Protecting NYC’s Creative Economy by Protecting Artists First for NY-12
Key points:
•Personal Story
•Subsidized Spaces to Create and Emergency Grants
•Affordable and Accessible Artist Housing
•Portable Benefits
•Protecting Immigrant Artists
•Unionizing
- Protecting Seniors in the NYC Artistic Community (Endorsing Actor’s Fund Recommendations)
Go to electmaya.com for more information and to donate.
Personal Story
Public Service and Art go hand-and-hand in my family.
My great grandmother Teresa Chavez and her husband Belisario Contreras Sr. were born in Valparaíso, Chile. My great grandfather was a musician in the U.S. Navy Band during World War I. He was stationed in the Brooklyn Navy Yard in New York City. While serving, his wife and their son, my grandfather, Belisario Ramon Contreras boarded the U.S.S. Santa Teresa in Chile to join him. They arrived in New York on Sept 7, 1920. Teresa was 29 years old and my grandfather was 4 years old.
My Grandfather, Belisario Contreras, was a painter who served in the U.S. Army during World War II. He was part of the Ghost Army, a tactical deception unit comprised of artists within the Allied Army. The Ghost Army’s mission was to mimic or conceal Allied Army units to deceive Axis forces. These artistic initiatives saved thousands of lives. The Ghost Army and my grandfather’s involvement was kept secret until it was declassified in 1996.
My grandfather wore his green army jacket everyday even on the hottest days in New Mexico. His pants and button-up shirts would be covered with paint. When he came to visit us he would sometimes give my brothers and I gum that would be wrapped in cellophane. I found out later that he got that gum from the shelters where he would visit unhoused veterans. My grandfather visited veterans from WWII, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War every single week. He would sit with them while they had lunch and listen to their stories. He deeply cared about their well being. He wore his Army jacket so they’d understand that he had served too.
My mother was a seamstress and jewelry maker. She held monthly potluck gatherings at our house so her friends could discuss everything from the ramifications of the Vietnam War to denouncing oppressive policies against the LGBT community. The gatherings were a way for each guest, who didn’t have much money, to bring just one dish. Each person bringing one dish gave everyone lots of food to choose from and take home if needed. This was a gathering of creatives, artists, and educators. My mother and grandfather both envisioned a world where art and artists were held in the same esteem as any other occupation. That America would stop viewing artists and their work as hobbies or a temporary layover until a “real” job could be found.
My mother and grandfather nurtured my creativity. Cheering me on at each play and dance recital. They educated me about the history of film, theatre, and visual arts. Both my mother and grandfather knew how art connected people with themselves, with life, with the experience of being human. The Arts can evoke empathy and compassion — elements we all could use more of. My grandfather, who worked in Washington D.C. taught me about politics and policy. He wrote Tradition and Innovation in New Deal Art, a book that analyzed U.S. government-supported art projects that took place during the Great Depression. My grandfather knew the potential of what the government could do to support artists. My grandfather also recognized that New Deal Programs, like the WPA’s Federal Arts Project, did not benefit Black, Hispanic, Asian, and Native Artists, in the same way it did White male artists. It’s time to correct this injustice, and I intend to aid that objective.
My mother and my grandfather are one of the reasons I am running for Congress. It’s time that we protect NYC’s creative economy by protecting it’s artists first, and we must center Black artists, artists of Color, Queer artists, and Disabled artists in that charge.
I am an artist, my husband is an artist, and much of our community in NYC are creators, artists, and artisans. Artists encompass a wide range of constituents from nail designers to lighting techs, from dancers to tattoo artists. Currently there are no professional or working artists in the Congressional Arts Caucus. The CAC mission is “a way for the various members of Congress interested in the arts to be able to influence art legislation” If you have not lived the life of an artist, how do you really know what is needed to aid artists?
New York continues to make money off the memory of great artists, mostly Black artists , artists of Color, Queer artists, Disabled artists, who lived and created here. Many of these Black artists and artists of color might have enjoyed some brief recognition or even fame, but more than a few died with little to no money. Many Black New York artists were harassed relentlessly by federal agents or police, and some were murdered by them.
We should continue to honor those artists and their contributions, and we should also make amends for this mistreatment by focusing and aiding the BIPOC/LGBTQ/Disabled artists who currently live here now. These artists not only contribute to the landscape of our communities, but through their work, they also financially contribute to our economy.
Right now in Congress there is a bill to honor the artists who served in the Ghost Army. I think that is truly wonderful, but I know artists like my grandfather would like to see Congress do more than honor artists with a medal. My grandfather would have liked to have seen Congress aid artists, and specifically aiding artists of color.
Subsidized Spaces to Create and Emergency Grants
One of the largest costs many artists have outside of equipment, housing, and food is space. Painters, actors, writers, sculptors, welders, furniture designers, etc must have access to affordable spaces in order to create. One such artist is named Theresa Byrnes who lost her creative space during the COVID-19 pandemic when she couldn’t make the monthly rent. Theresa is a brilliant performance artist and painter. She is a wheelchair user, and her gallery was accessible.
