It is no secret New York is a tough place to live. The high cost of everything makes it particularly hard on those just barely eeking out a living. New York also prides itself on being the cultural capital of the country (if not the world), but those who create that culture are often the ones finding it hardest to make ends meet.
That reality was the finding of a new study from the Freelancers Union, a group organized to advocate for benefits for this city’s self-employed workforce. While arts organizations contributed some $14.5 billion to the local economy as recently as 2000, individual artists themselves typically live without health insurance, unemployment benefits or retirement plans. Many are thinking of leaving.
Among the findings:
• More than 40 percent made less than $35,000 last year.
• 39 percent experienced a significant gap in health insurance coverage.
• 75 percent avoided seeking medical care when uninsured.
• They are highly educated: 85 percent have a college degree.
• They are politically engaged: 92 percent are registered voters.
The Freelancers Union has called on the city to create a directory to help independent workers access resources and set aside funds for professional associations or unions to develop programs for them such as “portable benefit models” that tie traditional benefits to individuals as they job-hop, rather than to employers. Other ideas include shared housing equity for artists in joint-living workspaces. The concept is for them to pick a space where they want to live, and then a fund would assist in obtaining a mortgage and providing some sort of guarantee or allow for low-interest rates.
Who are the young Black actors to watch? Moviefone offers up a highly subjective list of young Black movie stars (best viewed in browsers other than Internet Explorer) we should keep our eyes on. I’m always suspicious of such lists, figuring some PR guy had a hand in it somewhere or that they went for name recognition over real acting talent, but there are one or two names I can accept. The rest…I’ll wait to be impressed. Take a look at their list and tell me who you think belongs or not.
2 comments ↓
That list is a bit lopsided. It starts off with “no-brainer” talents like Kerry Washington, Anthony Mackie and Derek Luke; adds “eye candy” (Joy Bryant, Meagan Good); and then slides into questinable territory: T.I.? Malcolm David Kelley?
I’m underwhelmed by the list. They lost all cred by mentioning T.I. I like D Luke’s work but he bores me for some reason. K Washington is god awful. I still can’t erase her bad acting from my head in “Save The Last Dance”
I’m gonna have nightmares about that list.