I first heard about the Creative Spark report last year when I was asked to provide some feedback on the state of the creative economy as part of an outreach effort to collect feedback from arts and cultural folks across the region to include in the report. Once it was released I was excited to meet Eli Dvorkin from the Center for Urban Futures at a panel discussion sponsored by Creatives Rebuild NY at the Albany Institute of History and Art and subsequently at an industry presentation on specific stats from the Capital Region. I linked up with him for some feedback on those Capital Region numbers and got a hold of that days presentation to share.
Could you please state your name, title, organization and some background about your previous experience. Also, what drives you to do what you do?
My name is Eli Dvorkin and I’m the Editorial and Policy Director at the Center for an Urban Future (CUF), an independent, nonprofit policy research think tank focused on creating a stronger and more equitable economy across New York. I joined the organization as CUF’s first managing editor in 2016 and I’ve been leading CUF’s research and policy work since 2018. I’ve worked in between the arts and policy worlds for many years. I started out as an arts and culture journalist, organized two traveling art exhibitions across North America, worked as an early employee at Kickstarter, and co-founded Silent Barn, one of New York City’s longest-running and most prolific DIY venues. Prior to joining CUF, I was a staff editor at the Council on Foreign Relations, where I was almost certainly the only employee who came home from work, exchanged a suit for a ripped band t-shirt, and then headed out at 10pm to fix the broken toilet at a sold-out punk show. I’d say I’m driven by the goal of expanding access to opportunity for New Yorkers from under-resourced communities and helping to spark policy changes that make our cities more livable, vibrant, and equitable.
Earlier this year, I saw you at a presentation at the Albany Institute for History and Art where you were partnered up with Creative Rebuild New York for a panel discussion about the work they have been doing. Can you explain a bit about your synergistic connection in that project and about the UPSTATE’S CREATIVE SPARK report? Why do you think this report is so timely?
The Center for an Urban Future has a long track record of publishing deeply researched and highly readable reports that shine a light on the increasingly critical role that the arts and the broader creative sector in New York’s economy, create greater awareness of the steep challenges facing New York’s working artists, arts organizations, and creative entrepreneurs, and put forward concrete and achievable recommendations for policymakers to more effectively support and sustain a thriving arts and creative sector. Last year, with support from Rochester Area Community Foundation, we were able to publish a new report, ‘Upstate’s Creative Spark’, that provided a first-of-its-kind look at the growing role of the arts as a catalyst for more vibrant local economies across all of upstate New York. We then partnered with Creatives Rebuild New York for a policy forum in Albany that built on the key recommendation of the report: that New York State has a major, untapped opportunity to more fully integrate the arts into a statewide economic development strategy, one that invests in culture from the ground up and creates the conditions for local economies to thrive.
I’m really pleased and humbled that this work is having a significant impact: for instance, three new proposals drawn directly from our report were enacted as part of the FY 2025 state budget (creating the state’s first artist residency program in state agencies; expanding state support for public art projects, and directing the state’s tourism marketing agency to ramp up regional marketing support for artists and arts organizations.)
The time is right for these ideas for several reasons. First, even as artists and arts organizations have been the decisive factor in turning around decades of population declines, revitalizing downtowns, and sparking new business formation in cities across the state, it’s striking that less than 5 percent of the state’s major economic development grants typically flow to arts- and culture-related projects. That needs to change. Second, while the state’s arts and culture sector has in many ways led New York’s broader recovery from the pandemic — rekindling tourism, bringing locals back into their downtowns, and fostering communal healing during a very traumatic period — the arts sector itself is still hurting. Presenting organizations are grappling with smaller audiences and higher costs. Traditional funding sources are stretched painfully thin. And as the work of Creatives Rebuild has shown, far too many artists — especially Black artists and other artists of color — are living in a state of financial precarity. The status quo is not sustainable.
The metrics for the Capital Region are so supportive of the value propositions and ROI for public arts investment, individual artist support and investment in the creative economy in general. Why do you think we struggle so much in Upstate to convince public figures and corporations of not only the need but also the outsized benefits that are realized with a more robust support of arts and cultural programming and infrastructure?
Increasingly, I do think more elected officials, economic developers, and business leaders are starting to get it, but a lot more work is needed. It starts with building a convincing case that the arts isn’t some sort of niche amenity, it’s the lifeblood of thriving local economies and the secret ingredient that enables cities of all sizes to flourish. As our report shows, employment in the arts and culture sector across upstate New York surged 35 percent from 2009 to 2019, nearly 10 times the overall rate of employment growth. Likewise, the number of working artists in upstate New York increased by 26.5 percent between 2011 and 2021 — at a time when the overall under-65 population declined. This creative spark is breathing new life into downtowns, leading to the creation of new restaurants, coffee shops, and other small businesses, and giving young people a reason to stay in their communities and put down roots. What local officials need to realize is that a thriving cultural sector creates the conditions necessary for all other economic activity to succeed. And that requires fresh thinking that prioritizes investments in equitable cultural infrastructure as part of an overall economic development strategy in upstate regions — just as officials would invest in any other essential infrastructure in order to spur job growth.
I know that in addition to population and job growth in the creative sectors, friction points were revealed in your research. What would you say are the biggest challenges that we face in continuing to build on the current momentum in the creative economy in the Capital Region? Any suggestions on where we should be focusing to help alleviate or improve those areas?
The most powerful economic advantage is attracting and retaining talented, creative, and entrepreneurial people — and people want to live in culturally vibrant communities. More than any economic development incentive or tax break, the key to strengthening the Capital Region’s economy lies in ensuring that people want to live, work, and play here. And nothing is more effective at achieving that then bolstering the arts and culture sector. The creative economy thrives in places with strong arts infrastructure — that’s where so many creatives get their inspiration. But there are some major challenges, too, especially as revenues and wages rise far more slowly than costs. The city of Albany and the eight counties in the Capital Region need to work together to direct economic development investments toward arts and culture projects. The region’s arts organizations can’t scrape by on state grant dollars and philanthropic support, and far too few small and mid-sized organizations have the capital or resources needed to level up. The Capital Region needs a regional economic development strategy that integrates the arts, culture, and creative entrepreneurship into every decision, tool, and funding opportunity.
To See the Full Upstate’s Creative Spark: How the Arts Is Catalyzing Economic Vitality Across Upstate New York
To See Upstate’s Creative Spark: Art’s Allies of the Capital Region (Capital Region Specific Presentation)