(FAQ after letter)

Dear Dance Community, 

Today, March 11, 2021, marks the one-year anniversary of Dance/NYC’s public acknowledgement of COVID-19 in New York City and the beginning of what has been an unprecedented year of service and urgent response to a sector in crisis. As a community we have endured great loss, learned many lessons, and in ceasing “business as usual,” the dance sector has been forced to contend with the conditions that have led us individually and collectively to question our survivability and livelihood. We are now tasked with the responsibility to make whatever changes necessary to re-imagine and create a sector that allows each and every one of us to thrive, even during the most challenging times.

In our first State of the Organization Address, released in the Summer of 2020, we made a commitment to address the manifestations of white supremacy in our internal operations, our public programs, and the field. Internally, we responded with an expanded series of infrastructural changes which were already set into motion before the onset of the pandemic. For example, we increased our staff, established higher salary floors, and increased employee benefits to enable greater ease and support to our team as we continue to meet the sector’s pressing needs. We invite you to learn about our new team by visiting their bios on our website.

 

In terms of programming, we are moving to more coalition-based services, content, and decision-making processes. As you might recall, we took a hiatus from hosting major events for the last quarter of 2020, and instead focused our efforts on advocating on your behalf at the City, State, and Federal levels of government and on building the 2021 Symposium. 

Led by Research and Advocacy Coordinator, Gregory Youdan, over the last quarter of 2020, we signed on to five legislative letters, offered four testimonies, continued to government bodies, continued to collect data on the enduring impact of COVID19 through our Coronavirus Dance Impact Study, and most recently released the Reopening Dance in NYC toolkit. Led by Manager of Justice, Equity, and Inclusion Initiatives, Candace Thompson-Zachery, we worked with a Symposium Programming Committee of dance workers, curators, and organizers to create the new four-day digital event. To respond to the changing financial realities of the sector, we established new ticketing tiers that better reflect people’s financial possibilities and will soon announce ways members of the community can engage for free. 

In an effort to continue to serve you transparently, here is what you can expect from us over the coming weeks:

From today through March 20, 2021, the entire Dance/NYC team will focus our efforts on producing the 2021 Symposium. During this time, all other Dance/NYC programs, communications, and/or events will be on pause, including our weekly field-wide calls and advocacy alerts. We are very excited to share this special time with you online. You can learn more about the programming and features of this year’s Symposium by visiting Dance.NYC. 

To continue our practice of rest and restoration, the Dance/NYC offices will be closed directly following the Symposium from Monday, March 22 through Sunday, March 28 for spring break. Upon our return, we will focus exclusively on internal intention setting from Monday, March 29 through Sunday, April 4. During this period, our remote office will be closed for external activity which includes, but is not limited to, all public-facing communications: e-newsletter, e-newsletter ads, website ads, e-blasts, social media, advocacy alerts, field-wide calls, and email. To help you continue to access important resources, you can find the answers to your most frequently asked questions here including details on where you can get timely information about the field while we are away.  

We will resume our outward facing services to the field and communications with you on Monday, April 5, 2021. We invite you to join us for the month’s events, including the return of our Field-wide calls on Thursday, April 8 at 4:00 p.m. and the Arts and Cultural Workers for the New York Health Act Town Hall on Friday, April 9, 2021, at 6:00 p.m. Visit Dance.NYC for upcoming event announcements and registration information.

If you have any questions about what we are up to, how we are honoring our commitments to you, or recommendations for how we can do better, please feel free to contact us. Our emails are publicly available on Dance.NYC. 

Thank you for trusting us to serve you and for all you do to ensure that dance can thrive here in NYC. See you at #DanceSymp!

 

With Much Appreciation,

The Dance/NYC Team

 

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DANCE/NYC FAQ'

Key Dates: 

• March 11-March 20: Dance/NYC 2021 Symposium Production and Event Focus
• March 14: Submit ads by 3:00 p.m. to run in the Monday, March 15 E-newsletter
• March 16: Submit ads by 5:00 p.m. for website ads to run during the organizational break
• March 22-March 28: Dance/NYC Offices Closed, no external programs, communications, or ad placements
• March 29-April 4: Dance/NYC internal work, no external programs, communications, or ad placements
• April 1: Submission due date to the ad portal for ads to appear in the April 5 E-Newsletter
• April 5: Resume of programs and external communications
• April 8: Resume weekly field-wide call
• April 9: Arts and Cultural Workers for the New York Health Act
   

Contact: 
Please expect a delay in response to any email communications, phone calls, voicemails, and/or direct messages via social media received from March 15 - April 4.
 

