Letters to the Editor-June 2025
Can Artists Survive in NYC?
As an artist who is starting to dig deeper into the business side of the art world, I was drawn to Phyllis Eckhaus’ reporting in the May issue (p.21) on an April symposium Arts for Living: Can Artists Survive in NYC? She noted that speakers at the symposium emphasized “the paucity of affordable housing and workspace for artists, among other issues.”
I have recently concluded a thorough search for artist studio space to rent in lower Manhattan, in the “Congestion Zone.” I paint on large and small canvases, several at a time, so I needed wall space, easel space, and storage space; shared sink and toilet would be fine, and even shared studio space was considered. I knew that space of any kind in Manhattan is quite expensive, but was hopeful that “raw” space might still be affordable (I won’t bother you with what affordable means.)
For anyone interested, Kelly Craig gave me a tip about the New York Foundation for the Arts, nyfa.org, which was a valuable tool for learning about cultural events as well as available artists spaces in NY. I was quickly able to narrow my search and make appointments to visit studios. Reminiscent of the old SoHo days, I found that many older buildings were still being repurposed into artist studios, not just the old industrial lofts, but old tenements or even newish office buildings. That’s good for artists seeking nearby spaces.
There are spaces available. As far as cost, there is a narrow range, which depends on how big or private your need is. Like housing, the smaller the space, the less the monthly rent; yet, the more square feet (SF) of area you rent, the cost per SF goes down usually. Then you get to consider the amenities like a shared kitchen. How about a shared studio with no walls from other spaces or cleaning servicesor 24-hour access?
I found that in the Chelsea to FiDi downtown area, West Village to East Village, the range was $5-10/SF/month, with $7.50 being typical for a very small, less than 100 SF room with no window. A 200 SF room with a window may be priced at $6.50; you get the picture.
On a recent artist studio tour of the West Chelsea Arts Building at 526 W. 26th Street, the large industrial loft building that lost its patron landlady, Gloria Naftali, 96, in 2022, I visited with many artists there to discover what a wonderful environment it has been for them. A possible sale may threaten the studios, founded in 1993.
Can Artists Survive in NYC? Can they survive as artists anywhere? NYC is the center of the art world. We’ll do almost anything to be here.
Thanks for your reporting.
Brian J. Pape
African American Burials at Washington Square
The Washington Square Park Conservancy’s list of historical sites of the African American community around the square fails to mention one important site (Village View, March 2025). This is the segregated burial ground for African Americans at the potter’s field at Washington Square between 1807 and 1825.
By 1807, the Zion African Methodist Episcopal Church had buried about 750 people in a vault under its churchyard at Leonard and Church streets, according to city inspectors. On August 10 of that year an inspector told the city council that odors near the vault that were “peculiarly offensive” and possibly “productive of terrible consequences to the neighborhood.”
Unable to pay for additional land for burials the impoverished congregation petitioned the council for land at the potter’s field and one week later, at the height of summer, the council authorized the superintendent of the Public Almshouse to “set aside a part of the Potter’s Field about fifty feet square, for the use of said Society.”
There is some controversy as to whether African American burials were made at Washington Square; the City Department of Parks and Recreation apparently believing the burials were made elsewhere. But AME Zion should be given the last word on the subject.
Bishop Christopher Rush joined the Zion Methodist Episcopal Church in 1803, was licensed to preach in 1815 and ordained as its minister in 1822. In 1843 he left a more sympathetic account of the congregation’s burial practices than that of the city’s officials.
“…when the corporation of the city prohibited the opening of graves in thickly inhabited parts of the city in the summer season, the [Church] Trustees applied to them for a place for a burying ground, as the Church was not able to purchase ground for that purpose at that time, and on August 17, 1807, the corporation allotted them a place in the (then) Pottersfield (which is now called Washington Parade Ground), which the Trustees fenced in, and used in the summer season of every year, until the Corporation of the City thought proper to fill up the Pottersfield, and improve it as is now.”
The location of the African American burial ground inside Washington Square may never be known. A guidebook published in the 1840s described the square as a “great and most effective ornament to the city that was formed by laying out the grounds formerly occupied by Potter’s Field. The bones were collected in a vast trench, one on each side of the field, which were enclosed with fences and planted with trees…. The Square is surrounded with splendid private houses and one side is the University building and a splendid church.”
Randy Petsche
Shrubbier Parks
Thank you to Georgia Silver Seamans for her article, Shrubbier Parks Can Help Migratory Birds, that was published in last month’s Village View. In it she explains how breeding birds need appropriate food to feed baby birds, as nature designed it — caterpillars and worms. Native flora support native fauna. Without caterpillars and bugs baby birds die and species go extinct.
I add that native weeds are also crucial such as the milkweed plant, the only plant on which Monarch butterflies lay their eggs. We are so obsessed with pulling up weeds that it is creating breaks in the chain of life, contributing to the frightfully diminished numbers of bees, fireflies, butterflies, etc. Ultimately, this puts all life at risk, including ours.
The Hudson River Park, to help restore life in the river, included a salt marsh on the northern edge of the newly developed Gansevoort peninsula. The return of fiddler crabs and a Marsh Wren, attracted to the new salt march, has been recently noted. Well done!
Unfortunately, the development of the rest of the Gansevoort peninsula was a missed opportunity as its majority is covered in plastic grass – the anti-life choice. While the entire city is a flight path, the river is a main pathway so using the peninsula as a natural area with native fauna, including bushes and weeds, would have been its best use.
Now it has a fake beach and fake grass. It is sad and self-defeating at best that this hugely democratic area is so anti-environment, that by example we teach our children that ball sports are more important than everything and everybody else, including our planet and life itself.
It makes me hopeful that Ms. Silver Seamans is teaching young people about real nature as we have become so detached from nature that we no longer recognize or value it or our place in it. If only the NY Parks Dept. and other officials who make decisions for our open spaces could be nature-knowledgeable people, we would live in a more vibrant, healthier city for all life, including the earth, wildlife and us.
Lynn Pacifico
