Is New York City's Diversity Reflected in its Arts Organizations?

Conducting Business

New York's Department of Cultural Affairs is embarking on the first comprehensive effort to measure diversity at the city's museums, venues and performance groups. The survey, announced on Monday, will collect information on the demographics of employees, boards, and visitors at arts organizations. The goal: to determine if these groups are keeping up with the increasingly multicultural makeup of New York.

"The statistics that we've seen elsewhere show that a very large sector of the employees and boards at cultural institutions are white," said Tom Finkelpearl, commissioner of the Department of Cultural Affairs. "We're in a city now where 60 to 65 percent of people do not describe themselves as white. This is about the future and what the place of cultural institutions in New York City should be in the future."

The city agency plans to survey about 1,200 arts organizations and use the data to draw profiles of various professions, be it orchestra administrators, museum curators or choreographers. "Then we'll know where the most work needs to be done," said Finkelpearl.

Tom Finkelpearl, Commissioner of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in the WQXR studio.
(Kim Nowacki/WQXR)

Previous studies have shown that the classical music field particularly falls short when it comes to participation among Blacks and Hispanics, and the League of American Orchestras has found that these groups represent less than four percent of orchestra players. Finkelpearl says this points to a larger "pipeline" problem, of getting young minority musicians on a career track (and providing resources to manage student debt).

"It's all fine and good to get kids in high school playing instruments," he notes. "What gets them into conservatory? What gets the kids in conservatory to stay on and have a classical music career?"

In the interview Finkelpearl also talks about:

Plans for re-integrating the arts into the New York City Public Schools. Where music education figures into these plans. Why New York City is tough for artists (it's not just about high rents) but why he isn't as pessimistic as some are.

Listen to the full interview above and share your reactions by clicking on the gray comments bar below.