The Leonard Lopate Show

It's getting too hard to stay here - Bloomberg's love of development has put the nail in the coffin of affordable housing - even including the low standards that artists are willing to settle for. Add to that the appalling situation for teaching artists - ADJUNCT - please. Th high end is so high, there is no middle ground - as the city gets geared more and more to the extremely wealthy, the place becomes meaner for the rest of us - i don't remember the city ever being as unfriendly and mean as it has in the last year or so.

As a native New Yorker who has lived abroad for 10 years and is now back in Manhattan: My living expenses are not especially high, as I've lucked into some unusual housing, BUT in order to pay off my student loans I have to work long hours at TWO jobs, leaving very little time and energy to make art. I choose to have no t.v. and no kids, and barely any social life, but the days are still not any where near long enough.

Also, A few years ago I became unemployed and the NYS Dept. of Labor took me to court to pay back 6 months of unemployment benefits, saying that my artist's website had the POTENTIAL to generate income, even if I never sold any art through it, so therefore I was not really unemployed.

it's hard enough to be an artist as it is...

P.S. However, all my friends and family are here, I love this city, and have no intention of leaving.

http://www.artgalny.com

I am 29 and moved to NYC in January. I am a musician, and came knowing full well how much it costs to live here. For the time being, and I can afford to be poor and have my mind blown by this city on a daily basis. To me, the sheer spectacle of the seeming success of this experiment known as New York is worth the struggle.

Anecdotally it seems that younger working artists are staying in NYC less time than they used to (and/or leaving their arts career sooner) because they can't afford to stay here, and because they can have a better quality of life elsewhere or in another profession. NYC depends, however, on these emerging, "experimental" artists to keep it thriving, cutting edge and vital. And NYC depends on these artists for many of its economic streams (ie. teachers, waiters, paralegals, data entry etc!), I am a performing artist and an arts administrator at an arts service organization called The Field (www.thefield.org). We see it every day NYC is losing the best and brightest to other more livable cities.

It’s interesting that you specify full-time artists as well as aging artists. It sometimes seems that the full-time artists are mainly those who launched their careers in the 60s when rent in the Village was affordable and one could support themselves working part time. Very few artists today are able to devote themselves to their work full time.

I am a choreographer who supports herself and her art by working full time at a service organization for performing artists, The Field. I am a third generation native New Yorker who fantasizes about leaving but I feel too attached to my family and friends here. If I were to go someplace new, like Berlin for example, I’d have to learn their systems and build a network of colleagues from scratch! This is extremely daunting.

I speak with artists daily at The Field. They are overwhelmed and tired; pulled between making rent, creating art, and administering their projects - they mostly operate on a last-minute / crisis basis. This especially doesn’t work when you realize that today’s artists are also entrepreneurs.

We are certainly in danger of our artists leaving, and we already are loosing the voices of those who are not productive under these circumstances. We are only hearing the voices of the artists who have the stamina for the rat race.

As a 25 year resident of Tribeca and artist sympathizer I have witnessed the exodus / forced evacuation of the artists in New York. This (along with a mid-life career crisis) inspired me to recently buy a 300,000 sq ft factory complex in the small city of Williamsport Pa.. I hope to rent beautiful loft space in a historic mill complex to small creative businesses and artists for just $2.50 per sq ft per year...This is roughly 1/10 the New York rate.

I would like to ask your guests and artists listening is...If we build it... will you come?

What would you need to induce you to move? Would there be an interest in summer studio space?

As an artist who is younger than the 60's generation, I have to say it is becoming incredibly hard to live here and I am considering leaving though I love this city. it appears as if this is not a city that welcomes artists anymore...it's just too expensive to live here...

As an artist who lives and works here, I'm finding it harder and harder to live here. While many of my friends who are artists are moving to LA and are now thriving with half the overhead. New York wants to brag that it's an artist town,but it doesn't support them in any way.

the rising rents and daily living also effect the community of artists living here- it seems the more expensive the city is, the more the artist is driven to care about selling work more than making it and then the art star is born! yuck.

Leonard - could you mention this on the show. WE ARE TRYING TO BRING THE BELOW TO THE ATTENTION OF THE PUBLIC IN AN EFFORT TO STOP THE EVICTIONS....read on...

