Years of soaring real estate values and rapid re-development threaten New York City's status as the nation's music capital.

January 23, 2008

(New York, N.Y.) - "Where Can We Work?", a study by NYC Performing Arts Spaces (www.nycPASpaces.org), a nonprofit arts-service organization, details a situation that both threatens the cultural life of New York City and hobbles an industry that adds hundreds of millions of dollars to the city's economy every year.

The report documents how an estimated 15,000 New York City professional musicians not associated with well-financed music institutions are profoundly affected by intense competition for affordable rehearsal and performance spaces, as well as for performing opportunities. When they do perform, these musicians generate revenue for local restaurants, bars and cafes all over the city's five boroughs. Yet they struggle to eke out a living themselves.

The report — available at http://www.nycPASpaces.org/wcww/ — is the first of its kind to analyze statistics about what musicians earn, where their work takes place, and how they function as small businesses. Of the professional musicians surveyed who work in the city, 63% earned less than $50,000 in 2006, with nearly a third of those living on less than $20,000 a year.

"Making music is central to our great city's cultural life," said Eugenie C. Cowan, NYC Performing Arts Spaces' director. "But without support, New York will lose its luster and its talented young students and performers. As more supportive cities and countries lure musicians, we risk the city being drained of this vital cultural energy."

Infrastructure — the workspace that performers and composers depend on — is basic to musicians' professional lives. But increasing real estate development causes increasing cost pressures. Performance spaces, including clubs, close. Rehearsal and performance space becomes less affordable and performance opportunities fewer. Demand and supply factors are at work.

"Where Can We Work?" concludes that without support, this pattern of fewer opportunities for musicians to play and to be paid equitably will increase. The report details five realistic strategies, including subsidies for rehearsal space rents and increased paid performance opportunities. Basic to these strategies are collaborations among public and private sector grantors, policy makers and the business community to ensure musicians' participation in and contribution to the city's cultural life.

"Where Can We Work?" is based on focus groups and online surveys to assess how the availability of rehearsal and performance spaces in the New York City area affects musicians' work patterns. The report was funded by the New York State Music Fund, the Christian A. Johnson Endeavor Foundation and the Amphion Foundation, and is available at http://www.nycPASpaces.org/wcww/.

For more information, contact David Johnston at davidj@nycPASpaces.org or call at (212) 886-2503.

This project is generously supported by The New York State Music Fund, the Christian A. Johnson Endeavor Foundation, and Amphion Foundation. The NYC Music Spaces and NYC Dance Spaces websites are supported by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and the New York State Council on the Arts; corporate foundations, including Altria Group, Inc., the Sponsor of the NYC Dance Spaces website, and Verizon; private foundations, including The New York Community Trust; and individuals.