New York Consolidated Laws, Arts and Cultural Affairs Law - ACA § 8.01. Legislative findings and declaration of policy

The legislature hereby finds and declares that New York state is unique among states for its contribution to the art of writing and for the special resources and opportunities it offers to writers.  It is hereby further found that the art of writing is of increasing importance and that the general welfare of the people of the state will be enhanced by the establishment of a center devoted to writing and the allied arts.

It is hereby declared a policy of the state that there be created a New York state writers' institute with a legislative mandate to encourage the development of writing skills at all levels of education throughout the state, to provide a milieu for established and aspiring writers to work together to encourage the development of, and increase the freedom of, the artistic imagination of this art in the state of New York.