My immediate concern is the Carnegie Hall Corporation, that is now in the process of violating Andrew Carnegie's mandate and evicting the artists who are in residence in the Carnegie Hall Towers, which are attached to Carnegie Hall. The Towers were earmarked by Andrew Carnegie for artists of diverse disciplines to be able to continue giving their artistic gifts to the city and the world -- my current teacher, a master teacher in his eighties -- was given his eviction notice by the Corporation at this eightieth birthday celebration. Many artists have alrady been evicted. Those remaining are fighting the violation of Carnegie's mandate...

A gentleman named John Fetterman is working very hard to establish the old mill town of Braddock, PA (where the first Andrew Carnegie steel mill still operates and the first Carnegie library is open) as an artist colony particularly because of the low cost of property. A number of NYC artist groups, particularly from Brooklyn, have been shown there.

I'm staying until one shred of a reason to leave pops up. I had a good gallery career going, but not enough sales, so it cost me too much to keep making all new work for each new show. After 9-11, freelance jobs dried up for a long enough time, I had to give up art. Still have not resumed, as the relief to not produce like a maniac, is creating sanity. Lost my loft to gentrification, adapting to apartment art now. Wages are the same for freelance sculptors as they were 20 years ago, but rents are double. I work as a secretary now, because why get paid low wage for highly developed talent. I feel better getting low wage for easier work. Steady part-time jobs hard to find. How many reasons? No social life for me either. I'm just waiting for it to hit me where I re-locate to.

I am a young actress trying to live in Manhattan. I can't leave the city because New York and LA are the only places you can act, plus I have to work all week in my dead end job just to afford my rent and have no time to audition. I could be a waitress or bar tender, but then I would have to sleep all day to recover from working at night. It is lose/lose. You can't be an actress in Westchester!

I kind of resent these ladies' definition of "artists"! I'm a cartoonist and illustrator, and many of my friends are the same, or they're writers. We all consider ourselves part of the "artist community" that are living up here in West Harlem, and quickly being "gentrified" out. Ironically, we're the ones gentrifying ourselves out, since once we're here, everybody else jumps on the bandwagon and bumps us out.

You don't have to be a gallery artist to be part of the artistic community in New York. In fact, I think we, the low-brow, two or three-job-holding, "hacks" or whatever you lofty (sorry for the pun) artists want to call us, are the majority here. There are less gallery artists in NYC than all of us graphic artists, illustrators, writers etc.

And yes, I expect I'll soon move someplace else like the Bronx or Queens eventually.

Mr. Lopate, in re: to flipping manufacturing space to arts uses, did I really just hear you say "we used to do it here"? Can you really be unaware of what has been happening in Williamsburg, Bushwick, and now Ridgewood and Bed Stuy over the last few years? I and my wife were just removed along with 220 or so other creative and other professionals from a massive building in Ridgewood Queens by NYC DOB with no notice or recourse and this is representative of a new hard line policy on the part of the city-not an isolated incident. For some reason this, however, is not news. For further info:

http://1717troutman.hypermediative.net

Why not start covering what is going on right now in our city as opposed to just interviewing former arts residents of Soho, Tribeca, and upstate?

Best,

CDB

I agree with Pele - that being a full-time artist in this town is not possible for those of us who are younger. I'm 38, and work 2 jobs to be able to afford to have 1 work day off a week to try to get work done on that day.

It would be great if the so-called "marginal" neighborhoods that we all end up moving into offered artists some sort of tax break or grants to be able to BUY property, so that when these neighborhoods gentrify (like Fort Greene, where I used to live before it got too expensive) we won't have to pack up and look for the next place to live.

I'm a 38 yr. old artist, and I've been in the city for about 14 years, and have struggled every year. I've been toughing it out for the cultural experiences that go on in the city as well as the networking opportunities and the interactions with like-minded people in an artists' community. If there was another place to go that I could think of, I probably would go...if I had the money to move....which I don't.

Btw, I make my living as a painter and caricaturist and occasionally have to work in the Fashion industry when I need the money, although it takes away from doing my own work, so it's always a dilema.

I left NYC after 38 years. Forced out by the rezoning of Williamsburg and Greenpoint, I moved to Kingston two years ago. There is a great artist community up here in Kingston and the rest of the Hudson Valley!

Lived in NYC for 25 years. You have to keep life cheap for artists and protect them since most never make any money from it. Otherwise it's just commercial art.

Is it true? I feel it was easier in the 60's when I think you could support yourself with a part time job? I'd like to know if this is just rose-colored nostalgia?

