The creative sector, from performing arts organizations to design firms, is more critical than ever to New York City's economy. But mounting affordability challenges threaten its future. New York City's Creative Spark tells this story through data and interviews, and puts forth seven recommendations for state and local policymakers.
Here are some select data points from the report:
- New York City boasts more cultural and creative jobs than any other city in the United States, but its national share of the creative economy is slipping, declining from 9.3 to 8.6 percent since 2019.
- New York City is now losing artists; since 2019, the overall number of people working in the city’s creative economy has declined by 6.1 percent.
- Creative workers in New York now earn about 26 percent less than the national average after adjusting for the city’s high cost of living, down from 15 percent less than a decade ago.
- The New York State Council on the Arts FY 2025 budget for general operating grants is about $87 million, up from 2019 but still down 35.9 percent from its 1990 peak after adjusting for inflation.
- National Endowment for the Arts funding to New York City plummeted 59.8 percent from $16.3 million in FY 2024 to $6.5 million in FY 2025, while the number of grants fell sharply from 460 to 187.
Read the full New York City's Creative Spark report here.
New York City's Creative Spark is one of a series of 10 reports from the Center for an Urban Future on the growing power of the arts as a catalyst for economic vitality in each of New York state's economic development regions.
