After decades as the arts capital of the world, New York City finally has its first cultural plan. Released on July 19, the 180-page document, dubbed CreateNYC, is a promising step forward for the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA) and follows months of dedicated outreach efforts to nearly 200,000 New Yorkers. However, as the city’s arts communities face a deepening affordability crisis the plan offers little by way of solutions to this existential threat. To its credit, CreateNYC makes clear that affordability is a critical issue for the health of the city’s arts sector. But none of the plan’s year one policy proposals tackle affordability head-on, making it the clear elephant in a room full of good intentions.

In this New York Daily News op-ed, CUF Executive Director Jonathan Bowles and Managing Editor Eli Dvorkin argue that as the city’s small and mid-sized arts organizations are feeling the squeeze, the city should tackle the affordability crunch and put more artists and organizations on the path to sustainability by putting a slew of good ideas into action.

Read the op-ed here.

This op-ed is a continuation of research the Center for an Urban Future has done on the creative economy. Most recently, CUF has produced a series of commentaries and publications, including Artists in School: A Creative Solution to New York's Affordable Space Crunch, Time to Let New York Dance, A Small Boost in Arts Funding Would Go a Long Way, and Creative New York.

_{Photo credit: Ellie Pritts/Unsplash}