Jobs in Long Island arts sector grew by 21% in last decade, but funding remains a challenge, report finds

Kara Hoblin of Greenport was working as a full-time artist when the pandemic turned her life upside down.

The self-employed, 36-year-old chalk artist whose murals are featured on stores, restaurants and private homes across Long Island said she lost work after the COVID-19 lockdown disrupted many sectors, including the arts industry nationally and on Long Island.

She was forced to supplement her income by taking a full-time job curating cultural events such as yoga, art classes and readings for the Sound View Greenport hotel.

But she finds time to pursue her passion for creating art after work hours, she said.

"Artists are really good at thinking outside the box," she said. "They’re going to do whatever it takes to keep creating art. ... But it doesn't mean it's going to be your only job."

Hoblin is among thousands of Long Island artists — many of whom juggle different jobs while pursuing their artwork — who contribute to the region's economic growth, according to the Center for an Urban Future, a Manhattan-based public policy think tank. The center's report, “Harnessing Long Island’s Creative Spark,” found that Long Island’s arts and culture sector, which spans various genres from fine arts and design to the performing arts, outpaced other key industries on Long Island, including health care, between 2014 and 2024.

A survey conducted by the Long Island Arts Alliance, a nonprofit which co-authored the report with the Center for an Urban Future, found that the nonprofit arts sector generated $330 million in economic activity across Long Island in 2022 and contributed $81 million in tax revenue. The growth also has helped other industries on Long Island by contributing to small business development and the tourism industry, the report said.

Jobs in the arts and culture sector on Long Island grew 21.6% as the population of local artists increased 15.1%, to 11,668, according to the center, which analyzed labor market intelligence from the group Lightcast to compile its data. Artists were drawn to the Island's schools, health care, safe communities and various arts institutions, according to the center, which also found that funding for artists, who face high housing and living costs on Long Island, remains a challenge.

"Without a thriving arts sector, Long Island loses a major part of its appeal to the next generation," said the center's managing editor, Eli Dvorkin. "Young people want culture and diversity and excitement."

Balancing with other jobs

Artists on Long Island, like Hoblin, often make a living by balancing their art with multiple jobs, including commercial work.

Individual artists earn significantly less than those working in other sectors, at an average annual salary of $46,500, less than half the region's average, the report said. The estimated median annual income of a household in Nassau County is $143,144, while the estimate in Suffolk County is $126,863, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey.

One of the biggest hurdles artists face is affordability and high housing costs as they live on limited income, said Long Island Arts Alliance executive director Lauren Wagner.

A recent Newsday/Siena College survey showed that housing on Long Island is becoming untenable. Three-fourths of participants expressed worry about the growing affordability crisis in the region.

Jeremy Garretson, 41, of Greenport, faced financial challenges when he decided to steer his career in a different direction.

A boat captain for 10 years, Garretson decided to turn his hobby for landscape photography into a full-time job in 2015.

But as he struggled to sell his photography, he turned to contract-based photography, working for newspapers, shooting weddings and doing commission-based work with private clients.

"I realized I needed to take on more, so I sold my prints. I did work for the local newspaper, and the work I did for architectural firms and real estate companies balanced it out," he said.

Garretson's landscape photography is featured in Long Island galleries.

"You have to be a little crazy to say you want to make a living as an artist," Garretson said.

Funding a challenge

Funding the arts remains a challenge, said representatives of local art institutions, because many nonprofits rely on county and state grants that vary from year to year.

For instance, the state budget in 2022 disbursed $3 million to Long Island organizations to aid in pandemic recovery, Newsday reported.

The Long Island Arts Alliance works to support the industry by educating artists, providing scholarships to young people and doing research that aids the sector, Wagner said.

"Long Island doesn't have a government-based arts organization built in," she said. "So we step in to do advocacy work on behalf of Long Island's arts and culture sector."

In Riverhead, The Suffolk theater is a cultural hub for the community, hosting music events, comedy and other arts programming.

But because it is a for-profit organization, it isn't eligible for state, county or federal grants, said executive director Gary Hygom. This creates a limited revenue stream. The theater didn't specify its revenue.

Producing a show can be extremely costly, said Julienne Penza-Boone, executive director of the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center, with expenses in the tens of thousands of dollars.

The Westhampton Beach center is a nonprofit and receives county and state funding, as well as private underwriting, Penza-Boone said.

The New York State Council on the Arts, a state-funded group that distributes grants to arts organizations, is one such group that funds organizations like the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center.

In 2024, the council disbursed $3.17 million to Long Island organizations, the Center for an Urban Future's report stated.

The National Endowment for the Arts, a government agency that gives grants to nonprofit organizations throughout the United States, allocated 0.7% of the state's funding, or $135,000, to Long Island organizations last year, according to the report. But federal funding is threatened after President Donald Trump called for the elimination of the National Endowment for the Arts in May as part of his proposed budget.

Dvorkin, of the Center for an Urban Future, said Long Island also can do a better job of helping arts organizations.

He said Suffolk and Nassau should dedicate 1% of county expenses to supporting arts, creating housing for artists, establishing an artist-in-residence program and developing educational grants programs to help arts groups secure funding.

Nassau and Suffolk officials could not be reached for comment.

Dvorkin said he plans to present the recommendations to policymakers throughout the fall and lobby for policy change.

"Ultimately the idea is that these recommendations become policy," he said.