New Kid in Town: A creative solution to empty storefronts

Paul Glader

Would bohemian artists — painters, graphic designers, photographers, video artists and writers — who are priced out of Brooklyn or Manhattan ever move to Great Neck?

Could this be a solution to the empty storefronts I see proliferating the business districts of Great Neck? Could this be a solution to underused housing in Great Neck and the vicinity? Could this be a way to add more beauty, pizzazz and creative culture to a more sedate, suburban aesthetic? 

Those were the questions I posed to my friend John Silvis, a Brooklyn artist and gallery owner, recently over a beer with my wife and I at our dining room table recently. 

He furrowed his brow a bit at the thought of serious New York City artists moving to the Long Island suburbs.

“It would have to be artists who have some relationship to Long Island,” he said. “It would be hard for a kid coming from Tennessee to be an artist in Brooklyn… to then move to Long Island and understand it very well.”

But he wasn’t entirely opposed.

Silvis, a photographer, lives in Williamsburg and rents an art studio there, sub-leasing space to several other artists. He also is co-owner of Outlet gallery in Bushwick, Brooklyn. 

He’s taught art at the university level and worked at top art institutions in the city such as Dia Art Foundation and worked as a curator for Citibank. 

In other words, he knows the art world from several vantage points.

What about sponsoring an Artist in Residency for five artists each year: a painter, a photographer, a writer, a musician and a video artist or designer? 

Great Neck or private sources would offer free housing, studio space and perhaps a yearlong train pass on the LIRR so the artists can get to and from the city easily?

“I think it’s feasible,” Silvis said, noting some caveats. 

Silvis suggests such a program be targeted to a serious artist who grew up within 50 miles of Great Neck and went to art school and knows the area. 

“To pick up art supplies here, the person will need a car,” he said.

Giving a “fellowship” or “award” would require both funding as well as some kind of jury to manage and judge the entries. And there are other hurdles. “It’s hard for artists. A lot of their work requires them to can go to events and openings.” He notes it would be tough for an artist to get from Great Neck to gallery openings in Bushwick on a Thursday evening and back to Great Neck easily. Most artists need proximity, convenience and community, he says. “The critical mass of artists means there is enough community” in a place like New York City, Berlin, Los Angeles and other strong urban centers with art communities.

Even still, Silvis says the critical mass starts with intentionality. 

If 2-3 serious artists decide to permanently set up shop in a community, “you start to build a trajectory.” 

The key for Great Neck would be that artists realize it is possible to live here and still be involved in New York City.

The more he thought about it, the economics did make some sense. 

“It’s ridiculous!” he said of studio space prices in Brooklyn. 

Silvis said he, too, is being booted from his current studio space because the brick loft building that held artist studios is being converted into more formal office space. “I don’t know where to go now.”

Artists aim to rent studio space for less than $2 a foot (e.g. $600 per month for a 300 square foot space) and that kind of space is no longer affordable in the city. 

In Great Neck, an artist could potentially be interested to rent space between $1 and $2 per square foot. A fellowship that gave them free studio and/or living space would be even more appealing.

For Great Neck, having more members of what author Richard Florida called, the “Creative Class” would be extremely valuable. 

In his seminal book titled “The Rise of The Creative Class,” Florida argues: “Places that succeed in attracting and retaining creative class people prosper; those that fail don’t.” Generally, he is right.

Demographic studies show young people, including young artists, are increasingly moving to more affordable cities such as Portland, Austin and Pittsburgh as New York becomes too pricey for the creative class. 

The millennial population (ages 20 to 29) in New York City grew by only 2 percent between 2010-2013, while San Antonio, Denver and Seattle all grew more than 5 percent according to a study by demographer Wendell Cox. 

Therein lies the opportunity for Great Neck. Real estate is cheaper here than in New York City proper. 

Let’s face it. Great Neck has beautiful housing stock (both private homes and apartment buildings), a bucolic setting under canopies of trees near the water and a potentially great business district. 

But its business districts don’t have a strong defining architecture, a bounty of artistic talent or a particularly edgy element. 

Artists living in a place, adding a bit of chaos and color would bring such a dimension.

Silvis and I agreed that a writer or musician might find Great Neck more charming than a visual artist. 

Top New York City writers often decamp to cabins in New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine or other reclusive locations (often without WiFi on purpose) to complete manuscripts. Composers appreciate solitude as well.

Great Neck certainly has a history as a writer’s inspiration with F. Scott Fitzgerald setting “The Great Gatsby” here. Walt Whitman edited a newspaper in Huntington. 

Do we see any reasons why a strong literary tradition cannot continue and grow? 

Perhaps we should consider hosting an artist’s asylum program for dissident writers, composers, journalists or visual artists?

In June, I was in Kristiansand, Norway, for meetings. One Saturday afternoon, I hiked an island called Odderøya that juts south into the North Sea from Kristiansand. The Norwegians kept military cannons and troops there for centuries to fight off the Danes, the Nazis and other threats.

To my pleasant surprise, former military barracks scattered throughout the woods had been turned into artist retreats, studios that painters and other artists could rent for a low price. 

On that particular day, the artists opened their studios to the public. They offered Norwegian coffee and pastries as we filed in and out of the studios and galleries to check out their work. 

Imagine something like that in Great Neck.

Glader is a business journalist and professor at The King’s College in Manhattan. He moved to Great Neck in February.

Share this Article