N.Y. Alliance’s Shift Illustrates Tough Times for Arts Advocates

The Alliance for the Arts, a New York organization that has advocated for arts groups and issued influential reports on the cultural economy for 35 years, is transferring its primary activities to two other organizations, The New York Times says.

The alliance will shift its research work to the Municipal Art Society and its online operations to public broadcaster WNET in what The Times calls a sign of the difficulties facing culture advocates as they compete to win money from the performance and education groups they work to support.

Facing debt and scant resources, the Alliance of New York State Arts Organizations dissolved last year, and the New York State Alliance for Arts Education has unsuccessfully sought a merger partner for two years.

“If it’s tough times for the arts, it’s even tougher for the advocates,” Mitchell L. Moss. a New York University urban-policy professor, said. “People want to give to the organizations that are involved in creating art. The advocacy groups are secondary.”