Creatives Rebuild New York

"In the wake of the Creatives Rebuild New York (CRNY) survey illustrating the financial inviability of artists, the numbers paint a grim picture of the city’s art ecosystem, despite the arts contributing 7.4% of New York’s overall economy.

'Fundamentally, our economy doesn’t view artists as workers,' CRNY executive director Sarah Calderón told Hyperallergic in response to the study. 'For this reason, among others, there is no wage protection, paid—or even affordable—healthcare options or any other elements of the social safety net that are afforded to other classes of workers.'"

Art History grads face highest rates of unemployment in the US An interactive report by the New York Fed reveals that those with university degrees in the arts are most likely to find themselves without jobs in the current labour market

“The biggest highlight has been working on a large 18 x 60 ft mural for SIBS place, a non-profit that helps kids/youths who have a family member impacted by cancer. This project was 3 years in the making. The design was created by the kids/youths that the organization serves.” - Marie Saint-Cyr (she, her)

Marie Saint-Cyr is an collaborator with Saint-Cyr Art Studio in Long Island, NY, with a mission to “beautify spaces with meaningful murals while creating opportunities for communities to be engaged in the process. We hope to make the world a more artistic, encouraging, and diverse place through murals, fulfilling purposes for every person and business that work with us.”

Stay tuned for more to hear from artists and collaborators who participated in our .

Creatives Rebuild New York’s Artist Employment Program funded employment for 300 artists, culture bearers, and culture makers (artists) in collaboration with dozens of community-based organizations across New York State for two years. Participating artists received a salary, benefits, and dedicated time to focus on their practice. Participating organizations received funds that ranged between $25,000 and $100,000 per year to support artists’ employment. Learn more at www.creativesrebuildny.org .

Photo credit: Video by Tony Vu (November 2023)

"The day I was notified that I would receive the Guaranteed Income grant, I was at a Hospice with my family for my 30-year-old Daughter Emily who passed away from a rare form of Cancer [on] May 7, 2022. I was overwhelmed and grateful. The grant help[ed] over the 18 months by giving me the freedom to heal and create. In April 2023, I had a show titled ‘Bitter Sweet’ in honor of my Daughter.” - Kim Bellavia; Visual Artist (kimbellavia.com)

As part of our three-year initiative, Creatives Rebuild New York’s program distributed $1000 monthly for 18 months to 2,400 randomly selected artists across New York State. We asked the participants to share their experience, . Learn more at www.creativesrebuildny.org .

“Broken, Not Broken” Photographed by Todd Jennings, The Country Studio Farmington, NY

Learn the history of UBI!👇

“Since 1900, the concept of a basic income guarantee (BIG) has experienced three distinct waves of support, each larger than the last. The first, from 1910 to 1940, was followed by a down period in the 1940s and 1950s. A second and larger wave of support happened in the 1960s and 1970s, followed by another lull in most countries through about 2010. [Basic income guarantee]’s third, most international, and by far largest wave of support began to take off in the early 2010s, and it has increased every year since then.”

The Deep and Enduring History of Universal Basic Income While the concept stretches back centuries, it has garnered significant attention in recent decades.

“Some of the volunteers told the researchers that the money allowed them to stop living paycheck to paycheck and start imagining what they could do if they had more financial breathing room.

Karina Dotson, OpenResearch’s research and insights manager, often heard participants talk about the cash giving them a ‘sense of self.’ She said it ‘gave them head space to dream, to believe, to hope, to imagine a future they couldn’t imagine before.’ Other research has found similar outcomes.”

The results of the biggest study on guaranteed income programs are finally in For three years, 1,000 people received $1,000 per month — no strings attached. They took better jobs. Some went back to school. Others started opening businesses.

"[Guaranteed Income] meant I could take on opportunities without fear... I worked on a show that I had dreamed of creating for about three years at Wave Hill Garden and Cultural Center and a monograph about my work. I applied for additional support for both these projects but the stipend from GI meant that even without that support I could carve out time in the studio to focus and plan.” - Heidi Howard (they, them, theirs); Visual Artist

As part of our three-year initiative, Creatives Rebuild New York’s program distributed $1000 monthly for 18 months to 2,400 randomly selected artists across New York State. We asked the participants to share their experience, . Learn more at www.creativesrebuildny.org .

