{"id":2,"date":"2025-05-12T19:42:13","date_gmt":"2025-05-12T19:42:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/the-busking-economy\/?page_id=2"},"modified":"2026-05-20T01:57:44","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T01:57:44","slug":"sample-page","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/the-busking-economy\/sample-page\/","title":{"rendered":"Our Research and Findings"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Our Seminar 2 project focuses largely on what motivates buskers to perform. <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

And so, we went out to the streets and subways and asked buskers these questions:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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    \n
  1. Why did you start performing?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. What makes ____ a form of busking?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. How long have you been performing?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Is busking sustainable for your life?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. Do you think busking is an industry that is accessible?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  6. How is busking different from other forms of performance?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  7. What impact has this career had on your life?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  8. If you perform outside and on the subway what differences do you see? Parks vs. Stations<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  9. Do you believe other cities would offer the same opportunities as New York? <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>
    \"Sean<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    For our research we employed a qualitative methods to understand prominent buskers as well as conducted an ethnography of where buskers perform & the conditions they perform in. Here is what we found:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    For many, the art of busking didn’t manifest out of desperation, homelessness, or poverty, but rather the passion to create a platform for one to share a lifelong hobby with the world. Natalia “Saw Lady” Paruz was one of these people. Originally performing as a dancer for the Martha Graham Dance Company, after being tragically hit by a car, her career shifted in its entirety. Without being able to dance, she was instead drawn to the saw; as an instrument able to move and “dance” in tune with the musician, it mimicked the way of performance in a new form for Natalia. She didn’t have to base her livelihood around the art of playing the saw, but it encapsulates a piece of passion in her life that cannot be substiuted for any other form of work. This principle remains true for most of the Buskers we talked too as they detailed how the art they perform is deeply embedded within the story, vision, and life of the Busker as the most meaningful way to give back to the community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    However, our research fails to encapsulate all buskers due to the unpredictable nature of the industry. The busking industry can be summarized by a quote from a travelling busker, David Fisher. “The main reason we feel happy about a busking session that has clearly been widely enjoyed by the public is because we go home with much heavier pockets that we started with.” When the quality of your work is physically correlated to donations made by the public, it can feel as though on days when you don’t make as much that your art or performance was off, but it could quite simply be less generous day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    During our ethnography, we met various buskers of various ages, even familiar faces that were in attendance at the BuskerBall, like StreetMule. However, it was also a reminder that public spaces need to be kept clean and available, as we saw Malang Jobarteh set up in front of a trash can while playing. We learned that there are specific people who sully the busker name from our talks during the ethnograph, BuskerBall, and our presentation at the Macaulay Honors College. These performers imitate performance by playing music or audio though a speaker instead of performing with their own skills, and they do get donations from it. Many audience members felt incredibly frustrated that there are certain “con-artists” in the industry when they want to support someone nurturing their talents while making a living.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    We noticed many of the distinguished buskers use the opportunity to busk to find extra opportunities. Buskers like The Saw Lady and Malang Jobarteh, have their own personal websites and emails looking for gigs. We noticed that in the new venmo, cashapp, zelle economy, that Buskers are struggling more so that often. Although cash as been digitalized and many buskers have made the switch, there isn’t the feeling of a good days work based on how heavy your case is anymore. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
    \"NYC<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
    \"Can<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
    \"Go<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
    \"How<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
    \"The<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
    \"Buskers<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
    \"What<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
    \"Famous<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
    \"The<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Signs decorating Tompskin Square Park about busking.

    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    For our research we employed a qualitative methods to understand prominent buskers as well as conducted an ethnography of where buskers perform & the conditions they perform in. Here is what we found: For many, the art of busking didn’t manifest out of desperation, homelessness, or poverty, but rather the passion to create a platform… Continue Reading →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":514,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"portfolio_post_id":0,"portfolio_citation":"","portfolio_annotation":"","openlab_post_visibility":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","clear"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/the-busking-economy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/the-busking-economy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/the-busking-economy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/the-busking-economy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/514"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/the-busking-economy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/the-busking-economy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":163,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/the-busking-economy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2\/revisions\/163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.macaulay.cuny.edu\/the-busking-economy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}