DowntownNYC! was formed on November 8, 2001 at the Cherry Lane Theater as a broad-based volunteer coalition of theater companies, performing artists, galleries, museums, restaurants, businesses, and pre-existing organizations & associations. It was established to generate goodwill, to boost business, and to rally the spirits of all who work and live downtown.

Although the organization is no longer active, this website is maintained in order to preserve a web presence for its valuable research in 2002 and 2004 on the economic impact of the 9/11 attacks on artists of all disciplines in NYC and vicinity. (See right column: NEWS.)

THIS WEBSITE CONTAINS ARCHIVED ARTICLES

Special thanks to our Gov't Outreach Committee, JMTC Theatre, Theater for the New City, Citizen's Committee for NYC and all the dedicated volunteers on this project.

We Live to Remember

If the light in the darkness of 9/11 was the extraordinary ability that revealed itself in ordinary people, Tim Tuttle is a musical version of that. He is not a professional musician, though you would never know it to see him onstage. But he is just a guy with a musical vision who really wants to tell this story.

Music from Ground Zero-- Mark Dann, member of Dharma Bums, who have played for the Dalai Lama. R: Tim Tuttle. Photo by Chris Eckert.

Niche Business "Frames Up" an Impressive Recovery

Many private businesses in Lower Manhattan are still on shaky ground, and a lack of aid combined with the limitations of their local customer base have caused them to flounder. The brave ones left are holding in. L & O Frame on Duane Street is one of many private niche businesses that, once greatly successful, is a case in point. By Kevin J. Wong.

Lawrence Levinson, proprietor of L & O Frame. Photo: Kevin Wong.

DowntownNYC! profiles the Careerists--the tastemakers, business leaders and civic activists who instruct us by their example.

Patrice Samara, whose office is in Tribeca Film Center, is New York's maven of corporate anniversaries. By Sammy Condusta

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OUR 2004 ARTISTS' WRITE-IN:

The ongoing effect of 9/11 upon artists of all disciplines in NYC

Testimonies point to continued weakness in the cultural sector, which has caused many established artists to resort to non-artistic work and others to leave the city to avoid economic hardship.

By Jonathan Slaff and Delphine Veaudor, in consultation with Carolyn Sévos.

PRESS CLIPPINGS:
"Survey Finds Post-9/11 Times Harder for City's Artists" (New York Times)

"New York City is Giving Artists the Brush-Off: Unaffordable; Other Cities Happy to Oblige" (Crain's New York Business)

"City Seeming A Bit Artless" (NY Daily News)

The attacks of September 11 significantly impacted the arts and entertainment sector, causing far-reaching effects on the livelihoods of individual artists, both those self-employed and those employed by others.

by: Jonathan Slaff and Carolyn Sévos, with consulting editor Robert Cashill; additional analysis by Amy Schwartzman Brightbill, NY Foundation for the Arts, Consortium for Worker Education and DowntownNYC!

PRESS CLIPPINGS:
"Survey Finds Artists Since 9/11 Have Less Work and More Debt" (New York Times)

Assessing the damage
by: Leonard Jacobs, Backstage

The Importance of the Arts to New York City’s Economy

In NYC, the Arts are a larger industry than Advertising and a major engine of the economy. NYC's funding to the non-profit cultural sector ripples through the economy and generates a tax return that far outweighs the subsidies.
by: Rosemary Scanlon, Statement of Rosemary Scanlon, Associate Professor, Real Estate Institute, New York University SCPS, to New York City Council Committee.

Promoting Downtown Arts in Clearview Festival Productions' street fairs

In the summer and fall of 2004, our "cultural concierge" program drummed up audiences for arts institutions in a series of neighborhood-based promotions, using space in Downtown street fairs donated by Clearview Festival Productions.