The cultural sector of New York City encompasses a huge range of participants: artists, cultural producers, sponsors, educators, administrators, individual donors, foundations, government agencies, and countless others.

New York City is home to as many artistic disciplines and cultural practices as there are people living here, from the musician who plays in a neighborhood plaza, to the chef who updates traditional recipes with ingredients from the community garden, to the visual artist whose studio is as much a gathering space as the barbershop down the block—arts and culture impact all realms of city life.

In a thriving arts ecology, all participants in the sector have access to the resources they need to succeed in their work. CreateNYC has provided an opportunity for the cultural community to advocate collectively and join together to better understand how a cultural plan can help promote an environment in which all members have what they need to do their work well.

DIFFERENT NEEDS

In early 2017, a group of independent artists and cultural producers convened at the Clinton Hill performance venue JACK for a town hall to discuss the cultural plan. One participant stated “We must not privilege one idea of success, but rather, make success possible at all levels of career development, within all disciplines, and in all modes of working within the field.”

This lesson can apply to individuals and organizations of all sizes—there is no one version of “success” that applies across this vast sector. For instance, historically under-resourced cultural organizations need increased operating support so that cultural programs are executed equitably and in response to stated community needs. Many of these neighborhood-based cultural organizations have strong ties to local residents, businesses, and cultural producers going back decades. Their services are crucial in communities of color and low-income neighborhoods where disinvestment has created a dearth of other programs. Their work also is important in other neighborhoods, offering diverse perspectives and bridging divides. The work of these small, local cultural organizations must be recognized and strengthened, both inside and outside their communities. What they need to thrive, however, can vary greatly from organization to organization.

“Arts organizations need to pay good wages to employees, teaching artists, and artists.”

AKIVA
ARTS AND CULTURAL WORKER, QUEENS

ARTISTS AND CULTURAL WORKERS

Artists and cultural workers understand their work better than anyone. This often leads the cultural field to subsidize itself with free labor: visual artists install shows for one another; program staff double as grant writers and promoters within their own organizations; dancers document one another’s shows on video and in photography. This may allow for discrete programs and projects to succeed but limits the potential for individuals to earn a decent wage. In New York, this can be a major hurdle to a stable, sustainable artistic practice.

Housing and the high cost of living places a significant financial burden on individual cultural workers and their ability to afford to continue working in the cultural sector. While the sector overall has been growing faster than other professional sectors in the city in terms of jobs, wages adjusted for New York’s high costs of living have stagnated. The Center for an Urban Future’s 2015 Creative New York report notes that wages for New York City cultural workers are consistently lower than national averages when adjusting for cost of living.

“Access to the arts is an essential component to raising quality of life in our communities…I’ve seen what these local groups can do with very little resources.”

RAFAEL ESPINAL
COUNCIL MEMBER

For example, according to Creative New York, musicians and singers make $5.71 less, and painters, sculptors, and illustrators make roughly $3.19 less than the national average hourly wage. Creative professionals are also likely to incur more student debt than college graduates in other professions; art schools in particular require low student-teacher ratios and specialized equipment, typically charging commensurately higher tuition. Affordability for cultural workers is further compounded by the proliferation of unpaid internships in the industry, which inherently privilege those with enough personal finances to support themselves. Moreover, currently over 50% of arts majors accept these types of unpaid positions post-graduation. A recent report by the National Association of Colleges and Employers found that “participants in unpaid internships took longer to secure their initial employment than their paid counterparts, and had lower starting salaries.”

While increased general operating support can help raise wages, increased pipeline support (including access to paid internships and professional development for emerging and mid-career cultural workers) is also crucial to making sure sustainable careers in the arts are accessible to all. In early 2016, results of a study showed that the workforce and board membership of DCLA-supported cultural organizations does not reflect the city’s overall diversity of age, race, gender, disability, and other characteristics. Pipeline support is just one strategy for opening doors to our city’s cultural organizations. If the City’s cultural community is to connect with local audiences and thrive into the 21st century, it must engage with the increasingly diverse population. There’s no other way to access the talent and experiences representative of all New Yorkers.

“We need an employment or benefits structure that will support artists’ families, as well.”

XIMENA
ARTIST, BROOKLYN

The following proposals to promote a healthy cultural sector recommend expanded opportunities for work for local artists and cultural workers, and greater connections between cultural organizations and artists and other City agencies. The City will work to partner across agencies and the private sector to promote the broadest range of culture across boroughs to New Yorkers and our guests. CreateNYC sees a role for many partners in the success of the city’s cultural community.

STRATEGIES

CASE STUDY