"Strengthening NYC’s Cultural and Creative Sector:
Tackling the Affordability Crisis and Other Threats to the City’s Creative Edge"
A Center for an Urban Future Policy Symposium

Replay of event
Event materials

The creative sector—from performing and visual arts to design and film—is more critical than ever to New York City's economy. But it is facing serious new threats, in large part due to an affordability crisis that is hitting artists and creative workers especially hard. The number of dancers in NYC has declined by 19% since the pandemic, while fashion designers are down by 26%, actors by 8%, and musicians by 3%. At the same time, nearly 50 theaters, music clubs, museums, and galleries have shuttered since 2020, and many nonprofit arts organizations are more financially vulnerable than ever as they confront escalating costs, declining revenue from ticket sales, and uncertainty over government grants.    

This in-person policy forum explored what Mayor Mamdani and the City Council should do to strengthen New York’s cultural and creative sector amid an affordability crisis and a range of other accelerating challenges. Building on CUF’s recently published Creative New York report, it advanced concrete ideas for addressing the most pressing challenges facing working artists and creatives, nonprofit cultural organizations, and creative businesses. 

Speakers included:​

• City Council Speaker Julie Menin
• Maria Torres-Springer, President, The Charles H. Revson Foundation
• Salome Asega, Deputy Director of Strategy and Innovation and Director, New Museum; Director, NEW INC
• Karesia Batan, Founding Executive Director, Queensboro Dance Festival
• Rafael Espinal, Executive Director, Freelancer's Union; Incoming Commissioner, Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment
• Sade Lythcott, CEO, National Black Theatre

This event was made possible thanks to generous support from Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Howard Gilman Foundation, Ford Foundation, and Mellon Foundation. We are also grateful for general support from The Clark Foundation and the Altman Foundation, support from Fisher Brothers Foundation for CUF's Middle Class Jobs Project, and ongoing support from a number of other philanthropic funders.