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Struggling NY Artists Demand Cuomo Form FDR-Style Jobs Program
By
Jim O'Grady
Published Feb 27, 2021
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By
Jim O'Grady
Published Feb 27, 2021
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While New York City and state have announced plans to help restart the embattled arts and culture sector, a coalition of artists is saying that's not enough. Dozens of them, led by the Music Workers Alliance and Invest In Our New York, rallied outside Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Midtown office on Thursday to call for more immediate help.
They're calling for a “new WPA," short for the federal Works Progress Administration, which helped artists of all stripes survive the Great Depression.
One of those attending was Nathaniel Marro, a booking agent for musicians. He cited a state survey estimating that almost two-thirds of the city’s artists are unemployed. But in his circles, he said, unemployment was even higher.
“About 80% of the people I know who are in the music business have been furloughed," Marro said. "Musicians have largely been without relief for the past year, and the city and state have done nothing on their behalf.”
Rally-goers swayed and stomped to a brass band on Thursday while sing-shouting, “Ain't no power like the power of musicians!” But it's hard for musicians to feel all that powerful when their unemployment rates are far above the national average; their sector of the city economy has seen the largest decline; and a $300-a-week boost to their unemployment benefits is set to expire in mid-March.
They support a bill in the New York State Senate that would establish a state-based Works Progress Administration to build public infrastructure and hire artists to perform and create new works. The bill is similar to the WPA program that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (also a former governor of New York) established in the 1930s. The billion dollar program helped put many artists to work full time.
"These projects provided employment to nearly 3 million people at the program's peak and 8.5 million throughout its lifespan. New York can follow this model to stymie the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic while creating important public goods," the bill reads. Some of the jobs covered under the bill include those able to commission visual art works for public works, and stage musical performances.
“We want jobs, we don't want charity,” said drummer Genji Siraisi. “We want the city and the state to recognize that music and culture in New York is really one of the main draws for tourism, and what this place is famous for. If we can't survive, they're basically killing the golden goose.”
Americans for the Arts, citing statistics from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, reports that New York’s arts and culture sector represent 7.8% of the state’s gross domestic product. And that under non-pandemic circumstances, the arts is responsible for more than 450,000 jobs around the state that contribute $120 billion to the economy.
“We need a jobs program for working class artists that values artists as part of the labor force,” Marro said.
Siraisi, the drummer, is a prime example of how the cultural sector is hurting. When asked what musical style he played, he said, “Everything: Jazz, Latin, hip hop. I even started out as a punk rocker.” But he couldn’t remember the last time he’d played a live gig.
State Senator Jessica Ramos, a sponsor of the New York works progress bill, stepped to the mic and gave a simple reason for supporting it. “We have to pay the artists,” she said. “Artists gotta eat.”
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Jim O'Grady
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