Photo Credit: Charles Benton, Wave Hill

“I think we need to be calling for basic income on the basis of a sense of shared morality, because economic insecurity is grim. It’s empirically damaging and it’s based on historical injustices that are translated into present inequalities. So there’s a very strong case for redistributive basic income right now, irrespective of whether or not the [AI] machines are coming.”

Money for nothing: is universal basic income about to transform society? The concept of a guaranteed income is gaining traction as a solution to the impact of AI and way to encourage more rewarding and socially valuable work

Across the country, artists face similar economic challenges despite their vital contributions to our shared human experience.

is one way we can directly invest in artists to support their economic security. Thanks to The Seattle Times for sharing our model as one strategy to center trust and dignity for artists as workers.

Read more: https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/how-seattle-can-support-its-artists-despite-rising-prices/

"We need to continue to shift our perspective on the arts and culture as being 'nice' if we can have them, and look at them as the powerful tourism and economic powerhouses that they are...

I believe we must do all that we can to support the arts as they recover from the pandemic, as these institutions are what drive the state’s tourism sector and provide countless jobs for New Yorkers across the state."

- New York State Senator Jose M. Serrano, Chair of the Senate Cultural Affairs, Tourism, Parks and Recreation Committee

Why the arts have been at the center of New York’s tourism recovery An interview with state Sen. Jose M. Serrano, chair of the Senate Cultural Affairs, Tourism, Parks and Recreation Committee.

"'Poverty impacts children in different ways than it impacts adults,' Long said, adding that his students advocated for the guaranteed income program last year. 'If we really want to get serious about interrupting these notions around poverty in D.C., we have to be able to support kids and families.'"

'We think that the issues are rooted in poverty,' Webb said, adding that parents and teens need economic support — not punishment. The 'system currently blames parents who are already struggling to meet the basic economic needs of their family.'"

A D.C. school’s experiment to help kids learn: Paying their families The Social Justice School will give 15 families $2,400, part of a pilot to see whether no-strings-attached payments can help students stay on track.

How can the arts positively impact issues like student absenteeism, public safety, and cultural legacy?

Find out what the City of Oakland learned from their program to bring creative strategists in to collaborate with local government and tackle some of the greatest challenges facing the city.

📖 Keeping reading here:https://cao-94612.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/documents/CSIG-Cycle-2-Report-Web-v1.1.pdf

“Anthony is an excellent teacher and composer and understands just how to relate to our student population who are visually impaired and blind. Open exchange of ideas and the resulting compositions have been a beauty to behold.” - Leslie Jones (she, her); The Filomen M. D'Agostino Greenberg Music School, Inc.

The Filomen M. D’Agostino Greenberg Music School is dedicated to helping people pursue music studies in the context of living with challenges posed by vision loss. Students include school-age children, adolescents, students enrolled in public and private schools, enrolled or preparing to attend colleges and universities, amateur adults, professional musicians, retired aficionados — in short, anyone with vision loss interested in enrichment through lifelong musical experience.

Creatives Rebuild New York’s Artist Employment Program funded employment for 300 artists, culture bearers, and culture makers (artists) in collaboration with dozens of community-based organizations across New York State for two years. Participating artists received a salary, benefits, and dedicated time to focus on their practice. Participating organizations received funds that ranged between $25,000 and $100,000 per year to support artists’ employment. Stay tuned for more to hear from artists and collaborators who participated in our .

Photo Credit: Vytas Cuplinskas and Shweta Bist

Maura Cuffie-Peterson, Director of Strategic Initiatives, Guaranteed Income spoke to Business Insider about our for Artists Program. Program participant Jacinta Bunnell talked about her experience receiving guaranteed income and how she used the funds to pay bills and afford healthcare.

Thank you to Business Insider and Allie Kelly for shining a light on this important way that everyone should have a safety net.

➡️ Read the full article here: https://www.businessinsider.com/new-york-basic-income-artists-helped-pay-healthcare-bills-gbi-2024-7

Image courtesy of Jacinta Burnell.

Tuesday, July 16, 2024 at 2:00pm Eastern /11:00am Pacific!

**GIA WEBINAR**

"Intermediary organizations, like mycelium, play a vital role in connecting, nourishing, and sustaining nonprofits and communities." –Vu Le, Nonprofit AF

In this webinar, we'll explore intermediaries' evolution from their historical roots to their potential future roles. We will dive into their primary functions, examining these organizations' proximity to communities and their deep connections therein, and investigate their critical role in bridging the gap in funding and nurturing the roots of change. Are intermediaries truly the overlooked "middle child," and what identities are they clarifying in today's landscape?