Advocacy: 

1.  Visit Dance/NYC’s resource pages including:
   a. Reopening Dance in NYC
   b. COVID-19 Resources
   c. Racial Justice Resources
   d. Sexual Harassment
   e. NYC Field-Wide Call Resources - note that calls are suspended but you can refer to the resources collected over the past few weeks
    
2. If you would like to continue to engage in discussions dealing with advocacy and other issues of concern to NYC's cultural community, you might consider joining the Culture@3 calls which happen at 3:00 p.m. Monday-Thursday. These calls are for leaders of nonprofit cultural institutions in NYC to connect with each other. For more information on joining the Culture@3 calls, email Lucy Sexton of New Yorkers for Culture & Arts: lucy@ny4ca.org
    
3. See New Yorkers for Culture & Arts for more action items
    
4. Sign up for Governor Cuomo’s Coronavirus Updates for the latest news and guidelines
    
5. Check out Dance/USA’s Key Advocacy Issues 

Research:

1. Take part 3 of the Coronavirus Dance Impact Study.
    
2. Read the newly published Coronavirus Dance Impact Informational Brief: A Dance Sector in Peril.
    
3. Read Dance/NYC’s newest research report Defining “Small-Budget” Dance Makers in a Changing Dance Ecology.
    
4. Dance/NYC’s research page also hosts a library of all of the past research reports for your use.
    

Dance.NYC, Advertisements, Communications, and Press: 

1. Advertisements: If you are interested in advertising with Dance/NYC during this period, please note the following:

a. E-newsletter and social media ads will not be available from Tuesday, March 16 through Sunday, April 4.If you wish to submit ad placements for social media or our e-newsletter for Monday, April 5 please be sure to do so directly on our website no later than Thursday, April 1 at 3:00 p.m. EST.
For ads to run in the Monday, March 15 E-newsletter, they need to be submitted by 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, March 14. For website ads to run during the organizational break, the submission deadline is Tuesday, March 16 at 5:00 p.m

b. Listings and Free Dance.NYC Calendar: Listings and events added to Dance.NYC’s event calendar will continue to be available during the organizational break. To place a listing, please visit: www.dance.nyc/place-free-listings-and-purchase-ads

2. Press:

a. If you are a member of the press, please direct your questions to Michelle Tabnick, Michelle Tabnick PR, michelle@michelletabnickpr.com, 646-765-4773.

Learn more about the organization by browsing our website and/or download our media kit here. 
 

Leadership, Training, Networking and Convening:
Listed below are the upcoming events in Dance/NYC’s Networking & Convening portfolio, and resources related to our major initiatives:

1. Dance/NYC 2021 Symposium: March 17 – 20, 2021. 

a. Attendees: Dance/NYC is grateful to have been in community with you for this event. Please let us know how we did and how the Symposium experience has impacted you through the post-event survey. 

b. Vendors & Speakers: Thank you for being with us and for making this event meaningful for the dance field. If you have not already been paid expect follow up about payment by April 6, 2021. 

c. Dance Community: Enjoy the opening and closing events of the Dance/NYC 2021 Symposium on Dance/NYC’s YouTube page and expect select content to be released throughout the year.  Feel free to share your takeaways from this content on social media tagging us on Instagram @Dance.NYC, on Twitter @DanceNYC and on Facebook at Dance/NYC.  
 

2. Town Halls:

a. Arts and Cultural Workers for the New York Health Act: On Friday, April 9, 2021 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., join Dance/NYC, in partnership with Dance Artists’ National Collective (DANC), Abrons Arts Center, and League of Independent Theater, for a digital town hall event addressing the Campaign for the New York Health Act for the arts and culture community in New York.

b. The Gathering 2021 Workshops: On Tuesday, April 20 – Friday, April 23, 2021, Dance/NYC will host The Gathering in partnership with Camille A. Brown/The Gathering, The Field, and The International Association of Blacks in Dance. Celebrating the ninth year of Dance/NYC’s partnership with Camille A. Brown, this year’s The Gathering workshops will include a series of movement sessions geared toward healing and communal catharsis for Black dancers. There will also be professional development sessions covering legal, business, and financial concerns for dance workers.
 

