Why New York is the Greatest Creative Machine in the World
Naomi Piercey says the New York City Public Library is one of the most creatively inspiring places in the city, and she is spot on. Images c/o Naomi Piercey.
I’m back in New York after a holiday hiatus, and those seasonal leaves of absence always remind me why this city is the greatest creative machine in the world.
In New York, you lean into and learn from extremes. It is loud and eerily quiet and posh and dirty and brilliant and cliché. This contradiction makes most anything possible (if you are competitive and delusional enough). This draws in the dreamers.
In New York, the city streets becomes a place to add your creative mark.
On the other hand, you are surrounded by constant and ever-increasing levels of effort. It takes a lot of energy to live here, let alone work creatively and consistently. But effort is highly contagious and addictive. Come in contact with someone and you’ll notice symptoms of note-making and calendar-filling. So this makes New York a haven for the doers, as well.
Some folks can motivate themselves in a small town, but I need the contact high of the city to make me pull the levers I need for my creative agency or my experiential events business.
New York, where even our trips to Manhattan Mini Storage are filled with a splash of creativity.
Because here, big ideas happen. Dreamed up by an idealist, made real by an executioner. Hustle culture might be out, but making ideas happen is one of the best rebellions against empty promises and tired campaign slogans. Texas-turned-New York painter John Alexander said that in New York, “it’s work all the time, and you have a real conscious and subconscious understanding that if you don’t work hard, you just will be left behind.”
This isn’t a drag on self-care or slowing down. I just write this as a reminder to myself that while it’s okay to take a break, personally, I have to find a way to jump back into the river. As Rick Rubin says, “where there is excitement, there’s energy and where there is energy, there is light.”
For me, that’s plugging into the excitement of New York City.
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