Join Sage Crump (National Performance Network), Cate Fox (AmbitioUS), and Ron Ragin (MAP Fund) on Tuesday, July 16 at 2pm EDT/11am PDT for a discussion on the significance of membership versus network, the impact of dwindling institutional support, and shedding light on replicating systems of harm under the guise of benevolence.

Learn more about the webinar and register here: https://bit.ly/4epSF7r

Meet the 23 artists who will be leading voices in the movement for .

The 2024 Artist Power Building School Fellows will spend the next six months building the bridge across different facets of the movement for equitable economic justice policy and their direct experience of receiving guaranteed income.

Join us in congratulating these arts and culture leaders!

Our work to secure Guaranteed Income for everyone continues. To advance this mission, we’ve created the Artist Power Building School, the conceptual home to our Guaranteed Income base-building work with artists.

As part of this school, we’re proud to announce the five Guaranteed Income Political Education partners: IndieSpace, Anticapitalism for Artists, Springboard for the Arts, Waymakers Collective: The RiffRaff Arts Collective and Waymakers Collective: thebottomknox.

These organizations will receive grants to help them champion Guaranteed Income and build knowledge among their communities of artists.

“Over the past decade, the music industry’s approach to talent discovery, marketing, and artist careers has become too data obsessed, near sighted, and damaging to the industry’s lifeblood. Artists are being sold short and, in turn, this has created a dysfunctional creative-commercial ecosystem.”

Stability from chaos: How today’s artists find sustainable success in a turbulent music industry How do we take the pulse of success for music artists in 2024? In 'Sustainability from chaos:How today’s artists find sustainable success in a turbulent music industry' , we explore this question from...

“Initially, they thought the project could take the form of a residency program with studios and childcare, but ultimately they decided to ‘boil it down to the most impactful path, thinking about what really do people need and what we established that they needed was funding to be able to pay a childcare provider, flexible to their needs,’ which can range from daycare to hiring a nanny.”

A New $25,000 Grant Aims to Support New York–Based Artists’ Childcare Needs The Artists & Mothers grant aims to supports New York–based artists' childcare needs; the inaugural winner is Carissa Rodriguez.

Join our political education initiative with IndieSpace! 📚

Take our “Everyone is Essential!” course with fellow artists, created with art.coop and The GRO Fund.

Due to a wonderful response (yes, artists want GI, of course!), we are moving to a location that can accommodate more people.

We will be holding the in-person workshop at Alchemical Studios! Their address is 50 West 17th Street, 12th floor, New York City 10011.

Join IndieSpace, in collaboration with Creatives Rebuild NY, to learn more about Guaranteed Income and to help IndieSpace think through the nuts and bolts of an itty bitty mini GI pilot program that will launch in the fall.

Learn more here: https://www.indiespace.org/updates/guaranteed-income-for-indie-theater-artists
RSVP for our July 16 workshop held over Zoom: https://forms.gle/J3VQt49n9pfacjZz5
RSVP for our July 17 in-person workshop: https://forms.gle/97m1KYuuSVYfiPTLA

“Going through a breast cancer diagnosis during a pandemic was the most difficult experience of my life. I went from performing and traveling the world to the whole world shutting down and later finding out I had cancer. When theaters began to open back up, I was still at a standstill in my career because of my nearly two year battle. Guaranteed Income gave me the support I needed to slowly build my life back, become strong and healthy again, and has truly led me back to this industry feeling safe, valued and supported.” - Meghan Gratzer (she, her); Musical Theater Performer (Meghan Gratzer)

As part of our three-year initiative, Creatives Rebuild New York’s program distributed $1000 monthly for 18 months to 2,400 randomly selected artists across New York State. We asked the participants to share their experience, . Learn more at www.creativesrebuildny.org

Exec. Director Sarah Calderón and Dir. of Strategic Impact and Narrative Change Jamie Hand spoke to Hyperallergic about the financial situation of artists in New York – and what we need to do about it. Thanks to Hyperallergic for shining a light on this important matter.

