Valuing Central Park's Contributions to New York City's ... - Appleseed

30
Fig. 6. Museums by attendance within the Central Park area, 2006
and paid total wages of more than $670.6 million.
Similarly, the area surrounding Central Park is home to some of the most
famous cultural institutions in New York City and the world. The Park
predated virtually all of the institutions, many of which made strategic
decisions to locate within or near Central Park.
Forty-seven museums are located in the Central Park area. In 2006, these
museums recorded a total of more than 18 million visitors. Two of the
museums bordering the Park – the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the
American Museum of Natural History – accounted for more than half this
total. Both ranked among the top five museums in the U.S. as measured by
attendance.
Like hotels, the museums that cluster around the Park are major employers.
In 2006, the 36 institutions for which data were available employed a total
of 7,000 people in full- and part-time positions – about 77 percent of all
museum employment in New York City.
Several of the City’s leading venues for the performing arts – including
Lincoln Center, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall and City Center
– are also located within a few blocks of the Park.
Conclusion
Central Park is a world-class athletic venue, a music performance space,
a visitor destination, a location for film and television production and
commercial photography, and an anchor for the City’s hospitality industry
and many of its leading cultural institutions. In each of these roles, it helps
form the image that New York conveys to the world.