More than 170 languages for its eight million inhabitants: the Big Apple is very proud of its famous melting pot. In 2019, the municipality would like to see its cultural institutions in taking the seed. To the point of threatening to cut their subsidies if they do not implement some measures in favour of diversity. The New York Times reports that if two-thirds of New Yorkers are considered “people of color”, in contrast, two-thirds of the people at the head of the cultural institutions of the city are “white”.

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This is the result of a study commissioned by mayor Bill de Blasio, all of which will be unveiled next Monday. Between August and October 2018, 65 institutions, properties of the city or recipients of funds given by it (museums, zoos, theaters, and botanical gardens), responded to a questionnaire on the identity of their employees. The results are surprising in some ways: some groups are over-represented, such as women (65% of the workforce of the instances surveyed) or disabled (8%, which, according to the New York Times represents a larger share than usual).

The issue of ethnic minorities is more problematic. In a study conducted by the university methodist of the South (Southern Methodist University) and funded by the Deutsche Bank reveals that people of color are under-represented among the employees and even more so among the leadership and boards of directors. Thus, 11% of workers in the middle of the art are hispanic, compared to 29% of the population of New York. Only 10% are black, whereas they are 22% in the overall population.

a wide variety Of steps

The city has asked all the relevant institutions (including the Met or Carnegie Hall) to implement a plan to address this differential, under penalty of having their subsidies removed. But it has not set a schedule or quota for the places concerned, not more than it has fixed a time limit for the implementation of their measures… “We are very careful to show that we do not support quotas, but rather practices that help diversify the workforce,” said Tom Finkelpearl, the commissioner of the department of cultural affairs for the city of New York.

In fact, the measures implemented are quite diverse. The Public Theater is simply a target of 50% of employees of color by 2023. The Moma PS1, the antenna of the Museum of Modern Art in Queens, has chose to forego unpaid internships. A way, as one can imagine, introducing more social diversity among its young recruits, and therefore, by way of cause and effect, more of a racial mix.

The Lincoln Center, he will look seriously at the question of the equality of wages between the different minorities. The Wildlife Conservation Society, the organization that manages the Aquarium of New York and four of its zoos, is preparing to create training for employees who wish to take on more responsibilities in the company.