Public Benefit Corporations and Authorities

The State University Construction Fund was established as a public benefit corporation in 1962 (Chapter 251) to reduce the time between inception and completion of new facilities for SUNY campuses. The fund was to be guided by the assumption that SUNY's enrollment would more than double in the next ten years. Before the fund was created, construction of SUNY facilities was chiefly the responsibility of the Department of Public Works with the Division of the Budget closely monitoring expenditures.

In 1974, the New York State Legislature enacted legislation creating the Empire State Youth Theatre Institute (ESYTI). In 1982, as part of a collaboration with the Empire State Plaza Performing Arts Center in Albany (known as "the Egg"), ESYTI changed its name to the Empire State Institute for the Performing Arts (ESIPA). In 1986, the institute became the first theatre company from the United States to perform in the former Soviet Union upon resumption of cultural relations between the two countries.