And yes, I think this pressure has created a fast easy to process art slop to get the art made in less time.

I have fallen to the other side and am considering making easily digestible saleable work, still holding onto craftsmanship. It's just easier for the gallery to sell.

I find this question funny - can artists afford new york? Who can? Young professionals graduating from top schools can't afford new york. Of course, young artist's cannot!

From T-shirt

New York:

If you can make it here...you probably have a trust fund.

Why should we, as a city, subsidize housing for people who have chosen a career that cannot sustain them? I have earned 100% of my income as a performer for 25 years. I can only do this in NYC but I can't afford to live in Manhattan. I make sacrifices in order to earn this living. Manhattan Plaza is clogged with people who have only a tiny connection to the theatre/dance/music. Keeping apartments at below market rates to keep people in them who actually work at other careers for their income and make art as, essentially, an unpaid second career doesn't make any sense to me. If my taxes are going to pay to subsidize their housing then they should earn at least a substantial amount of their income from art. Your guest chuckles with contempt at people who live in New Jersey in order to afford their careers. This is simply reality for all workers in this city- we can't all afford to live in Manhattan.

What about writers? Sell an article, it might be $100; but sell a painting, it could be $5,000...Also, lots of talk about galleries; but what about for lack of a better term "salons"?

As a 40 year old performing artist (musician) I've spent my professional years in the city. Some years have been fat, and others have been quite thin. I manage to get by on what I earn as a musician (and music producer), but during thin years almost every cent I earn goes to simply paying the cost of living here. Like so many, I feel like I'd have a hard time making a living doing what I do in all but a handful of other places in the country, so I don't plan on leaving any time soon. I'm living month to month far more often than I'd like to, however. A couple thin years in a row could probably force me out...

It sounds like there are no more musicians in NYC...or is there another reason why they are completely missing from the discussion??

I'm finding this discussion very interesting and irritating at the same time. I'm not an artist by profession, but do live in Jersey City. There's a thriving artists community here. Downtown Jersey City is very close to Manhattan, as well as Journal Square. It sounds like your guests ought to take a trip on the PATH train before dismissing a callers suggestion that Newark and Jersey City are potential alternative locations for artists, while having close proximity to the city.

Hard to hear so much mis-information in one show ... I am an artist, my framer is in Peeksill. Naturally he has his pulse on the local arts community. Peekskill tried to create an artist community some years ago, but didn't succeed because the really didn't have the $ to get behind it so most of the "hopeful" galleries venues have closed so artists have moved on. When the listener says Peekskill is the "most affordable" town in Westchester that is code for worst managed. Visiting downtown Peekskill is like visting Harlem 15 years ago. Also the town in China your guest referred to Branding Songzhuang was created in desperation by artists driven out of Beijing after Tienamen square. Synergy with developers arrived as an afterthought. Listen to Studio 360.

And don't be delusional about moving to Berlin. You have to be an EU resident for funding and naturally you're in competition with all EU artists.

Two years ago i moved back to The Netherlands, just it became too much about survival in NYC. And in Holland they do have more generous support, but not as good as it said to be. Living expenses are less though, so what I save every month I can afford a plane ticket to NYC. Yes,

I miss NYC, but i can enjoy it so much more while visiting, staying at friends and seeing show, than when

i was living there trying to make ends meet. Now i can focus on my work and enjoy NYC, but also London, Berlin

Paris when i want and need to. And have the money to do so.

Here's a question for the upstate crowd: It used to be if you weren't close enough to the gallery, no way would they come see you work to be considered for the show? Do you guys give up on New York up there? I would. And wouldn't care either, at this point.

I am a young artist that interns unpaid with a graphic designer in brooklyn. I live in jersey and commute from there three days week. I do some design freelance on the side, but also attempt to do various other projects, but find difficulty to work from home. On one side, I don't pay rent b/c my parents are kind enough to let me stay, but I make very, very little because I am starting out. I would be able to make more if I had the space in the house... But don't have to money to move out either... I'm in a catch 22. When I do have an income, I do not plan on moving to nyc because the rent is so high and would have no space. Most likely I'd stay in NJ whether it be jersey city or local. The one thing I do miss is other artists around me, which is tougher in NJ.

The artist who commented that he knew of artists who were moving to Berlin resonated with me. I'm 25 years old and I personally know 4 people who have moved to Berlin within the last three years. Only one has stayed permanently, but of those who came back, all have expressed excitement about the city, and an overwhelming eagerness to return.

