New York is the epitome of multicultural society. Its five boroughs contain Indian, Russian, Irish and Italian communities and parades celebrate New York’s rich heritage of everything from churches to music shops.
Broadway is known for being the center of theatrical production and an attraction for tourists, while smaller theaters known as Off and Off-Off Broadway provide experimental theater apprentices an ideal place to hone their craft.
Music
New York is well-known for its dynamic music scene and array of talented musical artists that call the city home. Opera is also a beloved tradition here, with performances held regularly at venues like the Metropolitan Opera. Attractions such as Museum of Modern Art offer another opportunity to take in its cultural richness through its impressive collection of contemporary art.
Museum of the City of New York presents New York, New Music: an exhibition that examines 1980s New York through key musical genres emerging during that era. The show highlights cross-pollination and openness within New York’s music scene as evidence of change during that era.
New York’s neighborhoods each possess their own distinct culture that can be seen in their activities on stoops, community festivals and cultural organizations. Fostering neighborhood culture helps protect and preserve its unique identities when these are threatened by displacement pressures; supporting cultural infrastructure like venues, events and festivals is also vital in protecting and reflecting community identity.
Public Art
New York‘s world-famous museums and galleries may be its most celebrated spaces, yet some of its enduring public artworks first debuted outside their walls. A new exhibition, Art in the Open: 50 Years of Public Art in NYC’, explores this journey of many such pieces, from their initial conception to current locations.
Gordon Matta-Clark made headlines in 1975 for creating one of the most significant public artworks during this decade with Days End (1975), his dramatic intervention into a warehouse on Chelsea Piers that invited passersby to explore its contents. It remains one of the decade’s iconic public pieces.
Recently, artists have used their work to explore social issues like gentrification and homelessness; others combine art with activism. In the Bronx for instance, Hope Sandrow and writer Michael Boodro collaborated with women living in shelters to create portraits using pinback buttons, photography, mixed media and writing – this result was Ernestine and Three Friends (1992) which is on display at Lexington Avenue Armory.
Ethnic Enclaves
New York remains a vibrant melting pot, but has also transformed into a mosaic of neighborhoods where certain groups predominate. Since Kleindeutschland flourished during the 1840s to immigration from almost every nation on earth today, traditional ethnic enclaves have formed throughout New York City.
No matter where your taste buds may lead you in New York City – be it Russ and Daughters bagels in Manhattan’s Lower East Side, Reunion in Fort Greene Brooklyn, Miriam in Park Slope for Israeli brunch, there is a wide variety of authentic food to satisfy.
There are also a host of small family-run stores that reflect the culture and history of each neighborhood, such as Little Odessa in Brighton Beach (known as Little Russia). There are Russian restaurants and Cyrillic signs galore here! Additionally, Brooklyn features large Mexican communities including Sunset Park, Bushwick and Brighton Beach; Manhattan boasts Washington Heights East Harlem Corona, while Staten Island hosts Port Richmond West Brighton Tompkinsville neighborhoods – which makes up quite an assortment of Mexican influence across NYC and Staten Island alike!
Theatre
This course offers an in-depth examination of performance, design and production in theatre. Students explore rehearsal processes, study specific texts and take part in workshops. Not for theatre arts major credit.
Many of the world’s greatest playwrights, including Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams, created some of their finest theatrical pieces here in New York City. Additionally, there were notable American film directors such as Woody Allen and Martin Scorsese based here as well.
In the 1930s, literary critics known as the New York Intellectuals began advocating leftist political ideas and working to combine literary theory with Marxism. Their group was affiliated with liberal political journal, The Partisan Review.
After 9/11, The Mellon Foundation awarded funding to A.R.T./New York theatres to assist them with rebuilding and developing new services – including creating a multi-million dollar rental subsidy fund for ArtsPool member theatres that supports Hip-Hop and Urban art practices as well as an Arts in Education program.
About Post Author
