POSTINGS in NYC

After reviewing all the positions posted in New York, my question is how, in the name of $50 cab rides, do they expect anyone to live in New York on $25,000 a year?!? Its hard enough to do so in central Texas!

Here, here!! This is what I would like to know also. In order to live fairly comfortably in NYC, it seems to me that one would have to earn at least $70,000 annually if not more. That $25,000 position is not even an entry level position. Who are they kidding? I think if a museum or arts organization can reasonabaly afford to pay decent salaries (based on what they want in a candidate), it ought to do so. I am not sure this is the case. Any other thoughts in this area?

You take the subway, ride busses, avoid restaurants, and live in Hell's Kitchen or a neighboring borough.

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Has anyone who responded actually ever lived in New York?

You don't need to earn $70K to 'live comfortably' (what does this mean, anyway?). You don't have to live in Hell's Kitchen (which is not that bad an area). Most people take the subway to work, not only because it's affordable but at 8 a.m. you're more likely to get to where you want to go more quickly than in a cab. Not all meals cost $50 per person.

Many many people I know live in Manhattan with incomes under $50K, under $30K even. Anyone who is an actor, musician, artist, etc. lives this way.

Where do you people get your information from?

I don't know, but somehow we manage...

Stanley Greenberg

I am certainly not defending low salaries, I think it is extraordinary the quality of people drawn to museum work despite the typical poor wages and, often, lousy working conditions. But $25,000 is probably an average wage give or take 20% in the Big Apple. And while institutions tend to get a good deal more than they pay for, at $25,000 they face both the advantages and disadvantages of rapid turnover. For a young professional, he/she gets exposure to some of the greatest museums in the World. Also some of the worst ones, but there is learning in that as well.

SHHHH!!!! Everyone will want to live here. I was born and raised in Hells Kitchen. I am still living there Now! (With all my new trendy neighbors.) I walk to work. I love Hells Kitchen it is a truly diversified neighborhood. There are lots of great resturants for under $20 , and I ain't talking Mickey D's. The truth be known getting by on Museum salaries in NYC is not easy. Liking what you do makes it easier. Thank the heavens above for Rent Control. Poor but happy,

Whoa! Didn't mean to defame the big apple or start an e-mail war. The city certainly has its cultural amenities. Its just that the last trip I made there was very expensive. The cab ride from the airport was $63 plus tip

Part of the problem is, I think, is a difference in culture. For most Americans raised in small towns or big cities comfortable means a house with three or four bedrooms, a yard, fairly nice car and the like and a reasonable commute to work. That, would be very difficult to do in New York on most museum salaries. But they is not a typical New York lifestyle or for that matter typical in most of the rest of the world.

Is this a regional bias? Some living on the east coast would reverse this.

Most definitely, this is my own view.

Despite the high cost of living in NYC, for those of you who do live there and can afford to go to Broadway (although I'm sure with all this discussion about low salaries and high rents, you never get to do anything fun!), have any of you been to see the musical Titanic? I'm thinking of a weekend getaway to NYC - yeah, it will be costly but sometimes you just have to live a little and max out the credit cards for sanity's sake - and just want to know if it's a 'must see' on Broadway. Any other suggestions for on and off Broadway shows that are worth a trip. Thomas A. Reitz Manager/Curator Doon Heritage Crossroads R.R. #2 Kitchener, Ontario, Canada N2G 3W5

Telephone: 519-748-1439 ext. 227 Fax: 519-748-0009