Imagine this, a sprawling metropolis teeming and buzzing with innovative dialogue and creative works experiencing their birth. This is New York City—a holonic social structure of communities nested within geographical and physical spaces where individuals of various creative disciplines reside and meet one another. Adam Kahane, author of “Collaborating with the Enemy” describes the holonic structure as “multiple nested and overlapping holons”—wholes that are part of a larger whole. Using this metaphor, we can understand the stage being set in the first three chapters of “The Warhol Economy.” The initial chapters address these holons and their importance which are social networking, multidimensional creatives, and changes occurring within the creative economy in recent decades.

Social networking within the dense twenty-five square mile geography of New York City is what gives the creative economy here its competitive edge. The competitive edge lies in the ease and proximity of people and a rich nightlife of parties, bars, rock venues, and more. This nightlife and informal social community allow creatives to connect with “gatekeepers” and “tastemakers.” Without the gatekeepers and tastemakers, creative producers would have less of an edge in having their cultural products and value reach the community.  In contrast, Los Angeles’ vast spread makes accessibility challenging where it would be almost impossible to reach places without a car. 

We’ve touched the outer rims of this creative atom so let’s dig into the individuals—the nucleus—that helps creativity thrive. Artists, fashion designers, musicians, film & media producers, graphic designers, public relations, and marketers are all examples of creative producers with unique talents that overlap and influence one another. The exchange of ideas nourishes and become the vitamins that support the growth of the greater creative economy. For instance, graphic designers that are part of a marketing department have a fashion client they collaborate with to create a compelling ad that acts as a call-to-action for the community to purchase the designer’s clothing. Yet, it’s also the gatekeepers and tastemakers such as accountants, realtors, and museum & gallery curators with disposable income that connect with creative producers and drive them into the public eye. These folks are nested within communities that are nested into the atom of New York City where, although packed tightly, human capital and idea-driven occupations thrive and culturally enrich one another.

Despite this living, breathing organism called the creative economy thriving there have been shifts in the economic climate in recent decades. There is no longer a low barrier to entry for creative producers to afford rent or have smooth admittance into the city’s nightlife which has become increasingly exclusive with bottle service rising upward of three-hundred dollars. According to “The Warhol Economy” art and culture are more creative “when rents are depressed, gallery space plentiful, and gatekeepers and fledgling artists are able to engage in the same spaces.” This makes sense in that one would need to possess the economic means to be able to reach resources that provide opportunities for success. Barriers such as these posit a decline in the richness of art and culture which are two values that have given reason for many to locate to New York in the first place.

With this, we return to the illustration of the holonic social structure that demonstrates the organic, fluid, and intertwined influences of New York’s creative economy. Social networking, geography, multidimensional creatives, and economic changes are the sum of their parts—a butterfly effect where the beat of a wing can affect and ripple outward to the whole. Yet, what “The Warhol Economy” missed addressing is the critical importance of early arts education in grades K–12. In PBS’s episode 6 of “Artbound: The State of Creativity,” they address how early arts education teaches basic skills such as innovative and creative problem solving that can be translated into a variety of industries. An aerospace engineer can have the scientific knowledge to map a lunar mission but to be an innovator he or she should also be a creative problem solver. The birth of a new generation of creatives are at stake to global art and culture if enough value isn’t placed in early arts education. Again, one cannot exist without affecting another and the interconnectedness of the creative economy is no different.

Sources

Kahane, Adam, and Jeff Barnum. Collaborating with the Enemy: How to Work with People You Don’t Agree with or like or Trust. Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc, 2017. 

Currid-Halkett, Elizabeth. The Warhol Economy: How Fashion, Art, and Music Drive New York City - New Edition. Princeton University Press, 2020. 

Metzler, Chris and Jeff Springler, directors. Artbound The State of Creativity. PBS, Mar. 2015, https://www.pbssocal.org/shows/artbound/episodes/the-state-of-creativity. Accessed Aug. 2024.