Mayor Bloomberg gathered yesterday with prominent business and cultural leaders to discuss how to keep the city attractive to the creative class and at the vanguard of the cultural world, a position it apparently may be in danger of losing.

The group met at the Museum of Modern Art to consider this question: Is it possible that other cities – London, Berlin, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia – are on the verge of wresting artistic leadership from New York’s longtime grip?

At the event, Mayor Bloomberg announced that his administration would be adding a nonprofit desk to its Economic Development Corporation, to provide arts organizations with the same kind of assistance small businesses now get. The new desk would be in operation by the end of the summer, the mayor said. He also reaffirmed the city’s commitment to the creative sector, which he credited with “enhancing our quality of life and transforming neighborhoods.”

A case can be made that the creative industries – consisting of 11,671 businesses and nonprofits employing 309,142 people – are almost as important to the economy of New York as the financial services sector. The creative sector added 13.1% more jobs between 1998 and 2002, faster than the city’s overall 6.5% growth. A stunning 8.3% of people working in the creative sector in America live and work in New York, meaning the city ranks second only to London. Moreover, the excitement of New York’s arts scene is at least partially responsible for attracting tourists, who are also vital to the city’s economy.

According to a study called Creative New York, published in December of last year by the Center for an Urban Future and the Mt. Auburn Institute, New York’s artistic leadership could wane unless the city’s leaders begin to address some major problems facing artists and cultural institutions.

The executive director of the Alliance of Resident Theaters/New York, Virginia Louloudes, cited the high cost and scarcity of work space in New York as a major obstacle. Sound stages, theaters, and rehearsal halls are insufficient to meet demand, she said.

The chairman and CEO of Time Incorporated, Ann Moore, said affordable housing and health care are of particular concern to employees in the arts. As one neighborhood after another becomes gentrified, fewer are within economic reach of the creative people who developed them. The head of Federated Department Stores, Terry Lundgren, stressed the need to create transportation links to those neighborhoods newly popular with artists. Still other speakers touted the benefit of providing low-paid employees in the arts with subsidized transit fares.

The chairman and CEO of IAC/InterActiveCorp, Barry Diller, highlighted New York’s challenge in retaining its status as the communications capital of the world, and the issue of lagging Internet capabilities. Philadelphia has raised the bar by making wireless Internet available citywide. Asked about New York’s plans in this arena, Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff said the city was looking into broadening Internet access in a variety of public spaces, including the parks, but that it was unlikely the entire city would ever be accessible.

Putting aside the wireless issue, most in attendance agreed that New York is still the world’s cultural leader, but all voiced concerns about incursions being made by other cities. As the mayor acknowledged, “Today we have to compete.”

The event was sponsored by the city, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Partnership for New York City, and the Center for an Urban Future.