The following petition from the undersigned artists and arts workers to the arts administrators and funders of New York City addresses issues raised in two events hosted by the Hunter College Office of the Arts: We the People: A Forum on Working Class Artists in America on May 1, 2025, and We the People: An Assembly of New York Artists on January 26, 2026. The issues raised at these gatherings echo numerous academic reports done within the past decade.
The 1975 Executive Order establishing the NYC Commission for Cultural Affairs states, "The continuous maintenance and growth of the arts is a continuing concern, so that the blessings and benefits of these cultural resources may be made available to enhance and enrich the lives of all of the people of this City." (bold added)
We, the undersigned artists and arts workers, affirm this central principle of the City’s Executive Order that the arts are for “all of the people.”
We know that arts organizations and their government, foundation, and private funders have pledged to uphold this principle.
But principles can gradually become compromised. We are at such a moment. For the first time in memory, artists are leaving New York faster than they are arriving.
We emphasize the following urgent issues:
Artists are struggling. From housing to healthcare to fair pay, most artists cannot secure a dignified life. After adjusting for the cost of living, NYC creative workers earn about 22.6 percent less than the national average—a gap that has widened from 15 percent a decade ago. A city’s—or state or nation’s—artistic life can only survive when and where artists can afford to live and work.
Access is fundamental. A relatively small number of discounted tickets or a few free museum hours does not fulfill the democratic promise—or legal implications—of public funding. Every taxpayer supports not-for-profit institutions; every taxpayer, including most emphatically artists and arts workers, should be able to experience—for a reasonable price—the arts organizations they fund.
Our creative spaces should reflect who we are. The city’s culture is enriched by the expression of many voices; it is diminished by the loss of any. National or ethnic heritage, race, gender, sexual orientation, and class: this diversity is the essence and strength of our city and must be reflected on our stages, in our galleries and museums, and in the staffs and leadership of arts organizations.
Not-for-profits are not commercial corporations. Arts organizations gained not-for-profit status to establish a clear alternative to the commercial model, not to be low-rent echo of it. Not-for-profits have a legal obligation to sustain art and artists and to serve local communities. Artists and audiences should be the prime beneficiaries of any art organization and should receive appropriate benefits and fair pay.
The arts belong everywhere. Arts funding must flow throughout neighborhoods, not merely concentrate in a few grand buildings. The performing arts centers built in the 1960s served a timely purpose, drawing audiences back into cities from the suburbs. But much of our city’s most significant and influential theater, dance, music, and visual art was—and continues to be—created and experienced in smaller neighborhood venues. Arts for “all of the people” means funding where people live, and art that is meaningful for the community.
We the undersigned know arts administrators endorse the goals of the not-for-profit movement and work with great dedication, often under difficult circumstances. We recognize the inestimable level of financial support that city, state, and national arts agencies, along with foundations, corporations, and individuals have provided to artists and arts organizations since the founding of the NYC Commission for Cultural Affairs.
Artists and institutions alike face critical problems. We need to come together and act.
The Hunter Office of the Arts offers to host one or more town halls where institutional arts leaders and funders, both public and private, can join with New York artists and arts workers in constructive dialogue. We ask you to join us at the table, so that together we can find ways to re-commit to the founding principles of the American not-for-profit arts movement.
Signed,