{"id":98386,"date":"2026-01-13T07:30:31","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T07:30:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/98386\/"},"modified":"2026-01-13T07:30:31","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T07:30:31","slug":"rafael-espinal-to-head-mayors-office-of-media-and-entertainment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/98386\/","title":{"rendered":"Rafael Espinal to head Mayor\u2019s Office of Media and Entertainment"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Rafael Espinal. Photo by Emil Cohen<\/p>\n<p>CITYWIDE \u2014 MAYOR ZOHRAN MAMDANI on Monday announced the appointment of Rafael Espinal as commissioner of the New York City Mayor\u2019s Office of Media and Entertainment.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>According to a release, Espinal will advance the administration\u2019s agenda to \u201censure New York City remains a place where artists and creatives can afford to live and work.\u201d The agency oversees the city\u2019s Film Office, NYC Media, Press Credential Office and Programs and Initiatives divisions. He will report to Deputy Mayor for Economic Justice Julie Su.<\/p>\n<p>Born in Bedford-Stuyvesant and raised in Cypress Hills, Espinal is currently the executive director of the  <a href=\"https:\/\/freelancersunion.org\/team\/rafael-espinal\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Freelancers Union<\/a>. In 2011, he was elected to the State Assembly, and then represented parts of Bushwick, Brownsville, Cypress Hills and East New York in the City Council from 2014 to 2020.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Espinal told the Brooklyn Eagle in an  <a href=\"https:\/\/brooklyneagle.com\/93862\/rafael-espinal-calls-exit-from-city-council-bittersweet\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">exit interview<\/a> from the City Council that he was \u201cnever really interested in the politics\u201d behind it all. \u201cIt\u2019s the work that really attracted me to politics, not the politics within the politics,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\u2730\u2730\u2730<\/p>\n<p> <a style=\"font-size: inherit; background-color: #fefefe;\" href=\"https:\/\/brooklyneagle.com\/whats-news-breaking\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wnb-read-more aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/read-more-wnb-shad-1024x341.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"341\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/forms\/d\/e\/1FAIpQLSd5hEdpXLwpeWAPMPmcmdn--vHz1InXjphFdhedt_prXKoVFQ\/viewform\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ultima-reader-response.png\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t<br \/>\n<a class=\"related-articles comment-link\" style=\"clear: both;padding-top:6px;color:#6cc4e8;\" href=\"#comments\" title=\"Leave a Comment\"\/><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/brooklyneagle.com\/337838\/9-11-memorial-events-in-brooklyn\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"250\" height=\"250\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/AP24254764142461-250x250.jpg\" class=\"alignleft wp-post-image\" alt=\"Flags are placed by the names of those killed during the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks at the reflecting pools at the National September 11 Memorial &amp; Museum, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024, in New York. One World Trade Center rises in the background. AP Photo\/Donald King\" decoding=\"async\"  \/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t9\/11 memorial events in Brooklyn<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSeptember 11 |<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBrooklyn Eagle Staff\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/brooklyneagle.com\/337822\/americans-mark-the-24th-anniversary-of-the-9-11-attacks-with-emotional-ceremonies\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"250\" height=\"250\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/AP25254543237567-250x250.jpg\" class=\"alignleft wp-post-image\" alt=\"William Staudt, a firefighter that worked at Ground Zero on the day of the attacks, looks over a reflecting pool during a ceremony to mark the 24th anniversary of the 9\/11 attacks, Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025, in New York. AP Photo\/Seth Wenig\" decoding=\"async\"  \/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAmericans mark the 24th anniversary of the 9\/11 attacks with emotional ceremonies<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSeptember 11 |<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBrooklyn Eagle Staff\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/brooklyneagle.com\/337613\/volunteers-prep-millions-of-meals-for-fellow-new-yorkers-on-24th-anniversary-of-9-11\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"250\" height=\"250\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/AP25253626445845-250x250.jpg\" class=\"alignleft wp-post-image\" alt=\"Volunteers work during the &quot;NYC Meal Pack For 9\/11 Day&quot; at the Intrepid Museum, Wednesday, Sep. 10, 2025, in New York. AP Photo\/Yuki Iwamura\" decoding=\"async\"  \/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tVolunteers prep millions of meals for fellow New Yorkers on 24th anniversary of 9\/11<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSeptember 10 |<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBrooklyn Eagle Staff\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/brooklyneagle.com\/337825\/ceremonies-hosted-throughout-brooklyn-to-remember-9-11\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"250\" height=\"250\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/canarsie4-250x250.jpg\" class=\"alignleft wp-post-image\" alt=\"A 9\/11 tribute remembering victims and honoring survivors and first responders was held on Sept. 7. Photo by Arthur De Gaeta\" decoding=\"async\"  \/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u2730PREMIUM <br \/>Canarsie Park holds 9\/11 vigil, other ceremonies hosted throughout Brooklyn<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSeptember 11 |<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBrooklyn Eagle Staff\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rafael Espinal. Photo by Emil Cohen CITYWIDE \u2014 MAYOR ZOHRAN MAMDANI on Monday announced the appointment of Rafael&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":98387,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[3302,98,100,99,18516,9,24,63,45069,82],"class_list":["post-98386","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-breaking","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-mayors-office-of-media-and-entertainment","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-rafael-espinal","tag-zohran-mamdani"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98386"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98386\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}