Join Shay Wafer and Camille A. Brown on Facebook today, 3-4pm EST

Shay Wafer, 651 Arts ED

You know what? We really should talk about how Black arts organization and business can survive and thrive in today's economic climate.

651 ARTS Executive Director Shay Wafer will discuss the arts and sustainability with choreographer Camille A. Brown in an open Facebook chat today, 3-4pm. You're invited to join in with your questions, observations and ideas.

As 651 ARTS enters its 25th year of dedication to the performing arts of the African Diaspora, we are thinking about sustainability over the next 25 years. There have been conversations about the future of Black organizations and how we can create new business and economic models. Inevitably, a conversation on sustainability always includes the question of individual contributions and earned income: How de we create and/or grow these revenue steams?

We would love to hear from folks why they contribute to an arts organization, or if they don’t, why not. What would inspire or encourage them to do so?

For more information and to participate in today's chat, click here. 

Dance New Amsterdam files for bankruptcy protection

Dance New Amsterdam Files for Bankruptcy
by Felicia R. Lee, The New York Times, May 29, 2013

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May 29, 2013

To the Students and Community of Dance New Amsterdam:

Many of you have seen the announcement that DNA has filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy.  We'd like to talk to you about what this means for the organization, and how it affects you directly.

First, let me say that DNA isn't going anywhere.  Our doors are open, all our classes, workshops, and programs are happening as planned, and the theater is buzzing with performances.  

Second, I'd like to shed some light on our current situation:

DNA's financial challenges aren't about the amount of money we take in every year.  In fact, what we earned in 2012 completely covered our expenses.  Our challenge is past debt.

Our move to 280 Broadway was filled with delays, cost overruns, and several poor decisions by past management that created close to 4.5 million dollars in debt.  That is a big number, and it impacts our ability to solicit funding from foundations and the government. 

However, a lot of good things are happening that help chip away at that number.  Here are just a few:

Thanks to you, class and workshop numbers are strong and steady
We've added some new, fantastic folks to our contemporary faculty
Applications for our International Student Visa program are way up
Our existing partnership with Pace University remains strong, and new partnerships with the Joffrey Ballet School and the Tom Todoroff Acting Studio are diversifying the DNA community.

We now have a number of commercial clients who have committed to rehearsal space on an ongoing basis.

So why file for bankruptcy?  Chapter 11 is a business reorganization process that exists to protect organizations from their creditors while they get back on their feet.  It allows us to chip away at that debt faster without the looming threat of eviction.  More importantly, it allows us to focus on providing you with a creative space to train, perform, and collaborate with your peers. 

Finally, the most important thing you can do to help is to come to class, sign up for a workshop, see a performance, and continue to donate!  DNA is your home, and if there's something we can do to make you feel more welcome, please let us know.

We'll continue to communicate updates on our progress, but in the meantime, come and dance!

All the best,
   
Catherine A. Peila
Executive/Artistic Director
Dance New Amsterdam

Dance as a sustainable art: a panel at 92Y

92nd Street Y

presents

MovementTalks: 

Sustainable Arts - Policy, Practice and Programing

Lise Brenner, Paul Nagle and Judy Hussie-Taylor

moderated by Edward Henkel

Friday, April 5 (8pm)

Let’s talk about artistic communities as tangible social assets, both for the artists themselves, and the role that protecting art-making plays in the daily life of our neighborhoods. What does maintaining the possibility for arts production (i.e. studio space, affordable housing, etc) give to the city? What do small business incentives, producing and curating contemporary dance, zoning laws, ConEd electrical rates for non-profits, and planting street trees have in common? This will be a discussion about choices and the creative ecology that results.

Program and ticket information

92nd Street Y (Buttenwieser Hall)
Lexington Avenue at 92nd Street, Manhattan
(map/directions)

Also: See Dance and the American Sacred Cows: Meat and Money, May 31, with Carrie Ahern and Zefrey Throwell

Making art your business

Artists and the Business of Art

moderated by WNYC's Leonard Lopate

at The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space

Wednesday, March 21, 7pm

WNYC's Leonard Lopate will convene two panels of gallery owners and artists to discuss the ecosystem of the New York art world in 2012.

Lopate will explore a wide range of topics in the first panel, including the state of the industry and how it has fared in the economic downturn, the exponential growth of art fairs and their impact on the way art is being marketed these days.  His guests include Sean Kelly, owner of Sean Kelly Gallery in Chelsea, and artists Pat Steir (Cheim and Read Gallery) and Richard Phillips (Gagosian Gallery).

The second panel will welcome four artists at various stages of their careers – MacArthur “Genius” Award-winning abstract expressionist Joan Snyder, interactive video artist Peter Campus, nature photographer Ryan McGinnis, and installation artist Jean Shin – to swap stories and compare notes on surviving as artists in New York.  Topics will include taking a non-art job to pay the bills, the stresses of securing and managing studio space, and the politics of sustaining an art career in a city as expensive as New York.

Tickets are $15. Click here to order.

Live Video Webcast will be available to stream. Click here.

The Greene Space
44 Charlton Street (at Varick Street), Manhattan
(directions)

What a dancer can teach a business leader

Dancer-choreographer Darrell Jones--whose Hoo-ha (twister pump breakdown) is currently featured in the From the Streets, From the Clubs, From the Houses on the Parallels platform at Danspace Project--inspired some creative innovation at Tom Tresser's MBA class at the Illinois Institute of Technology.

Read more:

What’s Dance Got To Do With Business?
by Tom Tresser, Entrepreneur The Arts, February 12, 2012