Question: Tom Finkelpearl is an American arts promoter and former museum director who serves as commissioner of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in the aftermath of which hurricane, in 2012, that affected particularly New York City, its suburbs, and Long Island, he launched an initiative called "CultureAID" to "formalize the essential role artists and arts organizations played in relief efforts"?

The New York Dance Festival () is a multi-cultural festival of performing arts with three milestone events in the city of the world; New York City and with an annual multi week international festival each summer in Auburn, New York the heart of the beautiful Finger Lakes.  Boasting history that includes the homes of Harriet Tubman and William Seward and the Merry Go Round Playhouse, the Festival is hosted by one of the region’s only African American led performing arts organizations.  The Festival Dance Festival has become one of the nation's most novel cultural expressions and brings the world-class arts scene of New York City and the world to Upstate New York.  The New York Dance Festival runs for two weeks in July, and includes the "New York Summer Dance Intensive", with additional offerings of the "New York Drum Festival", the "New York Musical Theatre Project", the "Carmen De Lavallade Awards for Dance", the "Thommie Walsh Song & Dance Man Gala", Fellowships, Residencies, and a World Class Concert Series. <SEP> Tom Finkelpearl is an American arts promoter and former museum director who serves as commissioner of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.  He was appointed in 2014 by New York City mayor Bill de Blasio.  In the aftermath of hurricane Hurricane Sandy, he launched an initiative called "CultureAID" to "formalize the essential role artists and arts organizations played in relief efforts".  As commissioner, he oversees city funding of nonprofit arts organizations, and is leading an effort to promote cultural diversity in arts programs citywide.  His department is in charge of a $156 million budget.  His approach to arts has been described as populist and he sees art and artists as making a valuable contribution to the overall economic health of the city.  He is working with city authorities on efforts to provide affordable housing for artists living in the city.  He said "every corner of this city needs to have art."  He introduced a program to offer free access to member institutions using a municipal identification card.  Finkelpearl served for 12 years as director of the Queens Museum from 2002 to 2014.  While serving as director, he hired community organizers to emphasize the diversity of the immigrant population.  He presided over the museum's $68 million renovation effort.  He doubled the size of the Queens Museum and saw its budget grow from $2.3 million to $4.9 million.  He served under mayor David Dinkins and Rudy Giuliani by running the city's "Percent for Art" program.  He graduated from Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts in 1974, from Princeton University in 1979 and from Hunter College (MFA) in 1983. <SEP>  Sandy's impacts included the flooding of the New York City Subway system, of many suburban communities, and of all road tunnels entering Manhattan except the Lincoln Tunnel.  The New York Stock Exchange closed for two consecutive days. New York was severely affected by Hurricane Sandy in 2012, particularly New York City, its suburbs, and Long Island.  Numerous homes and businesses were destroyed by fire, including over 100 homes in Breezy Point, Queens.  Large parts of the city and surrounding areas lost electricity for several days.  Several thousand people in midtown Manhattan were evacuated for six days due to a crane collapse at Extell's One57.  Bellevue Hospital Center and a few other large hospitals were closed and evacuated.  Flooding at 140 West Street and another exchange disrupted voice and data communication in lower Manhattan. <SEP> Tommy Demenkoff (born January 31, 1952) is an American stage, television and film actor, director and musician who has worked in New York, Los Angeles, South America, and Europe.  He is an award-winning teacher, Outreach Director, and Arts Education Activist.  His work designing and delivering arts programs and classes is well-known in correctional facilities, including Rikers Island in New York and Twin Towers Correctional Facility in Los Angeles, therapeutic communities including Phoenix House and large city school systems like the New York City Department of Education where he successfully created an integrated approach to teaching literacy through playwriting in all five boroughs of the city.  With over 50 years of experience as an artist in a variety of disciplines, he continues to focus on building communities of artists dedicated to serving humanity.  Recent projects which best reflect the vast scope of his work include Teatro de Vieques on the island of Vieques, Puerto Rico, where he partnered with a local non-profit organization, Reach for Success, with a goal of helping teenagers on the island discover their voices and their hearts through their own talent and abundant passion by providing the necessary support for the realization of a summer arts immersion experience.  Also partnering with Five Keys Charter School inside three of the jails they serve through their relationship with the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department and Education Based Incarceration (E.B.I.).  His presence on the Commissioner's Adolescent Advisory Board, as the voice of the arts programming issues related to serving youthful offenders in the custody of The New York City Department of Correction reflects the impact of his career moving from Actor to Activist to Arts Education Activist.  Leading a national conversation through the efforts of Theatre Communications Group (TCG), in a webinar entitled "Models of Activist Theatre", his work and his vision cast a bold spotlight on a movement that sees organizations and artists who share this vision joining arms and marching forward together.  Demenkoff's personal life mission as an Arts Education Activist is to build communities of artists for the purpose of providing individuals and groups who have little or no access to the arts with an artistic home.  He calls this effort a humanitarian response.