I have moved from abroad (Tokyo, Japan) to be in the center of art world; New York City. I didn't move here to live/work in outer boroughs or outside of the city to suburbs. I live (in a small apartment) and have a (small) studio both in Manhattan. It is tough to pay rents for both (neither of them are rent-stabilized), but this is where I have to be, and I love living here.

If I have to move, I would definitely consider Berlin as well. There is a great art scene going on. Huge space really cheap.

Like in early 1900s, all the artists from all over the world moved to Paris. Now it is New York, and it has been that way for a while. A lot of us would move anywhere to be in the center of the art world where we can afford to live. If it is Berlin? why not?

I have lived in Chelsea, Lower East Side and now Queens. Fortunately I came here during the DOTCOMM BOOM and my artist friends were really doing well.

The last couple of years the city has lost it's soul. Starbucks and STAPLES on every corner and no more character. Most of my artist friends are either working so much they cannot do their artwork or have moved out of the city to become more successful.

Then I read this today in the paper-

N.Y 2nd worst in economic raking which is based on personal business, minumium wage, and workers compensation. Nearly 2 million people have left NY in the last decade.

This should tell us something...

i am a young (32) artist who manages to support myself entirely through sales of my work. while new york is expensive relative to other US cities, i am sure it would be much harder to get by in these other cities because there simply isn't a collector class elsewhere in the states (except perhaps in LA).

here in new york i can think of many many peers who manage to survive entirely off there work, but i here form people in other cities that this is near impossible outside of new york. being an artist can be tough but luckily there is plenty of opportunity here. i believe it is a great time to be an artist in NY.

Oy, and as I just today arrived back in the city from making art in VT for a month (Studio Center) I already cannot wait to leave again. NY makes me tired, and I feel I have to brace myself to be here again. I still LOVE the city and the people, and nowhere else do I feel so connected. But ideally I would live somewhere with No neigbors, lots of space, off the grid for about 6-8 months out of the year and about 4-6 here. So far I manage to not be here about 3 months, but even that is not enough. (I sublet my apt when I leave) I need more downtime and I think I would use more of what NY originally attracted me to, if I would not be here.

After 20+ years in NYC struggling to write while holding down day jobs, I recently moved to Montreal. I have a 1,400 square foot loft that costs less per month than my tiny NY studio. And socialized health care, so I don't have to work a day job for medical insurance. Why didn't I do this years ago?

Leonard - I wrote the comment re: the Carnegie Hall Towers -- I can't get through on the comments line --

If you could mention the petition on-line for the public to sign -- trying to stop the evictions -- it would be so wonderful. We are looking for public support.

Online petition --go here to sign:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/help-save-Carnegie-Artist-Studios

FYI - the below is an excerpt from the petition site:

"Save our inheritance -- The Carnegie Hall Artist Studios – from being dismantled and destroyed! Join us in rescuing this legendary, historic haven for artists and the arts for generations to come! Protect the legal rights of artist tenants currently living and working in the Artist Studios! Help them keep their homes and studio workspaces! There are 170 artist studios that belong to YOU!

Preserve your historic cultural legacy!

Icons of American art and culture have lived, worked and studied in the Artist Studios. Marlon Brando, Leonard Bernstein, Marilyn Monroe, Lucille Ball, Isadora Duncan, Jerome Robbins, George Balanchine and Martha Graham are only a few of the legends that have called the Artists Studios an artistic haven or home."

Get out of Dodge! I was in New York forever,... born and raised there and cannot stand what has happened to my once affordable city! I used to have the Eberhard Faber pencil factory in greenpoint brooklyn, we developed it for artists and artisans, until the landlords took it back and jacked up the rents. I just bought a 300,000 square foot building in Williamsport Pennsylvania and am rentin it out for .21 cents a foot per month as a safe haven for artists and artisans for as longf as they want to be there. Its beautiful and if you would like more info, contact me at artisans_equities@yahoo.com

lived here since 2003, not ever making a "living" as an artist, but slowly moving into a different career direction to provide me with a mediocre financial cushion. returned from a brief visit to berlin recently and fell hard - creative, young, old, rebellious, loving, friendly, mellow, affordable, interesting, open. what a city! exists in berlin. nyc does not have that level of art in berlin - it's either grossly commercialized or uber-hipster ironic/overly fashionable merde. sorry, but it's not happening in nyc. i'm so out of here.