I’m sick and tired of this large expansive community that contributes so much, struggle financially and suffer so dearly. For too long elected officials have called New York City “the cultural capital of the world” without creating policies that actually support the artists that live here. There should have been protections in place so that Teresa didn’t have to lose her gallery — like having access to direct funding, emergency federal grants or no-interest loans for artists’ spaces.
First, the Federal Government should not be in the for-profit business. While the United States Small Business Administration offered PPP loans at an exceptional 1% interest rate, no-interest loans (meaning you’re only paying back the principal) should also be offered to those who need space to create and have been historically disenfranchised. We saw PPP Loans go to the wealthy and well-off, but failed to go to those who needed them most: Black, Hispanic, and disabled business owners.
On average the city has at least 10% commercial space available (twice as much during the pandemic). Financial support and subsidies from the Federal Government are usually directed to corporations or employers, “allowing businesses to divert scarce cash to non-employment costs.” We need to direct more financial support and subsidies to artists. Creatives are small business owners of their work. One way to directly aid artists is to subsidize space for them. The languishing spaces that remain empty in New York could then have paying occupants that are contributing to the city and the landlords would be financially compensated which aids NYC’s economy.
We need to have a targeted approach when helping artists in NYC. We can do that by investing in BIPOC, LGBTQ, and Disabled artists through SBA-backed 0% interest loans for artists spaces. These loans would have no deferred interest that artists in NYC could apply for and pay off year round — not just during emergencies.
Another way we can help artists in NYC is by offering a larger number and variety of inclusive grants.
The National Endowment for the Arts does not fund individuals. The grant process with NEA is also arduous and often the funds go to well established institutions. The NEA has been gutted for years by the GOP. Even with the NEA’s annual budget of $162,250,000 (of which $22,889,000 pays for staffing), it does not serve working artists that haven’t broken through yet but are worthy of investment.
We need to have a program that aids artists in times of crises like a pandemic, a recession, or illness the way FEMA does for natural disasters. Funds in the form of grants could go directly to artists that have a track record of creating; who have been trained in their discipline; and could demonstrate their history and body of work. I know that funding like this would have helped me greatly during the 2008 Recession when I was not eligible for a traditional loan as I have no collateral and no assets. Employment was scarce so I attempted to create my own employment by starting a business, an art and politics magazine. A business cannot succeed if you do not have start of capital and assets, and this describes that vast majority of artists in NYC. Grants could help artists start a small business, invest in themselves as a small business, and continue their work.
Federally subsidizing artistic institutions in NYC is not a new concept, especially in the aftermath of the pandemic, but subsidizing artistic institutions, or already wealthy artists, is not the same as subsidizing everyday marginalized working artists. While many institutions received a fraction of what they requested, this means BIPOC/LGBTQ/Disabled artists receive even less. Funds and subsidies have not been directed to artists and artistic communities at the level or commitment needed to truly aid them. When artists are supported, all our lives are enriched.
Artist Housing
New York City has a housing crisis which means NYC artists have a housing crisis which is doubly impacting BIPOC/LGBTQ/Disabled artists. NYC’s Human Rights Law states, “discrimination on the basis of occupation is prohibited in housing accommodations” meaning at the city level housing can’t be withheld or allocated on the basis of occupation. However, at the Federal Level, subsidies can be allocated to NYC artists.
I want every single person who needs access to affordable, accessible, and integrated housing to have it. I also want their to be room to consider BIPOC/LGBTQ/Disabled artists in that housing vision. We can look at what artist housing already exists in NYC. Some of New York’s current artist housing that has either been federally funded or through private or non-profit private development (Low Income Housing Tax Credit, LIHTC) include Westbeth (384 units), Manhattan Plaza (1689 units), The Schermerhorn (217 units), El Barrio’s ArtSpace PS109 (90 units), and all of them have a waitlist and or a lottery system. While that adds up to a little over 2,300 units. There are at least 200,000 artists living in the five-boroughs.
We need to create more housing overall in NYC and we should consider very seriously adding artists to that vision.
Portable Benefits
There are over 200,000 artists in New York. The vast majority of them work in the service industry and/or as freelancers.
34% of New York City’s workforce are freelancers. A large portion of New York State’s economy comes from creative individuals. Both of these groups are under-covered for benefits like workers compensation, retirement savings, and affordable healthcare. The time has come for portable benefits.
Portable benefits are defined as, “benefits that are tied to the employee, rather than the employer.” These benefits could include a 401(k) and Individual Retirement Account (IRA). Most working artists never have access to 401(k)’s or IRA’s because they’re not usually tied to long-term employment with one job.
Current portable benefits are The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) which allows employees to take their retirement plans with them when they leave their job.
