Immigrant Artists And Their Output Had Been Booming In New York ... Until The Pandemic

Immigrant artists make American culture. 

The contributions are varied, endless, and magnificent. And they’re especially important to the life and flavor of New York. If this were a radio story, you’d be hearing music fade up and under the narrator to sonically reinforce the point. The band would be Combo Chimbita, a New York-based Colombian outfit that describes its style as "tropical futurism." (Sample them here.) And consider this description of what Combo Chimbita does by way of the WNYC program New Sounds, which contains within it the concept of the immigrant-driven, artistic mashup: “Chimbita marries psychedelic funk and Afro-Latinx trance music.” 

Kazam. And that’s just one band! 

Eli Dvorkin, editorial & policy director at The Center for an Urban Future, oversaw a recent report that culled U.S. Census data to show that immigrant artists are more numerous than ever in New York, and busy bringing a multicultural edge to the city’s artistic output. But the report also details how the pandemic has set them back.