Assembly of New York Artists
On January 26, more than 200 people trudged through the aftermath of a blizzard to gather at Danspace Project at St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery for We the People: An Assembly of New York Artists, hosted by the Hunter College Office of the Arts.
The attendees introduced themselves, and then took 60 seconds to propose, from their own experience, how the arts in New York might better flourish.
The speakers’ comments raised more than a dozen themes. “Affordability” unsurprisingly topped the chart. The close second was “Space,” with participants stressing the need for places to work and to share their work. The third top issue is grouped under “Jobs and Labor,” including unreasonably low pay for creative work and the frequent expectation that artists should work for free. Other key topics included the importance of community building, art in public spaces, and issues related to immigration.
The discussion was moderated by Sarah Calderon, former Executive Director, Creatives Rebuild New York; Sara Farrington, playwright and author; Ty Jones, Classical Theatre of Harlem Producing Artistic Director; Lisa Kron, playwright and performer; Mino Lora, The People’s Theatre Executive Artistic Director & Co-Founder; and Gary A. Padmore, NY Phil Vice President, Education and Community Engagement.
Video and still photographers captured the event, and the Office of the Arts is preparing a short documentary style film and a summary of the issues raised, to share with relevant city and state agencies, funders, and arts organizations in the coming weeks.
This information will also be shared here, and we invite artists and arts workers to post their own comments and ideas.
The event was made possible by the generous support of Susie Sainsbury and the Howard Gilman Foundation.