NEW YORK CITY—Real estate services firms focused on technology tenants may want to think twice. According to a new report, nonprofit arts and for profit creative industries were among the fastest growing segments of the city's economy over the past decade.
The study, prepared by the Center for an Urban Future, also shows that New York significantly increased its share of the nation's jobs in each of the 10 industries that make up the city's creative economy, from advertising and design to visual and performing arts. Yet the report concludes that the city's working artists, nonprofit arts organizations and for profit creative businesses are experiencing more intense challenges than ever before, and that New York faces growing threats from a number of cities—from Shanghai and Berlin to Portland and Detroit—that are aggressively cultivating their creative economies.
The Creative New York report reveals that while traditional economic drivers like finance and legal services have stagnated in recent years, employment in film and television production soared by 53% over the past decade, while architecture (33%), performing arts (26%), advertising (24%), visual arts (24%) and applied design (17%) all outpaced the city's overall employment growth (12%).
According to the study, in 2013 New York City's creative sector employed 295,755 people, 7% of all jobs in the city. Employment in the sector is up 13% from 260,770 in 2003. Meanwhile, the city is now home to 14,145 creative businesses and nonprofits, up 18% from 11,955 a decade ago.
The report shows that in 2013, New York City was home to 8.6% of all creative sector jobs in the nation, up from 7.1% in 2003. And of the city's 20 largest industries, none comprise a larger share of the nation's total jobs, including information (which accounts for 6.1% of national jobs), educational services (5.5%), real estate (5.4%) and finance and insurance (5.2%).
Between 2003 and 2013, New York City's share of national jobs increased significantly in all ten industries that make up the creative economy, including especially large jumps in film and television (11% to 15%), advertising (9 % to 12 %) and architecture (4.5% to 7.3%). When examining specific occupations, the study shows that New York City is now home to 28% of the country's fashion designers, 14 % of producers and directors, 12% of print and media editors and 12% of art directors.
The study documents that New York City has far and away more arts nonprofits than any other American city. In 2015, the five boroughs were home to 4,224 arts nonprofits, versus 3,051 for Los Angeles, 1,697 for Chicago, 1,068 for Washington, D.C. and 1,017 for Houston. The number of arts organizations in New York City increased by 54 % over the past decade.
The report shows that most of the recent growth in the city's creative economy is occurring outside of Manhattan. Between 2003 and 2013, the number of creative businesses located in the four boroughs outside of Manhattan rose from 1,596 to 2,994, an 88% jump. During this time, the number of creative businesses in Brooklyn grew by 125%, in the Bronx by 99%, in Queens by 50%, in Staten Island by 21 % and in Manhattan by just 8%.
Meanwhile, over the past decade the number of cultural nonprofits in Brooklyn rose by 149% (265 to 659), in Staten Island by 133% (48 to 112), in Queens by 102% (208 to 420), and in the Bronx by 93% (72 to 139).
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Rayna Katz
Rayna Katz is a seasoned business journalist whose extensive experience includes coverage of the lodging sector, travel and the culinary space. She was most recently content director for a business-to-business publisher, overseeing four publications. While at Meeting News, a travel trade publication, she received a Best Reporting award for a story on meeting cancellations in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina.
