Dance/NYC 

#ArtistsAreNecessaryWorkers Conversation Series

June 16 – Disability Justice as the Vanguard of Recovery Thinking

June 23 – The Future of Performance Venues

New York – Dance/NYC moves into its fifth week of hosting a twelve part Facebook Live Conversation Series with arts workers from across the arts and culture sector. These discussions highlight the importance of the arts ecology, point to current challenges and offer considerations on our way forward as a field. Beginning May 21, 2020, this series is a part of #ArtistsAreNecessaryWorkers, a new online and social media campaign dedicated to the acknowledgement, representation and integration of dance and arts workers into the decision-making processes that will envision the future for New York City post-pandemic.

The series launched successfully on Thursday, May 21, 2020, and will continue to take place every Tuesday from 5:30 - 7pm ET through August 4, 2020 on Dance/NYC’s Facebook Page. 

Upcoming dates include:

Tuesday, June 16, 2020 | 5:30pm - 7pm 

Tuesday June 23, 2020 | 5:30pm - 7pm

Disability Justice as the Vanguard of Recovery Thinking | June 16, 2020, 5:30pm-7:00pm

Join Dance/NYC in a discussion with disabled artists and activists about the values of disability justice as a framework for building our new reality with Alice Sheppard, Artistic Director, Kinetic Light; Christopher Unpezverde Núñez, Visually Impaired Choreographer, Performance Artist, Educator & Accessibility Consultant; Dustin Gibson, Co-Founder, Disability Advocate for Rights and Transition, Founding Member, Harriet Tubman Collective; and Simi Linton, Arts Consultant, Author, Filmmaker and Activist. 

The Future of Performance Venues | June 23, 2020, 5:30pm-7:00pm

Join Dance/NYC in a discussion with large-scale presenters and representatives as they think about the future of dance and performing arts presentation in the metropolitan area with Cathy Hung, Executive Director, Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning; Fred Dixon, President and CEO, NYC & Company; Jonelle Procope, President and CEO, Apollo Theater; and Linda Shelton, Executive Director, The Joyce Theater Foundation. 

“Thus far, the conversations have been important meeting grounds for the dance field to discuss crucial issues that aren’t often addressed on other forums,” said Candace Thompson-Zachery, manager of justice, equity and inclusion initiatives at Dance/NYC. “The feedback from our community has been overwhelmingly positive and we hope to amplify the perspectives offered through our advocacy efforts.”

#ArtistsAreNecessaryWorkers Campaign Video 

More than 150 videos were received from a cross-section of dance workers in all disciplines from choreographer to educator to administrator to fundraiser to be used in the campaign, including Alice Sheppard, Andrea Miller, Donald Borror, Eduardo Vilaro, Ephrat Asherie, Herman Cornejo, Josh Prince, Lane Harwell, Maleek Washington, Marjani Forté-Saunders, Mark Morris, Tiffany Rea-Fisher, among many others. Full list available here.

Artists serve New York City at every level: leading tourism, strengthening education, fueling the economy, and ensuring our health, wellness and imaginations. With this in mind, Dance/NYC has initiated a series of actions to highlight the importance of arts workers; build and amplify solidarity as a dance community and across the arts sector; and reimagine a world that is just, equitable, inclusive, and abundant.

For reimagining our world

For moving toward an equitable future

For celebrating our diverse cultures

For maintaining our humanity

For strengthening education

For caring for our families

For fueling our economy

For showing the beauty of movement

For sustaining our emotional health

For demanding justice

For rebuilding New York City

As a dignified workforce

#ArtistsAreNecessaryWorkers.

 

To learn more about why Dance/NYC is advocating for arts workers visit: bit.ly/ArtistsAreNecessaryWorkers

Dance/NYC's mission is to promote the knowledge, appreciation, practice, and performance of dance in the metropolitan New York City area. It embeds values of justice, equity, and inclusion into all aspects of the organization. It works in alliance with Dance/USA, the national service organization for professional dance. Dance/NYC serves a wide variety of constituents: 5,000+ individual dance artists, 1,200+ dance-making entities, 500+ nonprofit dance companies, general public and visitors to New York, students, educators, and researchers, public and private funders, and government and civic leaders.

For more information, visit www.dance.nyc.