paidContent - Mayor Bloomberg Unveils Program To 'Stimulate' NYC Media JobsOnly $1.5M Spread Over Five Years
This story was written by David Kaplan.
NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg hopes to create 8,000 jobs from a year-long project designed to prop up the city’s struggling media industry. The plan unveiled today involves encouraging partnerships among traditional and digital media, as well as academics, retaining talent in the media sector and attracting foreign media companies while helping NYC-based businesses expand abroad. It’s being spearheaded by the quasi-public/private Economic Development Corp., which launched the planning phase last November.
The city claims its media industry employs more than 300,000 people, making up nearly 10 percent of NYC’s private workforce, and accounts for $30 billion in annual revenue. A rep for the program didn’t respond to questions about how much public money would be spent on the initiative. But despite the grand ambitions behind the the program, the city is only devoting a paltry $1.5 million over five years to the effort, a rep for the city told paidContent. Release
—NYC Start-up Procurement Initiative: Get ready, start-ups, the city has some business for you. In particular, the Dept. of Information Technology and Telecommunications will offer to help guide new media companies through the bureaucratic process of bidding for a city contract.
—Media Tech Bond Program: The city will issue bonds to finance companies’ purchases of new manufacturing, research or production units, retrofit existing building to accommodate hi-tech servers, or make large IT purchases. The amount of individual funding will range from $1 million to $10 million.
—Media and Tech Fellowship: About 20 rising star media and technology entrepreneurs who show potential to create jobs in the city will be awarded one-year fellowships, which the city promises will provide training, mentoring, networking opportunities with venture capital firms. The program will also offer support services such as legal aid to winning applicants.
— NYC Media Lab: This month, the Economic Development Corp. will send out a request for proposals to establish a media research center for businesses and universities. The city hopes to get it up and running by January. Other programs on this list include an apps competition, the creation of a 5,000-square-foot freelance workspace at 55 Broad St., and more training programs aimed at unemployed or entrepreneurial junior to mid-level media professionals.
Related
By David Kaplan