Then there is the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) which lets an employee continue healthcare coverage for a small duration after leaving their employer. However, COBRA is prohibitively expensive. When I left my job for another that didn’t offer the same type of health coverage, my insurance costs doubled under COBRA. This isn’t a realistic coverage option for most Americans, and certainly not affordable for the vast majority of artists.
New York can take the lead on incorporating more portable benefits into worker-friendly policies. Many New Yorkers in the creative economy, the gig economy, and the freelance economy are at risk from one major health crisis bankrupting them, evicting them from their homes, or causing food insecurity. We need to protect and expand our social safety nets while modernizing them to include portable benefits such as workers compensation, retirement savings, and free/affordable healthcare.
We can start by supporting Sen. Mark Warner’s Portable Benefits for Independent Workers Pilot Program Act that will “provide competitive grants to support scalable portable benefits experimentation and seed pilot programs.”
It’s critical that we create a social safety net for NYC artists. We benefit socially, psychologically, and economically from art; but these wellness benefits require us to contribute and support the wellness of artists, “The cultural capital of the world.” Many of the intersectional policies and ideas I support would also help artists like Universal Healthcare and Universal Childcare.
Protecting Immigrant Artists
New York City is home to at least 50,000 immigrant artists. Immigrant artists are integral to New York’s creative and artistic economy. Funding that many immigrant artists have relied on at the city level is being slashed. According to a study done by the Center for an Urban Future, “[New York] city’s 2021 budget cuts more than $23 million from the Department of Cultural Affairs and slash-es funding for Council discretionary initiatives by $79 million — funding that many immigrant-serving arts organizations rely on.” Without this level of support, NYC will lose much of the vibrancy, innovation, and cultural contributions immigrant artists make to our city. This is unacceptable. I will call on the Federal government to help fund immigrant artists here in NYC because without their contributions we’ll no longer be, “The Cultural Capital of the World.”
Unionizing
Right now there are nail artists in New York City who would like to be able to join unions like IATSE which currently accept hair, make-up, and wardrobe artists. Nail artists, many of whom are immigrants, lost more than half of their business during the pandemic. A union could have helped protected them.
Many artists are also gig workers, transportation workers, and members of the service industry that would like to have union protections. We’ve seen from past studies and collected data that our country’s economic outlook is more stable and has less income inequality when we have strong unions. Passing the ProAct is the first step towards economic stability and worker protections.
As of May 2021, Protecting the Right to Organize Act (the PRO Act), H.R. 842, S. 420 has passed the House and we are waiting for it to be brought to the Senate Floor. The ProAct “would significantly strengthen the ability of workers in the private sector to form unions and engage in collective bargaining for better working conditions and fair wages. If enacted into law, the PRO Act would be the most comprehensive worker empowerment legislation since the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) of 1935.”
Having the strong protection of unions across industries could have aided many artists as the Coronavirus swept through America. We shouldn’t have to wait for the next disaster to think about how to protect artists. We need to protect artists now through policy.
Protecting Seniors in the NYC Artistic Community (Endorsing Actor’s Fund Recommendations)
Two prevalent issues harming seniors across all five boroughs is isolation and poverty, and both are heartbreaking but preventable. Seniors in the artist community are no different. Many of them live alone, don’t have a close friend that lives in the neighborhood, and are struggling financially.
I witnessed this first hand when I would visit with my neighbor, Nelly. She is someone who was very involved in the downtown art scene in the early 1980s. She would tell me about how much she loved going out dancing, listening to music, and hanging out with her friends. Now she spent most of her days in isolation and it was apparent that is was taking a physical and mental toll on her.
Our seniors continue to contribute to our communities and they deserve to have the necessary resources to continue to live a life of connection and care.
I will support Federal policy stemming from The Actors Fund’s survey on caring for Seniors in the Performing Arts Community:
• Increase social services that help senior performing arts professionals,
their families and caregivers including financial assistance, senior
housing, and case management services (assessment, advocacy and
referral services, access to entitlements or other benefits, counseling,
coordination of health and homecare services).
• Modify programs as the view of “growing old” evolves. Performing
artist survey participants clearly expressed an interest in finding ways to
socially engage, give back and build a sense of community.
• Expand employment and training services for older performing arts
professionals between the ages of 50 and 75. Through The Actors Fund
Work Program (AWP), entertainment industry and performing arts
professionals can get assistance identifying and finding sideline work
and new careers.
• Expand education efforts to inform older professional artists about the
resources available to them. Organizations playing a specific role in
the lives of aging performing artists can assist in promoting a resource
initiative to their retirees by communicating information about housing
options, benefits, services and programs available in the community.
• Develop social engagement initiatives addressing the special talents
and interests of this group, encouraging more cultural and arts-related
activities. Involve the entertainment unions and community cultural
organizations in planning activities.
Maya Contreras is a Democratic candidate for Congress to represent #NY12. Voting Rights Advocate. Policy Educator. Public Health is Public Safety. No Policy About You, Without You. NYU Alumni. Big Auntie Energy. Go to electmaya.com for more information and to donate.
