ACE! Upstate Alliance for the Creative Economy is an advocate and storyteller for the outsized leveraging power of the creative economy. By encouraging multi-institutional collaboration, best practice sharing, and building awareness of the importance of arts and culture, we are creating a higher quality of life for and building our community at large.
Photo credit: J. Quazi King
To raise awareness about the current state of artists’ lives and livelihoods and advocate for concrete policy change, CRNY unveiled the Art Takes Work campaign in Times Square in New York City on January 15, 2025. The central film features six artists at work on their creative practice while discussing the countless non-arts jobs they’ve held in order to support themselves as artists. Excerpts of the film then ran for six weeks as advertisements on CTV (digital streaming channels) in households across New York State. In parallel, CRNY partnered with over a dozen arts service and advocacy organizations to drive a related social media campaign, where artists could amplify the message by sharing their own experience of what it takes to be an artist.
The campaign was designed to expose audiences to the work that being an artist requires, and to encourage stakeholders to call for labor, workforce, and safety net policies that would better support the creative workforce (and all workers) across the state. Links to the NYS Policy Playbook and sample letters to local and state elected officials made it easy for viewers to take action.
Watch "Art Takes Work"
Click on each image to view full size, and to see caption and credit details.
CRNY Executive Director Sarah Calderon. Photo credit: Hollis Johnson
Musician Arturo O'Farrill. Photo credit: Hollis Johnson
CRNY communications staff, creative partners, and film crew. Photo credit: Hollis Johnson
Outreach partners and supporters. Photo credit: Hollis Johnson
Featured artists and filmmakers. Photo credit: Hollis Johnson
Artist Russell Craig. Photo credit: Hollis Johnson
Jennifer Hughes representing the National Endowment for the Arts. Photo credit: Hollis Johnson
Photo credit: Hollis Johnson
Dance/NYC Co-Executive Director Candace Thompson-Zachery. Photo credit: Hollis Johnson
Deputy Commissioner of the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA) Alton Murray. Photo credit: Hollis Johnson
Photo credit: OutFront Media
Photo credit: OutFront Media
Katie Loeb, Chief of Staff for NYC Council Member Carlina Rivera, Chair of the Committee on Cultural Affairs, Libraries and International Intergroup Relations. Photo credit: Hollis Johnson
Scenes from the Art Takes Work launch event at Times Square on January 15, 2025, where hundreds of artists, partners, and advocates braved the cold to show their support for the lives and livelihoods of artists across New York State.
Meet Our Campaign Partners
Outreach for this campaign was strengthened by a coalition of arts advocacy and service organizations across New York City and State, each of which is dedicated to supporting artists’ lives and livelihoods in unique ways. Learn more about each below.
ArtsNYS is New York’s statewide arts advocacy and service organization. We champion the arts as essential to vibrant communities and a thriving creative economy, providing statewide programming and advocacy networks that foster public awareness, generate resources, and support equitable growth in New York’s arts and cultural sector.
Asian American Arts Alliance is a nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring greater representation, equity, and opportunities for Asian American artists and cultural organizations through resource sharing, promotion, and community building.
The Black Artist Collective (BAC) is dedicated to supporting and amplifying the voices of emerging and established Black and Brown artists through dynamic programming, professional development, and fiscal sponsorship. Based in Syracuse, we use art as a powerful tool for advocacy, intervention, and interruption, challenging inequities and amplifying diverse voices in the cultural landscape.
Dance/NYC’s mission is to advance the knowledge, appreciation, practice and performance of dance in the metropolitan New York City area, embedding justice, equity, and inclusion into all aspects of its work. Committed to addressing disparities in the field, it envisions a just and inclusive dance ecology where resources, opportunities, and impacts are fair for all artists, cultural workers, and audiences.
The Entertainment Community Fund fosters stability and resiliency, and provides a safety net for performing arts and entertainment professionals over their lifespan.
Freelancers’ Union advocates for the 64 million independent workers across the country, providing resources, benefits, and support to help freelancers thrive. From pushing for legislation to offering essential benefits and community, Freelancers Union creates solutions to ensure freelancers are secure and successful in their work.
IndieSpace provides radically transparent, responsive and equitable funding, real estate programs, professional development, and advocacy to the indie theater community (individual artists, small budget orgs and indie venues) in New York City.
Naturally Occurring Cultural Districts NY is a citywide alliance that supports community culture as an integral part of thriving and equitable neighborhoods. We strengthen networks and cultural hubs; further peer learning; and share recommendations for reimagining New York City, created by artists, cultural groups, and residents.
New York Folklore supports folk and traditional artists, community cultural experts, community-based cultural organizations, and academic and public sector folklorists across New York State.
New York Foundation for the Arts‘ mission is to empower artists in all disciplines, as well as cultural workers, to achieve success on their own terms by providing critical support, resources, and opportunities. Established in 1971, NYFA envisions a world where artists thrive in the practice and expression of their creative work, a world that celebrates and supports them.
New Yorkers for Culture & Arts works with a broad based coalition of arts workers and cultural organizations to build a future in which every New Yorker has support to engage in the community-strengthening, soul-nourishing power of culture.
NYC Arts in Education Roundtable is a nonprofit service organization working to improve and advance arts education in New York City schools, communities, and beyond. We are a community of arts education practitioners committed to sharing resources, providing professional development, and communicating with the public to promote arts education.
Rochester Artist Collaborative‘s mission is to empower artists by providing them with the tools, resources, and opportunities necessary to thrive creatively and professionally.
Times Square Arts, the public art program of the Times Square Alliance, collaborates with contemporary artists and cultural institutions to experiment and engage with one of the world’s most iconic urban places. Times Square has always been a cultural district and place of risk, innovation and creativity, and the arts program ensures these qualities remain central to the district’s unique identity.
Tribeworks is a worker-owned and artist-run cooperative employer of record committed to building the solidarity economy through support of creative workers. With payments, community, and employment enablement, our goal is to help artists stay focused on their craft.
Artist Edward Cazares. Photo credit: J. Quazi King
Artist Emma Stricker. Photo credit: J. Quazi King
Artist Betty Bastidas. Photo credit: J. Quazi King
Artist Will Wickham. Photo credit: J. Quazi King
Artist Jasmine Murrell. Photo credit: J. Quazi King
Artist Leslie Diuguid. Photo credit: J. Quazi King
Click on each image to view full size, and to see caption and credit details.
Photo credit: Hollis Johnson
Photo credit: Hollis Johnson
Photo credit: Hollis Johnson
Photo credit: Hollis Johnson
Soley Esteves of Creatives Rebuild New York. Photo credit: Hollis Johnson
Photo credit: Hollis Johnson
CRNY staff asked passersby and supporters at the Times Square launch event to fill in the blank: "Art Takes..."
Related Content
Related Pages
NYS Policy Playbook
Policy Initiatives
New York Isn’t New York Without Artists is a long-term, step-by-step playbook for city and state lawmakers to reference as they enact policies that empower artists—a labor force integral to the state’s economy—and improve conditions for all workers in the state.
Voices for Creative New York
Advocacy Infrastructure
Voices for Creative New York provides a blueprint for the creation of a statewide collaborative focused on arts advocacy and creative worker organizing. Five organizations will lead the planning process after CRNY has closed.
Social Media
Campaigns
An archive of two CRNY social media campaigns—“In Your Words” and “Creative Collabs”—that uplift our participants and the impact of our programs on their artistic and personal lives.