Arts Newsletter
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The Topic
The arts encompass virtually all forms of creative expression: music, theater, painting, sculpture, design, film and video, literature and, increasingly, the Internet.
The Context
New York City long has been considered the cultural capital of the nation, a draw to countless artists, writers, and performers.
The city's Department of Cultural Affairs estimates that there are more than 1,200 nonprofit arts organizations in the five boroughs, of which at least 600 receive some kind of government support.
Best Books About Arts
Sort books by: Author | Title | Publisher | Year
| | Broadway by Brooks Atkinson (MacMillan, 1970.)
An encyclopedic history of Broadway theater and its key players. Among other things, Atkinson's history traces the origins of the longstanding divisions between off-Broadway and Broadway, downtown and uptown art. more info... |
 | Loft Living: Culture and Capital in Urban Change by Sharon Zukin (Rutgers University Press, 1990.)
CUNY Grad Center and Brooklyn College sociology professor Sharon Zukin was one of the first to delineate how cultural activity gives rise to gentrification; this book provides a window onto Times Square's overhaul as well as the ongoing changes in arts districts such as Fort Greene, Brooklyn, and Long Island City, Queens. more info... |
 | New York Modern: The Arts and the City by William B. Scott and Peter M. Rutkoff (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001.)
This wide-ranging history of art and artists in twentieth-century New York draws connections between the urban experience and creative activity, shedding light on how New York became a mecca for artists. more info... |
 | Successful Fundraising for Arts and Cultural Organizations by Karen Brooks Hopkins and Carolyn Stolper Friedman (Greenwood Publishing, 1997.)
A practical guide to building financial stability by two veterans, including advice on how to mount fundraising campaigns, create endowments, and develop diversified funding sources. more info... |
 | The Arts and the Creation of Mind by Elliot W. Eisner (Yale University Press, 2002.)
Eisner describes how thought processes are elicited and formed through participation in and appreciation of the arts. In a passionate argument for more arts education, Eisner argues that arts can help us deal with the ambiguities of daily life by developing supple and agile minds. more info... |
Reader Submissions / Others.
• Reflections And Shadows by Saul Steinberg with Aldo Buzzi. If Saul Steinberg, who died in 1999, is best known for his New Yorker cover showing a Manhattanite's truncated view of the rest of the world (Ninth Avenue, the Hudson River, then Kansas City, the Pacific Ocean and Japan), this stocking stuffer of a book shows that Steinberg's experience of the world extended well beyond the Holland Tunnel. New York Times Book Review
Interested in other books about NYC? Visit our NYC Books section.
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