Tuesday, May 20, 2025

May 20, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes

Tuesday, May 20, 2025 

In today’s digest, NYC summer reading, Broadway booms, and spotlighting NYC’s design community. 🎨

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  • The Broadway box office is defying gravity and bringing in the Hamiltons. 💵 The 2024-2025 season has surpassed the pre-pandemic record with almost $2 billion in office receipts. (Deadline)

    • The figure is due to the massive weekly box office tallies of star-driven productions such as Good Night, and Good Luck with George Clooney, Othello with Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal, and Glengarry Glen Ross with Kieran Culkin, Bob Odenkirk, and Bill Burr. 🎭

  • Read into this: This year’s winners of the Gotham Book Prize celebrate NYC as experienced on foot and mass transit. (Associated Press)

    • Ian Frazier, author of Paradise Bronx: The Life and Times of New York’s Greatest Borough, and Nicole Gelinas, who wrote Movement: New York’s Long War to Take Back Its Streets from the Car, will split the $50,000 in prize money given for books that “encourage and honor writing about New York City.”

  • More than 75% of NYC’s municipal vehicles — or about 21,500 — are either hybrid, electric, or running on renewable biofuel, city officials announced this week. (Gothamist)

    • A local law requires New York City to transition its fleet of light and medium-duty vehicles to electric by 2035, and the city’s trucks must be electric by 2038. ♻️


In other reading:

  • Bus and subway fare enforcement: It's time for a smarter approach (Isaac Oates)

  • The movie nerd making Mets games look like De Palma movies (Slate Magazine)

  • The Bryant Park free summer movie lineup is officially here (TimeOut New York)

➕ One more thing: “People are putting down roots in these regional tech cities all across the country and I think that’s frankly good for America,” Julie Samuels, President and CEO of Tech:NYC, told the The Wall Street Journal.

NYCxDesign Festival wraps up tomorrow, having drawn innovators and design lovers from around the world. Let's spotlight the city's design community. ⬇️

🖌️ On NYCxDESIGN: 

  • NYCxDESIGN was created in 2011 to convene and promote the design industry within the city and promote industry tourism.

  • At the heart of its mission, the NYCxDESIGN festival features hundreds of design events, from exhibits, trade shows, talk shows, and tours.

Of course as part of this annual festival, tech played a large role as AI reshapes the industry (also, design 🤝 AR).

💪 NYC’s power of design: 

  • NYC has the highest concentration of designers and architects per capita compared to any other city worldwide. 📈

  • There are over 60,000 designers and architects, 8,000 design and architectural firms, and 1,000 museums and galleries. 🖼️

  • Plus, we’re home to 10 of the world’s premier design schools. 📚

Why it matters: Design x tech is a force multiplier for NYC’s innovation economy. The city’s design sector is deeply intertwined with tech, fashion, manufacturing, and architecture. 

  • At a time when the future of work, the built environment, and consumer behavior are all being reshaped, NYCxDESIGN highlights how creativity is driving resilience and reinvention.

🌱 A growing presence: Tomorrow, Dumbo will be officially recognized as a “New York City Design District,” joining a growing list of creative and innovation hubs across the five boroughs.

Be part of the convo: Check out this link to learn more about the must-attend events as the festival comes to a close. 

In other reading:

  • Why WFH isn't dead and how digital-first companies have a big AI advantage (ZDNET)

  • Wake-up call: Leadership in the AI age (Axios)

  • Google unveils AI chatbot, signaling a new era for search (New York Times)

  • Button Finance, an NYC-based home equity lending fintech, raised $5 million in Series A funding. Hildene Capital Management led the round and was joined by existing investors.

  • ⭐ June 2-8: NY Tech Week, a decentralized tech conference featuring 900+ events throughout the city. Get Tech:NYC’s guide here. ⭐

    • June 3: NYC AI Demos with Tech:NYC, Pensar, and Two Trees, ​featuring technical demos from well known enterprises and early-stage startups. Request an invite here.

    • June 4: J.P. Morgan Payments x Tech:NYC Media Breakfast, bringing together leading tech journalists to explore how fintech innovation is transforming industries and shaping media coverage. Request an invite here.

  • May 21: Company Ventures’ Demo Night, an AI Review event featuring a fireside chat with Distill’s Russ Heddleston followed by demos from some of the more compelling AI applications being built in New York today. Register here.

  • May 22: Brderless’ May Founder Breakfast: Fundraising Readiness Beyond the Deck,  for early-stage founders to gain insights from experts and connect with other founders going through the fundraising process. Register here.

  • May 23: NYPL’s free job fair & expo, focusing on tech sector jobs. Employers can apply to table at the event here.

  • May 28: Go for Growth: Mastering Strategy, Technology, People, and Culture for Long-Term Success, a virtual event for pre-IPO and growth-focused companies to get insights, connections, and a roadmap to scale. Register here.

  • May 28: FirstGen Founders Powering American Dynamism, a gathering spotlighting the immigrant and first-gen entrepreneurs building the next wave of American industries. Register here.

  • May 30: NYC Coffee Club for early-stage B2B SaaS founders & funders, a no-stress way to connect with NYC VCs and founders. Register here.

  • June 2: AI Startup Pitch Day, where NYC’s top pre-seed AI startups will take the stage to pitch their startups to a roomful of 100 investors with a grand prize of $50K. Investors, register here.

  • June 4: Generative AI in the Built Environment, a networking breakfast and panel exploring how generative AI is reshaping design, development, and operations across the built world. Register here.

Any feedback or suggestions of things to add? Get in touch here.
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