ON THE PRODUCTION OF CULTURE is a roundtable discussion on the urban economics of arts organizations within New York City. This discussion will look into specific moments of innovation that have allowed for some of New York City’s most provocative cultural organizations to thrive.
The city’s urban condition is in many ways a continuous cultural experiment -- often necessitating innovation. Its economics are driving towards highly specialized districts that are as dense, large, and lucrative as possible. This challenges the ability for smaller businesses and particularly smaller cultural organizations to exist sustainably. It threatens the notion of the city -- offered by political scientist Iris Marion Young -- as place that is “heterogeneous, plural and playful, a place where people witness and appreciate diverse cultural expressions that they do not share and do not fully understand.” For New York City to maintain this effect on our world view, it must contain cultural organizations at an extreme variety of scales and genres. This discussion questions how visionary cultural progression is taking place within these seeming constraints of the city.
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