3. #ArtistsAreNecessaryWorkers

As of August 4th, Dance/NYC’s #ArtistsAreNecessaryWorkers campaign conversation series concluded. You can find an archive of all #AANW conversations [not captioned] on Dance/NYC’s Facebook Page and the growing archive of captioned conversation videos on our YouTube page. Visit Dance.NYC/ArtistsAreNecessaryWorkers/Tune-In for full conversation recap information.
 

4. Disability. Dance. Artistry. Initiative

Visit this page for information related to this initiative that aims to advance inclusion and access to the art form for disabled people including: research reports, resources and accessibility guides and recent fellowship recipients.
 

5. Immigrants. Dance. Arts.

Visit this page for information related to this initiative that aims to extend the role of dance artistry in fostering the inclusion, integration, and human rights of immigrants in NYC including: research reports, and resources.  

6. Dance/NYC 2021 Symposium: March 17 -20, 2021. 

a. Attendees: 

i. Dance/NYC is grateful to have been in community with you for this event. Please let us know how we did and how the Symposium experience has impacted you through the post-event survey. 

b. Vendors & Speakers: 

i. Thank you for being with us and for making this event meaningful for the dance field. If you have not already been paid expect follow up about payment by April 6, 2021. 

c. Dance Community: 

i. Enjoy the opening and closing events on Dance/NYC’s Youtube page and expect select content to be released throughout the year.  Feel free to share your takeaways from this content on social media tagging us on IG @dance.nyc, on Twitter @DanceNYC and on Facebook at Dance/NYC.

Grantmaking:
There are no open grant applications at this time, but included below are resources related to our major regranting programs:

1. Coronavirus Dance Relief Fund: 

a. The Coronavirus Dance Relief Fund for Freelance Dance Workers and Organizations closed on June 12, 2020. At this time, we do not have plans to reopen the application and we cannot accept new or updated applications.

b. Requests for feedback on your application emailed to covid19@dance.nyc will be accommodated as soon as possible upon our return. We also encourage you to review the materials listed on the fund page which describe eligibility and evaluation criteria.

c. If you are a grantee and have any questions about your grant award, please email covid19@dance.nyc, and we will accommodate your email as soon as possible upon our return. Questions pertaining to 2020 tax forms should be sent to covid19@dance.nyc and krudnick@dance.nyc.

d. If you are a grantee and have a question about how to credit the award among your funders, please refer to your Grantee Contract, specifically the “Publications/Acknowledgement” section of the Grantee Requirements.
 

2. Dance Advancement Fund

a. This program is in the second of a two-year grant cycle. New requests and applications to the Dance Advancement Fund are not accepted.

b. For inquiries specific to the Dance Advancement Fund, please email danceadvancementfund@dance.nyc.
 

3. Disability. Dance. Artistry. Dance and Social Justice Fellowship Program:

a. The Disability. Dance. Artistry. Dance and Social Justice Fellowship Program closed on July 14, 2020.

b. If you would like to request feedback on your application, please email artistresidency@dance.nyc and we will accommodate your request as soon as possible upon our return. We also encourage you to review the materials on the fellowship page which describe eligibility and evaluation criteria.  

c. If you are a grantee and have any questions about your grant award, please email artistresidency@dance.nyc, and we will accommodate your email as soon as possible upon our return. Questions pertaining to 2020 tax forms should be sent to artistresidency@dance.nyc and krudnick@dance.nyc.
 

4. Rehearsal Space Subsidy Program

a. This program is in the third of a three-year grant cycle. New requests and applications to the Rehearsal Space Subsidy Program are not accepted.

b. For inquiries specific to the Rehearsal Space Subsidy Program, please email rehearsalspacesubsidy@dance.nyc 
 

Funders and Donors:
We are so appreciative of our funders and donors and all they have enabled us to do historically, and particularly over the past several months. 

1. Dance/NYC continues to advocate on behalf of the New York City metropolitan dance community. If you or anyone you know is interested in making a contribution to support Dance/NYC’s work and growing impact on the dance sector, please visit Dance.NYC/about/donate.

2. If you encounter any issues while attempting to donate online, please email vcapote@dance.nyc and our Development team will support you in your generosity upon our return.

3. If you wish to donate, but prefer not to submit payment processing information through our secure online form, you can:

a. send your check to Dance/NYC 218 East 18th Street Ground Floor, New York, NY 10003, or 

b. email vcapote@dance.nyc and our Development team will offer alternative methods of donation upon our return.

4. If you have donated previously and would like to request documentation, please email vcapote@dance.nyc and we will accommodate your request as soon as possible upon our return.