Creative Footprint NYC
On Friday September 28th, the results of the Creative Footprint NYC were released at the Ace Hotel in Manhattan. With more than 25,000 data points collected about the city’s 495 venues, the report gives a detailed snapshot of the health and vibrancy of New York’s live music scene.
The CFP NYC report launch was followed by a day-long intensive workshop session called NightCamp, which brought together 80 engaged stakeholders from the city’s nightlife community. The results of the workshop were aggregated into a white paper which we hope will drive the conversation around these important topics in the coming months.
Amongst the stakeholders in attendance were Senior Executive Director of the Office of Nightlife Ariel Palitz, Councilman Rafael Espinal, and representatives from Red Bull, Ticketswap, NYC Hospitality Alliance, City Parks, Avant Gardner, PopGun, Nowadays, Afropunk, and Soundcloud.
The New York Times published an article about the Creative Footprint report and shared some key insights.
- Manhattan is packed with the most live music venues — and many of the city’s largest and oldest — but has the lowest number of so-called “experimental” spaces; Manhattan’s offerings are more mainstream and commercialized.
- The most experimental spaces in the city are in Brooklyn and the Bronx. “The most creative stuff tends to happen in the outskirts, with a lot more of the mainstream programming happening closer to the areas where it’s much more expensive to be,” said Ross Gardiner, who helped compile the report.
- But the most creative spaces are also the ones most at risk, according to Mr. Gardiner. “The economics of running a small venue like that are extremely challenging,” he told us. “They have a far greater influence on the unique, individual culture of a city, but they quite often tend to be the first ones swept away in the wave of gentrification.”
Download the report now.
Creative Footprint | Music NYC is a cultural impact study of the wellbeing of the current live music scene in New York City.
Identifying music as a primary catalyst, the report processes and evaluates an extensive and brand new dataset. This dataset is collated from nearly 500 venues and 150 stakeholders based in New York City, 15 data researchers and designers, and New Yorkers active and expert in the city’s music industry. The study is compiled of more than 25,000 data points with rich spatial analysis maps developed the University of Pennsylvania’s applied research arm PennPraxis.
The report asserts the importance of affordable creative space to a city centre’s social and economic health. The CFP NYC report recommends that affordable working creative spaces should be a vital component of all the boroughs, throughout the city.
NightCamp NYC
Out of the Shadows:
Owning or Renting Creative Space:
Safer Spaces & Authority Dialogue:
Access to Public Space:
The outcomes, ideas and perspectives derived from NightCamp’s working groups will be compiled into a nightlife white paper alongside supporting data from the Creative Footprint NYC study. This will be published immediately after NightCamp.