CreateNYC: A Cultural Plan for All New Yorkers
Location
Client
New York City Department of Cultural Affairs
Services
- Public Realm Strategies
- Economic Development Policy
Collaborators
- Hester Street Collaborative
Year
Links
New York City is by far the largest direct investor in culture in the United States after the federal government, with an annual cultural budget of over $330 million. In 2016, JLP+D and an interdisciplinary team began developing CreateNYC, the city’s first-ever cultural plan, for the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. CreateNYC will serve as a guiding framework to strengthen and grow the city’s cultural life and multi-billion dollar creative economy in a manner that is sustainable, resilient, and equitable. The team was led by the not-for-profit Hester Street and also included the not-for-profit Naturally Occurring Cultural Districts.
The plan’s development was rooted in an unprecedented outreach effort, including over 400 total individual events, 40 neighborhood workshops, 55 individual focus groups, and 50,000 surveys completed. This strategic effort included partnering with 35 local and community partners to target specific, difficult to reach groups on a one-on-one basis to ensure the maximum number of the city’s diverse communities had their feedback incorporated into the plan’s ultimate recommendations. JLP+D was intimately involved throughout the outreach process, including leading engagement with the city’s largest cultural institutions and around the affordability of living and work space for the cultural community. In total, this impressive effort ensured that the plan is informed by the voices and ideas of over 200,000 New Yorkers across every neighborhood in the city.
CreateNYC includes a series of concrete recommendations to strengthen and grow the city’s cultural fabric, enhance access to culture across the city, and enhance the sustainability of the city’s creative communities. JLP+D developed the team’s recommendations for preserving neighborhood character, increasing access to affordable living and work space, and strengthening citywide coordination. Working iteratively throughout the engagement process, ideas were vetted with outreach participants, community leaders, public officials, and cultural institutions to ensure that recommendations were implementable and the plan laid a framework for long-term success. CreateNYC was formally released by Mayor Bill DeBlasio in July 2017.
