The Artist Studio Affordability Project: Can artists afford to stay in NYC?

Listen in iTunes

New York has long been a center for art and cultural activity of international and historic significance. As NYC residents and independent businesses are pushed out of neighborhoods by rising rents, the art community is quickly losing access to work space and the infrastructure needed for production and the transfer of ideas. Can New York City remain a hub for artists and creative businesses? Are there measures that can be taken to protect neighborhoods from displacement? The Artist Studio Affordability Project discuss their activism and ways that artists can strengthen their claim to space in New York.
The Artist Studio Affordability Project focuses on raising awareness about the crisis of affordable studio space, and on advocating legislation that will protect and expand affordable artist studios. To that end, ASAP engages in outreach to the art community, elected officials, community organizations, news media, and policy experts in order to shape and define their approach.

This program is the fifth in the series if it's not work it must be PLAY: discussions on the state of work in the arts. This series is presented by CUE, and produced by our inaugural Public Programming Fellow, Cevan Castle. The PLAY series is a part of Meeting Artists' Needs.

Recorded live June 2, 2015.

Event Handouts:

Let the S.B.J.S.A. finally come up for a vote! The Villager, March 2015

Engines of Opportunity: Reinvigorating New York City’s Manufacturing Zones for the 21st Century, Published by the New York City Council, November 2014

Artist Studio Affordability Project letter

Links and references:

Small Business Jobs Survival Act (SBJSA)
http://www.artiststudioaffordabilityproject.org/sbjsa/
http://savenycjobs.org/jobs-survival-act

NYC Real Estate Investment Cooperative (NYC REIC)
http://nycreic.com/meet/

Industry City
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/09/arts/design/rising-rents-leave-new-york-artists-out-in-the-cold.html?_r=0