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Brooklyn's Progress
April 2001 Five hundred and fifty-three Brooklyn artists representing 35 Brooklyn communities returned the Borough President's survey on housing and space needs. The results showed that Brooklyn artists are facing a space crisis as both rents for residential and commercial spaces rose throughout the 1990s. The survey revealed that 56% of the respondents listed rent as the greatest concern regarding their living and working space and 13% stated they were in the process of eviction or imminent eviction. Artists were asked regarding the costs of their living space over the years with the responses showing that for this group rents increased almost fifty percent from 1990 to 2000. The median rent for 1990 was $500 and the median rent for 2000 was $725. Another area of concern was a shortage of available work space, including studios for visual artists and rehearsal spaces for performing artists. This was mentioned by 19.2% of the respondents despite the fact that the survey did not have a direct question regarding studio space. Respondents stated that they traveled to Manhattan to rent studio and rehearsal spaces; did their work at home despite fumes from paint or cramped quarters; and in some cases stopped doing their artwork entirely until they could find affordable and accessible studio space. Nearly fifty percent of the survey respondents stated that they had lived in Brooklyn for more than ten years and an additional 21 percent had lived in Brooklyn for more than five years. This demonstrated that long-time residents of the borough were facing hardship in the current real estate boom. Additionally, 46.2% shared their living space with other artists, while 53.8% did not. Eighty-two percent of the respondents rented their spaces while 17.5% owned their home. The issue of living and working in the same space was addressed by many respondents. Sixty-three percent stated that they lived and worked in the same location, while 37 percent did not. Many artists responded that they wished to have separate living and working spaces but could not afford to do so. Others emphasized that living and working in one space made it easier to do their work since they also often had day jobs to support their art. Seventy-five percent of the artists responding stated that they lived in residential buildings, while 25% responded that they lived either in legalized live/work spaces or lofts. The survey respondents represented different disciplines but the predominant response, 72 %, came from visual artists; followed by 11.4% dance; 5.3% film; 4.6% literary arts; and 5.3% theater. Geographically, 25.6% listed Williamsburg as their neighborhood of residence; 17.9% Park Slope; 8% Greenpoint; 6.9% Carroll Gardens; 4.8% Fort Greene; 4% Brooklyn Heights; 4% Bedford-Stuyvesant; 3.6% Prospect Heights; 3.4% Clinton Hill; 3.4% Cobble Hill; 3.4% Red Hook; and 3% DUMBO. |
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