New York Choking Musicians And Creativity, Says David Byrne

David Byrne

Internationally acclaimed musician and experimenter David Byrne has claimed that the inequality of New York's '1%' is crushing the creative community in a new opinion piece.

Writing for Creative Time Reports, Byrne says that the 'arrogant' banking culture that lead to the 2008 financial collapse is taking over as New Yotk's creative outlet.

“This city doesn't make things anymore,” he wrote. “Creativity, of all kinds, is the resource we have to draw on as a city and a country in order to survive. In the recent past, before the 2008 crash, the best and the brightest were lured into the world of finance… But before the financial sector came to dominate the world, they might have made things: in publishing, manufacturing, television, fashion, you name it.”

Byrne, who first gained notoriety as the main songwriter of Talking Heads, also noted, “The idea of making an ongoing creative life – whether as a writer, an artist, a filmmaker or a musician – is difficult unless one gets a foothold on the ladder, as I was lucky enough to do. I say “lucky” because I have no illusions that talent is enough; there are plenty of talented folks out there who never get the break they deserve.

Scottish-born, Byrne moved to New York in the '70s to be at the centre of the visual arts and musical scenes.

“New York was legendary. It was where things happened, on the East Coast anyway. One knew in advance that life in New York would not be easy, but there were cheap rents in cold-water lofts without heat, and the excitement of being here made up for those hardships. I didn't move to New York to make a fortune. Survival, at that time, and at my age then, was enough. Hardship was the price one paid for being in the thick of it… Some folks believe that hardship breeds artistic creativity. I don't buy it.

“One can put up with poverty for a while when one is young, but it will inevitably wear a person down. I don't romanticize the bad old days. I find the drop in crime over the last couple of decades refreshing. Manhattan and Brooklyn, those vibrant playgrounds, are way less scary than they were when I moved here. I have no illusions that there was a connection between that city on its knees and a flourishing of creativity; I don't believe that crime, danger and poverty make for good art. That's bullshit.”

In finishing, Byrne also threatens to leave the city if it can't change its ways.

“If young, emerging talent of all types can't find a foothold in this city, then it will be a city closer to Hong Kong or Abu Dhabi than to the rich fertile place it has historically been. Those places might have museums, but they don't have culture. Ugh. If New York goes there – more than it already has – I'm leaving.”