Read more: https://hyperallergic.com/932243/most-ny-artists-are-financially-unstable-survey-finds/

“What that structure looks like in practice has less to do with giving artists space to work than with rebuilding the connected ecosystem that allowed artists working downtown to influence the culture of New York City once upon a time... ‘Real estate developers have this reputation of developing amazing properties and neighborhoods and then pricing the artists out—what if we brought them back?’”

The World Trade Center Offers Case Studies in Making Space for Artists in Urban Centers What if, instead of pricing artists out of cities, real estate developers could bring them back?

Available in English, Spanish, and Chinese 🗣️

Are you an immigrant artist who is looking for advice or feedback on how to start your career in the U.S.?

Book a FREE 1-on-1 consultation session with an art industry expert who can give you advice on specific topics or offer general arts career resources.

This program is presented by NYFA thanks to the generous support of the Tremaine Foundation.

Details: https://bit.ly/45s7FNP

“Artists live everywhere. They live in every neighborhood. They’re your neighbors. They make the music we devour, the posters for the protests — they’re doing all the work that makes our lives meaningful. Artists deserve guaranteed income because we all do.” - Maura Cuffie-Peterson, Director of Strategic Initiatives, Guaranteed Income

🎥 You can watch Maura, Ricardo Beaird, and Claudia Maturell’s full conversation at the Guaranteed Income Now conference hosted by Community Change and the Economic Security Project here: https://youtu.be/v4c5-4fzW9g?si=ReMkm1s_oJeealzl

Artist 🎉

Knowledge is power! Strengthen your financial literacy with this new report from Grantmakers in the Arts 📄

**NEW REPORT**

The Center for Cultural Innovation (CCI) was founded in 2001 to help level the playing field for individual artists by providing them with knowledge, networks, and financial tools to strengthen their self-sufficiency and creative independence. Since 2002, we have expanded and evolved our work to include Advocacy and the advancement of efforts that improve the conditions of artists and arts workers.

Dive into this guide for creatives to better understand the Copyright Claims Board (CCB). This resource was created through a partnership between The Center for Cultural Innovation (CCI) and Stanford University’s Juelsgaard Intellectual Property and Innovation Clinic (JIPIC)

Access the full guide here: https://bit.ly/4bl5ehi

Artist Nicole Chochrek 🎉

Check out the virtual tour of Nicole Chochrek's current exhibiiton BLINDSPOT at CEPA Gallery in Buffalo, NY!

"BLINDSPOT explores visual and optical illusions as metaphors for how dyslexics can process text. Illusions allow us to visualize different interpretations of information. As a dyslexic, my work reflects difficulties in processing text by expanding the visual possibilities of language. This work celebrates the dyslexic strengths of pattern recognition and spatial awareness to extend perspectives and challenge ideas of correctness."

Read more: https://www.cepagallery.org/2024/07/virtual-tour-and-interview-with-nicole-chochrek-for-blindspot-exhibition/

BLINDSPOT Exhibition - Nicole Chochrek Video by Creative Connect

“From moving from public housing into having my own room to rent, to being able to afford my first ever adult vacation to my homeland of Puerto Rico, to paying off debt... to say the least, this has impacted my life beyond what I could have imagined.” - Omari DeJesus (he, him); Rap Artist, Emcee, Producer, Audio Engineer

Omari DeJesus is an artist with NYC Arts Cypher, Inc., fostering community growth and spreading arts education through Hip Hop culture and music. Stay tuned for more to hear from artists and collaborators who participated in our .

Creatives Rebuild New York’s Artist Employment Program funded employment for 300 artists, culture bearers, and culture makers (artists) in collaboration with dozens of community-based organizations across New York State for two years. Participating artists received a salary, benefits, and dedicated time to focus on their practice. Participating organizations received funds that ranged between $25,000 and $100,000 per year to support artists’ employment. Learn more at www.creativesrebuildny.org

Photo from the Ps65 Final Event with NYC Arts Cypher Crew (2022)

“Ultimately, our hope with this [Cultural Solidarity Fund] report is to engage readers in helping us close the remaining gap in funding our applicants and achieve the cultural solidarity that inspired us to organize initially. We hope every person reading this report sees the opportunity within themselves, against all odds, against a scarcity mindset, to get involved.”

How Cultural Solidarity Fund Got $1 Million Covid Relief to NYC Arts Workers A new report details the efforts of 20-plus artists, administrators, and organizations to join forces and give microgrants to colleagues impacted by the pandemic and its effects.