For many Arab artists, the U.S. represents space\u2014space to experiment, to speak more freely, and to build professional networks that can be hard to sustain under pressure back home. Their work often circles themes of identity, migration, and living \u201cin-between\u201d cultures, especially for those shaped by war, exile, or political and economic instability.<\/p>\n
Under the headline \u201cNew York\u2019s high cost of living forces artists to leave,\u201d AFP reports that soaring expenses are pushing artists and creatives out of one of the world\u2019s leading cultural hubs\u2014so much so that the issue has been placed among the priorities of the city\u2019s new mayor, Zohran Mamdani. AFP cites testimonies from workers in film and television who fear they can no longer afford to stay after decades of building their careers in the city.<\/p>\n
AFP references a report by the Center for an Urban Future (issued in December), which found that the number of New York City residents working in arts and creative fields\u2014across audiovisual production, fashion, advertising, and more\u2014has fallen by 6.1% since 2019. Around 326,000 people still work in the city\u2019s cultural and creative sector, but many are relocating to places like Miami, Dallas, and Nashville.<\/p>\n
A key driver is the mismatch between costs and pay. According to the cited report, after adjusting for cost of living, creative workers in New York earn about 23% less than the U.S. national average\u2014compared with 15% less a decade ago. The report also notes that average rents in New York rose roughly 42% over the past decade, while wages in arts-related work increased only about 25%\u2014below the national average wage growth of 44%.<\/p>\n
AFP also notes the pressure on venues and institutions: more than 50 theaters, music clubs, museums, galleries, and related spaces have reportedly closed since 2020, with rising rents, labor costs, and insurance among the cited factors. Proposed responses include expanding rent-stabilized housing allocations for artists and launching a major citywide cultural festival across New York\u2019s five boroughs to help revive the arts ecosystem.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Why Arab artists move west: freedom, opportunity, and the \u201cin-between\u201d For many Arab artists, the U.S. represents space\u2014space to experiment, to speak more freely, and to build professional networks that can be hard to sustain under pressure back home. Their work often circles themes of identity, migration, and living \u201cin-between\u201d cultures, especially for those shaped […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":28496,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"subtitle":"","format":"standard","override":[{"template":"7","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"left-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"topbottom","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"1","show_view_counter":"1","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"1","show_post_related":"0","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0"},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"jnews_post_split":{"post_split":[{"template":"1","tag":"h2","numbering":"asc","mode":"normal","first":"0","enable_toc":"0","toc_type":"normal"}]},"footnotes":""},"categories":[196],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-economy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28495"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28495\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}