A Night on Eric Adams’ Lawn at the Made in NY Awards

Gracie Mansion itself was ironically off-limits at the Made in New York Awards. Though the event was advertised as taking place at the mayor’s home in New York City, the awards show was firmly on the garden of the premises. “I thought we’d get to go inside,” said an older woman in an oversize fashion-ish blazer standing in front of me, craning her head around the corner of the patio.

The Made in NY Awards date back to 2006 — Noah Baumbach and Jennifer Jason Leigh were among its first winners, which is notable because, uh, have you seen Marriage Story? — and honor artists who work in the arts and do that work in the city of New York. Though this was the award’s 20th year, this was the first actual awards show in a decade. The Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment (or MOME, as they call it) gathered together like-minded New York creatives — in production, design, and budgeting — and a handful of city employees on the lawn of Gracie Mansion to drink cocktails and eat canapés. But, mostly, drink cocktails.

What became apparent as I did multiple laps around the outdoor space, not personally knowing anyone else in attendance, was that most people there did not seem to know each other. Everyone I spoke to in the film-and-television industry kept wondering aloud where all the film-and-television people were, and the city employees, similarly, could not find any recognizable co-workers. “I feel like I’m not even seeing celebrities,” one person complained, though Roy Wood Jr. was standing mere feet away. The attendee list felt altogether random: None of the honorees had significant entourages with them, nor did they mingle about the party prior to the ceremony itself.

The honorees that night were Michelle Buteau, Tracy Morgan, Darren Aronofsky, and Thomas J. O’Donnell, but the real point of fascination for those in attendance was Mayor Eric Adams. “Do you think he’ll actually be here?” I heard multiple people ask. “It’d be crazy to see him outside of a tweet,” said a woman in television production. Despite the mayor’s waning popularity in the city, everyone agreed that this administration had been good for production in the city, shouting out And Just Like That … and Materialists as recent examples of genuine “made in New York” productions.

Aronofsky was the only person of the hour absent, in part because he went through this rigamarole already, having been given his award during a 25th anniversary screening of Requiem for a Dream at the Tribeca Film Festival. The ceremony was introduced by Pat Swinney Kaufman, the commissioner of MOME. Though small in stature, she was big in energy, hyping up a confused crowd for the main event after about 90 minutes of awkward mingling. Adams came out and gave his usual plug for the city: It’s the best, greatest, most special place in the world. People did not seem especially enthusiastic in clapping for him, but the crowd was willing to give it up for New York City. He was also keen to mention that he’s the only mayor in the world (seems dubious, but let’s go with it) who has walkout music.

After his introduction, Adams remained onstage. He lingered a few feet from the honorees, smiling and laughing and occasionally texting as they spoke. With the mayor hovering off to the side, Buteau talked about how the city made her the comedian she is today and was quick to acknowledge Adams after each punch line in her speech, whether or not the joke was on him (though many were). Even as she stared at him following a jab about rising rent prices, Adams seemed to be loving it: He had made himself the center of attention. When Buteau posed with Adams and Kaufman for photos after her speech, she shouted, “They look like my parents!”

Morgan went even lighter than Buteau — cracking jokes about New York being “the city where King Kong died,” before noting his now-infamous upchuck incident at the Knicks, adding, “They stopped the game for a half an hour because of me — King Kong ain’t got shit on that.” He shouted out Brooklyn and Bed-Stuy and all his New York–set shows: SNL, 30 Rock, The Real O.G., not to mention the two he has in production right now. O’Donnell, the president of the Teamsters Union, made one joke — that he didn’t think he’d have to follow two comedians — but otherwise played it straight, emphasizing the importance of American crews and production. “But a quintessential American industry now exports tens of thousands of jobs abroad. We give millions of dollars to big oil, but we don’t give any to keep this American industry here,” he said, echoing a similar sentiment to the country’s special ambassadors’ interest in incentivizing Stateside production. Where the federal government failed crews, however, O’Donnell was proud to say that the film industry has its greatest champion in Governor Kathy Hochul. As the crowd applauded, Adams — still standing two feet off to the side — checked his phone.