of achievement – a lot was set in motion over decades, and then Sandy came along and made it even something greater. And that is one of the marks of someone with real vision – that they don’t rest on the laurels of their past or the institution’s past, but build something even more dynamic. Under Sandy’s leadership, Carnegie Hall became an even deeper model of inclusion, bringing in people from very part of this city, and bringing what Carnegie Hall had to offer out all over the city, including to some very unlikely people, because the power of art and music to transform the human trajectory is extraordinary. It’s, if anything, underestimated.One example, the NeOn Arts Project – it’s a partnership of Carnegie Hall and our Department of Probation. Again, you wouldn’t expect that, but under this leadership, that’s what happened. So, young people who were on the wrong path – who we were trying to bring back to something positive and productive – got an opportunity to explore dance, and theater, and music, and poetry, and feel that they had something of worth within them and that they had hope and possibility again. That’s what Carnegie Hall helped to do for some of our young people who got back, thank God, on the right path because of these efforts. And my wife, the first lady, had the honor of being out in Brownsville, Brooklyn and seeing one of these efforts in action. And she came back just thrilled with the impact it was making, seeing lives turned around before her very eyes. I said earlier that I am feeling just a bit of envy this evening. It is a tremendous honor to be with you at Carnegie Hall, but my wife is at an arts conference in Florence this evening. And I am green with envy and I’m not afraid to say it. So, she did well with that one.But here, I want to thank you – also, I want to thank Sandy for creating an even deeper sense of the educational mission of this institution. What’s happened – creating free opportunities for young people; concerts; workshops; of course, the Weill Music Institute, bringing tremendous performances and instruction out to the classrooms of the city. Imagine that. Imagine being in a school – in a neighborhood that hasn’t had the exposure to these extraordinary treasures and Carnegie Hall comes to you in your classroom. What an extraordinary uplift that is. I also want to note, Carnegie Hall has been one of the great participants in an effort that we are so proud of – our IDNYC effort to create a municipal ID card for any New Yorker of any background, documented or undocumented. And with it, there were opportunities to experience the great culture of this city either for free or at discount. And people have taken such tremendous – hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers have taken advantage of this. To be able to, not only have a sense of belonging for those who didn’t before, but to experience this place and to experience other great institutions.I just have to finish by saying, first about Sandy – I am so glad you are going to be continuing on as president and your time with – as chair was extraordinary. And I must say, as a Brooklynite, I do associate your greatness with your origins in Brooklyn.[Laughter]If you’re a Brooklynite, you can clap for that.[Applause]Sandy’s story is so wonderfully classic – son of Polish immigrants, first in his family to go to college, started out as a runner on Wall Street, ran all the way to the top, but never ever forgot – not only where he came from – but the need to do something for others who would be the next generation coming up. So, I just want to say before I conclude – I just want to say, Sandy, this city cannot thank you enough. Let’s give Sandy a round of applause.[Applause]And I’ll finish one last thought – this is a jewel. Carnegie Hall is a jewel in the crown of New York City. It’s a jewel in the sense that it is precious, that it is extraordinary, that it gleams with beauty in every way, but not precious because it is out of reach or only a few ever got to experience it. It’s precious because there’s that feeling among New Yorkers that it belongs to all of us. It’s something that uplifts all of us. And everyone who is here tonight is continuing that great tradition, and it’s something that will last for generations to come. Thank you so much.