JUSTICE, EQUITY & INCLUSION PARTNERS
Dance/NYC’s approach to increasing justice, equity, and inclusion in dance is grounded in collaboration. It has established partnerships with colleague arts service organizations that are mission-focused on increasing racial equity, inclusion and access for disabled people, and/or integration of immigrants into arts and culture.
To inquire about partnering with Dance/NYC, please contact Candace Thompson-Zachery, Dance/NYC’s Senior Manager of Programming and Justice Initiatives, at cthompsonzachery@dance.nyc.
Art Beyond Sight
Art Beyond Sight (ABS) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to using art as a vehicle for education and personal enjoyment among people with visual impairments and other disabilities. Among its activities, ABS offers free resources to promote engagement of disabled people in the arts. Examples include the Project Access database, which provides information on accessibility features for cultural institutions; tip sheets, FAQs, training materials, and other tools for cultural institutions to use in their inclusion initiatives; and materials highlighting Awareness Month. Special projects for disabled audiences include New York Beyond Sight, which features verbal descriptions by prominent New Yorkers (including leaders in the dance community) of their favorite works of art and culture, architecture, and city landmarks; and the Art History Through Touch and Sound series, a multisensory approach to the history of visual art.
Art Space Sanctuary
The actions taken by this federal administration point to its determination to consolidate power and launch wide-ranging assaults on selective populations, including migrants, refugees, Muslims, Latinx, Black, women, and LGBTQ communities, as well as artists, academics, scientists, and the press. It is imperative to stand up and say NO! to such actions, policies and laws. Everyone should have access to education, culture and the arts without any fear. To make this possible, Art Space Sanctuary asks that cultural and arts institutions, from libraries to theaters to museums to galleries and more, join other groups in declaring sanctuary – an important strategy with symbolic, moral and practical efficacy. The goal of the sanctuary movement is to create safe spaces, spaces that declare their refusal to condone and abet actions and laws that violate justice and conscience. Sanctuary provides a broad umbrella for an intersectional coalition of people to stand together, build networks and create spaces of convergence.
Asian American Arts Alliance
The Asian American Arts Alliance (The Alliance) is dedicated to strengthening Asian American arts and cultural groups through resource sharing, promotion, and community building. Since 1983, the Alliance has sought to unify, promote, and represent the artistic and cultural producers of one of New York City's fastest-growing ethnic populations. The organization is a diverse alliance of artists, organizations, and arts supporters who believe that working together as a pan-ethnic, multidisciplinary community is essential to nurturing the development of artists and arts organizations and to provide meaningful and innovative ways for civic engagement in society.
Center for Traditional Music and Dance
Founded in 1968, the Center for Traditional Music and Dance (CTMD) assists New York City’s immigrant communities to preserve the vitality of their distinctive performing arts traditions and promotes cross-cultural understanding by sharing these art forms with audiences across the city. Nationally renowned for programs that combine research, documentation, presentation, and education, CTMD assists immigrant communities in passing traditions to new generations.
International Association of Blacks in Dance
The International Association of Blacks in Dance, founded in 1991, preserves and promotes dance by people of African ancestry or origin, and assists and increases opportunities for artists in advocacy, audience development, education, funding, networking, performance, philosophical dialogue, and touring.
Lotus Music & Dance
Lotus Music & Dance, a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization, was founded in 1989 by master Bharata Natyam dancer Kamala Cesar. It is a performance space, sanctuary, and center of education for traditional and indigenous performing arts forms. The mission is to keep alive and accessible the music and dance traditions of all world cultures. Lotus Music & Dance remains the only institution of its kind in New York City, with master artists from India, Korea, Japan, Indonesia, the Philippines, China, the South Pacific, Middle East, the Mohawk Nation, West Africa, and Spain collectively preserving their traditional arts. Aside from our varied schedule of unique, multicultural performances, we offer instruction in traditional ethnic forms of dance and music as well as Arts-In-Education programs to schools throughout the tri-state area. Since 2002, Lotus Music & Dance has presented Manhattan's only open-air pow wow, the annual Drums Along the Hudson®: A Native American and Multicultural Celebration.
Museum, Arts and Culture Access Consortium (MAC)
Following the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990, the Museum, Arts and Culture Access Consortium (MAC) was formed by a small group of museum and disability professionals that started meeting informally to discuss topics related to accessibility at their New York-based institutions. Today, MAC is an association that regularly hosts professional development workshops and offers a network of mutual support to help practitioners engage with disability advocates and people who have disabilities to learn about, implement, and strengthen best practices for access and inclusion in cultural facilities of all types throughout the New York metro area and beyond.
National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures
The National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures (NALAC) is the nation's leading nonprofit organization exclusively dedicated to the promotion, advancement, development, and cultivation of the Latino arts field. In this capacity, NALAC stimulates and facilitates intergenerational dialogues among disciplines, languages, and traditional and contemporary expressions.
New York Foundation for the Arts
The New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) was founded in 1971 to empower artists at critical stages in their creative lives. Each year it awards $650,000 in cash grants to individual artists in all artistic disciplines. Its fiscal sponsorship program is one of the oldest and most reputable in the country and helps artists and organizations raise and manage an average of $4 million annually. Its Learning programs provide thousands of artists with professional development training and support, and its website, NYFA.org, received over 1.2 million visitors last year and has information about more than 12,000 opportunities and resources available to artists in all disciplines.
Women of Color in the Arts
Women of Color in the Arts (WOCA) is a national, grassroots service organization dedicated to creating racial equity in the performing arts field, by creating professional opportunities for arts administrators and providing a platform to help give voice and visibility to women of color. By working to fortify leadership and reinforce a world where everyone has a seat at the decision-making table, WOCA aims to cultivate an inclusive field with shared power, one as varied in voice and perspective as the communities it serves. WOCA works diligently to move to create equitable systems for all to prosper inside and outside of the arts.
