Thirteen Reasons to Love New York: A Special Editorial for Il Giornale dell’Arte
In March 2026, Il Giornale dell’Arte invited me to co-author the opening editorial for their special focus on New York, the city I have made my home, and the place where my work as a cultural strategist takes shape every day. Together with journalist Maurita Cardone, we wrote “Thirteen Reasons to Love New York,” a chorus of thirteen voices from across the city’s cultural scene, each speaking in their own words to what makes New York one of the most layered cultural ecosystems in the world.
The thirteen contributors were curator Cecilia Alemani; gallerist Stefania Bortolami; artist Danilo Correale; illustrator, curator and design educator Steven Guarnaccia; artist Marilyn Minter; writer and film professor Antonio Monda; curator Larry Ossei-Mensah; critic and curator Barbara Pollack; artist Luisa Rabbia; artist Francesco Simeti; artist Federico Solmi; artist Rirkrit Tiravanija; and gallerist David Totah. Each one offered a distinct angle, from the conviction that New York is the capital of cultural resistance, to the idea that the city moves at the rhythm of those who are willing to keep showing up; from a tribute to its irreducible diversity, to the recognition that here, more than almost anywhere else, art can still have impact on the world beyond itself.
Writing this piece meant a great deal to me. New York is not only where I live and work; it is also the city that has shaped how I think about culture as civic infrastructure. From the institutional weight of its museums to the experimental energy of its independent spaces, from its philanthropic traditions to its quiet, daily acts of cultural patronage, New York continues to demonstrate something rare: that a city can hold contradictions and still produce meaning.
The editorial was conceived at a moment when the conversation around the United States has narrowed in much of the international press. The intention was to offer a different angle: not a defense, but a reminder of how dense, generous, and self-renewing New York’s cultural infrastructure remains. Museums and foundations, artist-run spaces and university programs, public collections and private initiatives all continue to interact with an intensity that few other cities can sustain.
The reflections of the thirteen contributors converge on a single point I deeply share: New York’s cultural strength is structural, not ornamental. It is built on overlapping networks of public and private support, on a tradition of philanthropy that takes culture seriously as civic infrastructure, and on a willingness to keep experimenting even when the broader climate grows uncertain.
“Culture in New York is not an accessory to civic life but one of its primary instruments.”
For Il Giornale dell’Arte’s Italian readership, the editorial also served as an entry point into the broader special focus on New York that followed in subsequent pages, a sustained look at the city’s galleries, museums, and cultural geographies that has long been one of the paper’s signature international features. For me, contributing to it was also a way to bring an Italian audience closer to the New York I actually know: the working, generous, complicated one I encounter every week through my consulting practice with museums, foundations, and private collectors.
If New York has thirteen reasons to be loved, this editorial was my small contribution to making them visible to a wider audience.
→ Read the full article in Italian on Il Giornale dell’Arte (ilgiornaledellarte.com)
