VOA标准英语2008年-Arts Boost New York Economy, But Many Artists R

By Carolyn Weaver¹
New York City
02 January 2008
 

Arts and culture account for nearly $21 billion of New York’s annual economy and provide 160,000 jobs, according to the latest report by the Alliance for the Arts, a private organization. The arts draw many tourists to New York, too. But as the cost of housing in Manhattan climbs ever higher, artists are moving farther away from the city center, into far-flung neighborhoods in the outer boroughs² of Queens and Brooklyn - or even entirely³ out of New York. 

Andrew Carnegie built his famous music hall in New York City more than 100 years ago. Above it, he erected⁴ more than 170 tower apartments. He said they should be used as studios where artists of all kinds could live cheaply and devote themselves to their work. Choreographer⁶ George Balanchine, actor Marlon Brando and many other artists, both famous and little-known, have lived or worked here.

They include 84-year-old Donald Shirley, a Jamaica-born concert pianist who has been here 50 years, and who’s performed several times in the recital⁷ hall below his studio. “There's just no place else where I could practice the way I can practice here,” he said in a recent interview, as he played a delicate melody on his Steinway grand piano.

Over the last 16 years, however, the Carnegie Hall Corporation has reduced the number of artists living here to about 40, converting the empty studios to offices or leaving them vacant. Now the remaining tenants⁸ are being asked to leave, to make room for a music school.

“It's a terrible thing because my adult life has been spent right here. But I'll stick it out and see what happens,” Donald Shirley said.

He is part of a group of artist-residents, led by photographer Josef Astor, who are fighting back in court. A series of photographs by Astor contrasts the light- and art-filled studios of current residents with low-ceilinged offices converted from previously⁹ vacated studios. The tenants say that Andrew Carnegie intended for individual artists to use the tower studios. Carnegie Hall Corporation officials declined to be interviewed, but have previously said that their obligation is music education for the city’s children.

Whatever the outcome, the artist-residents say they are lucky to have had their huge spaces for as long as they have. Many New York artists can no longer afford even small apartments or workspace in Manhattan, and have left for neighborhoods far from the city center.

“Artists like to gather in communities,” says Randall Bourscheidt, president of the Alliance for the Arts, a private advocacy and research group. “They like big cities, not because the rent is cheap, because it's not cheap, but because the diversity of experience and the diversity of mankind is so great here.”

But Bourscheidt says that although the arts account for a significant chunk¹⁰ of New York’s economy, artists themselves often barely scrape by.

“There a number of people who are highly talented, esteemed¹¹ members of their profession, actors, dancers, singers, musicians and so forth¹², who live near the poverty level,” he said in an interview at his group’s offices in Manhattan. “It’s not a happy picture.”

Writer Elizabeth Currid, author of The Warhol Economy, agrees.

“They really are finding it difficult,” she said in an interview at a downtown art gallery. “And the thing is, artists know they have to be here. So they still come here, because they kind of have to - to make it.”

In The Warhol Economy, Currid argues that the clustering of artists helps both art and business to thrive. 

“That socializing translates into real economic output,” she said. “In their social and artistic¹³ communities is often where they do business, where they collaborate¹⁴ with one another, where they interact with the gatekeepers who make decisions about what good art or good fashion is.”

She says that even excluding fashion, arts and culture are the city’s fourth-largest employer, almost on a par⁵ with the finance industry.

Currid proposes that the city take steps to keep neighborhoods affordable¹⁵ for artists, by capping rents, for example. Otherwise, she says, she says the city will lose economically as well as aesthetically¹⁶ when high rents drive even more artists from the city center.

“That density¹⁷ and dynamism that occurs when you have all these artists living and working in the same place [then] ceases to exist,” she said.

At the same time, pianist Donald Shirley notes that art's greatest value to New York cannot be summed up in dollars.

“Everything else we have messed up, everything,” he says. “The only thing that is pure is art. What would we do, what could the human being do - what can life be without art?”

1 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。

2 boroughs   

（尤指大伦敦的）行政区( borough的名词复数 )； 议会中有代表的市镇

参考例句：

• London is made up of 32 boroughs. 伦敦由三十二个行政区组成。
• Brooklyn is one of the five boroughs of New York City. 布鲁克林区是纽约市的五个行政区之一。

3 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

4 ERECTED   

adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立

参考例句：

• A monument to him was erected in St Paul's Cathedral. 在圣保罗大教堂为他修了一座纪念碑。
• A monument was erected to the memory of that great scientist. 树立了一块纪念碑纪念那位伟大的科学家。

5 par   

n.标准，票面价值，平均数量；adj.票面的，平常的，标准的

参考例句：

• Sales of nylon have been below par in recent years.近年来尼龙织品的销售额一直不及以往。
• I don't think his ability is on a par with yours.我认为他的能力不能与你的能力相媲美。

6 choreographer   

n.编舞者

参考例句：

• She is a leading professional belly dancer, choreographer, and teacher. 她既是杰出的专业肚皮舞演员，也是舞蹈设计者和老师。 来自辞典例句
• It'stands aside, my choreographer of grace, and blesses each finger and toe. 它站在一旁，我优雅的舞蹈指导，并祝福每个指尖与脚尖。 来自互联网

7 recital   

n.朗诵，独奏会，独唱会

参考例句：

• She is going to give a piano recital.她即将举行钢琴独奏会。
• I had their total attention during the thirty-five minutes that my recital took.在我叙述的35分钟内，他们完全被我吸引了。

8 tenants   

n.房客( tenant的名词复数 )；佃户；占用者；占有者

参考例句：

• A number of tenants have been evicted for not paying the rent. 许多房客因不付房租被赶了出来。
• Tenants are jointly and severally liable for payment of the rent. 租金由承租人共同且分别承担。

9 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

10 chunk   

n.厚片，大块，相当大的部分（数量）

参考例句：

• They had to be careful of floating chunks of ice.他们必须当心大块浮冰。
• The company owns a chunk of farmland near Gatwick Airport.该公司拥有盖特威克机场周边的大片农田。

11 esteemed   

adj.受人尊敬的v.尊敬( esteem的过去式和过去分词 )；敬重；认为；以为

参考例句：

• The art of conversation is highly esteemed in France. 在法国十分尊重谈话技巧。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He esteemed that he understood what I had said. 他认为已经听懂我说的意思了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

13 artistic   

adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的

参考例句：

• The picture on this screen is a good artistic work.这屏风上的画是件很好的艺术品。
• These artistic handicrafts are very popular with foreign friends.外国朋友很喜欢这些美术工艺品。

14 collaborate   

vi.协作，合作；协调

参考例句：

• The work gets done more quickly when we collaborate.我们一旦合作，工作做起来就更快了。
• I would ask you to collaborate with us in this work.我们愿意请你们在这项工作中和我们合作。

15 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。

16 aesthetically   

adv.美地，艺术地

参考例句：

• Segmental construction contributes toward aesthetically pleasing structures in many different sites. 对于许多不同的现场条件，分段施工都能提供美观，颇有魄力的桥型结构。
• All isolation techniques may be aesthetically unacceptable or even dirty. 所有的隔离方法都有可能在美观方面使人难以接受，或甚至是肮脏的。

17 density   

n.密集，密度，浓度

参考例句：

• The population density of that country is 685 per square mile.那个国家的人口密度为每平方英里685人。
• The region has a very high population density.该地区的人口密度很高。