New York’s creativity is under threat. “Artists of all disciplines are leaving the city. That’s a crisis for our industry and we have to address it,” says Diya Vij, mayor Zohran Mamdani’s newly appointed commissioner of New York City’s Department of Cultural Affairs. Overseeing a 50-person team and a $300mn budget, Vij says now is the time to act: “I don’t think that we can or should accept this idea that New York is just harder, that it’s make or break.
“There is absolutely an affordability crisis for artists and creatives — just like there’s an affordability crisis for all workers in New York City,” Vij continues, citing real estate as a main driver. She points to more affordable housing, “free and fast” transport, access to affordable food and certain gig-worker policies, such as portable benefits, as part of the solution. But she notes that artists have specific needs too: chiefly, studio space.
Diya Vij, mayor Mamdani’s newly appointed commissioner of New York City’s department of cultural affairs © Marcus Maddox
This was crystallised by artist Josh Kline’s recent essay “New York Real Estate and the Ruin of American Art” in the lofty art journal October — a broadside which has reverberated through the art world. “What Josh did really well is map what’s at stake when we lose spaces where artists can actually experiment and take big risks,” Vij says.
