About Membership
ArtsPool is an administrative cooperative that responds directly to the needs of its members through shared governance. Membership is currently limited to 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations operating in New York state.
Please visit our member services page, check out our membership criteria, or contact us to learn more about membership.
Current Members
The 52nd Street Project
The 52nd Street Project is dedicated to the creation and production of new plays for, and often written by, kids between the ages of nine and eighteen that reside in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood of New York City. Founded in 1981 by actor/playwright Willie Reale, the Project is an independent not-for-profit organization that creates over eighty new plays and serves over 150 children every year. The Project offers various programs that provide creative outlets, academic support, and unique mentoring relationships by matching kids with professional theater artists. By building on the experience of accomplishment and collaboration, The 52nd Street Project fosters a sense of inclusion in a place where the children belong and where their creative work is the driving force.
Arts in the Armed Forces
The mission of Arts in the Armed Forces (AITAF) is to use the powerful shared experience of the arts to start conversations between military and civilian, service member and family member, the world of the arts, and the world of practical action.
ArtTable
ArtTable is the foremost national membership organization dedicated to advancing women’s professional leadership in the visual arts. Through its activities and programs, it serves women at all stages of their careers, expands opportunities for women from diverse backgrounds,engages with critical issues in the field, and fosters community through its national network.
Big Dance Theater
Founded in 1991, Big Dance Theater is known for its inspired use of dance, music, text and visual design. The company often works with wildly incongruent source material, weaving and braiding disparate strands into multi-dimensional performance. Led by Co-Artistic Directors Annie-B Parson and Paul Lazar, Big Dance has delved into the literary work of such authors as Twain, Tanizaki, Wellman, Euripides, and Flaubert, and dance is used as both frame and metaphor to theatricalize these writings. Big Dance Theater has created over 20 dance/theater works, generating each piece over months of collaboration with its associate artists, a long-standing, ever-evolving group of actors, dancers, composers, and designers.
BAAD! The Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance
BAAD! The Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance creates, produces, presents, and supports the development of cutting edge and challenging works in contemporary dance and all creative disciplines which are empowering to women, Latinos and all people of color, and the LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer) community.
Bronx Council on the Arts
A pioneering advocate for cultural equity, the Bronx Council on the Arts (BCA) nurtures the development of a diverse array of artists and arts organizations and builds strong cultural connections in and beyond The Bronx. It seeks to strengthen the cultural ecosystem of The Bronx by nurturing its artists and arts organizations, and by serving the field at large and the public through programs that build connections, provide resources, and advocate for equitable practices.
Brooklyn Arts Council
For over 50 years, Brooklyn Arts Council has supported Brooklyn’s artists and has helped create one of the most eclectic and innovative cities in the world.
Cave Canem
Founded by Toi Derricotte and Cornelius Eady in 1996 to remedy the under-representation and isolation of African American poets in the literary landscape, Cave Canem is a home for the many voices of Black poetry and is committed to cultivating the artistic and professional growth of Black poets. It has grown from a gathering of 26 writers to an influential movement with a renowned faculty and an international fellowship of over 500. Cave Canem’s programs and publications enlarge the American literary canon; democratize archives; and expand for students, poets, and readers the notion of what’s possible and valuable in poetry. Its programs include an annual retreat, community workshops, lectures, and reading and panel series. Delivered in collaboration with five prestigious presses, its three book prizes include the Cave Canem Poetry Prize, which has launched the careers of several prominent poets.
The Center for Curatorial Leadership
The Center for Curatorial Leadership (CCL) trains curators to become visionary leaders of art museums. At a time when the demands of cultural institutions and the public are rapidly evolving, CCL provides essential tools to guide today’s museums and anticipate future challenges. The CCL model encompasses mentorships with innovators and museum directors, rigorous coursework in strategic management, and professional networks for support and growth. With its graduates now at the helm of major art institutions, CCL is helping to build the next generation of museum leaders, ones who combine traditional curatorial connoisseurship and art historical scholarship with administrative, managerial, and strategic expertise.
The Chocolate Factory Theater
The Chocolate Factory Theater is an artist-centered organization, built by and for artists. Co-founders Sheila Lewandowski and Brian Rogers began making work together in 1995 and quickly saw the need for a creative home to support their work and the work of fellow experimental performance-based artists. The Chocolate Factory therefore has grown and developed within and through a creative process that centers the development of new work, as guided by makers.
Eyebeam
Eyebeam is a platform for artists to engage society’s relationship with technology. Technology’s effect on our future is always changing and difficult to understand. Through exploratory process and emotionally compelling output, Eyebeam believes that artists can help us visualize and realize a more just future. Eyebeam provides both space and support for a community of diverse, justice-driven artists. Our annual residency program, highly engaged community of alumni, advanced tools and resources, and shows and events help our artists bring their work to life and out into the world. Eyebeam enables people to think creatively and critically about technology’s effect on society, with the mission of revealing new paths toward a more just future for all.
Forgotten Futures Fund
Forgotten Futures Fund revives lost, forgotten, and vital artifacts of electronic musical instrument history by collecting, faithfully restoring and preserving original instruments; researching and presenting the stories of their inventors; and bringing to light their cultural impact both from the time in which they were made, and more importantly, how they can make an impression on our current and future cultural moments.
Fourth Arts Block
Fourth Arts Block (FAB) was founded in 2001 by arts & community groups to preserve and promote the East 4th Street Cultural District’s rich heritage and creativity. FAB began as a central point of communication and coordination for the ultimately successful purchase and renovation of eight properties from NYC to be used by nonprofit arts and cultural institutions in perpetuity. Our advocacy efforts also lead to the block of 4th Street between 2nd Avenue and the Bowery earning the distinction of one of NYC’s two cultural districts. FAB has since expanded our work to comprise various public programs including subsidized rehearsal space for dance, professional development and community engagement workshops, and large-scale public art projects. Moving forward, we are engaging our network of arts and community partners to strengthen the cultural vitality of the entire Lower East Side.
The House Foundation for the Arts
Founded in 1971, The House Foundation for the Arts, Inc. (The House) is a nonprofit performing arts and culture organization with a mission to promote, disseminate and celebrate the work of the iconic American artist Meredith Monk. For the past 45 years, The House has served as a vehicle to share Monk’s work with the world. The House provides development, management, production and administrative services for Monk and Meredith Monk & Vocal Ensemble. The House’s core programming includes the live performances, film screenings, artist talks, educational programs for young people and workshops for professional artist. The House is committed to building a legacy for Monk and sharing her prolific body of work with future generations of artists, scholars and the public.
iLAND
iLAND (Interdisciplinary Laboratory for Art, Nature and Dance) is a dance research organization that investigates the power of dance, in collaboration with other fields, to illuminate our kinetic understanding of the world. iLAND is a pioneering organization at the forefront of collaborative art and environmental projects, promoting dialogue and integration between disciplines in creative processes, research, and project development. iLAND believes that the results of such reciprocal research are informed and enriched by the different approaches of artists and scientists. Art and environmental projects are uniquely positioned to address the complicated challenges posed by climate change and the many issues surrounding the use of natural resources. iLAND’s programs support the development of sustainable cultural practices, and stimulate and encourage creative and dynamic interactions with the environment.
The Laundromat Project
The Laundromat Project advances artists and neighbors as change agents in their own communities. We make art and culture in community while fostering leadership among our neighbors through our celebrated Create Change Residency and Fellowship programs and our creative community hub, Kelly Street Collaborative, in the South Bronx. The idea of a laundromat as a primary place for engagement has expanded over time. It now serves as a metaphor for a variety of settings in which artists and neighbors transform their lives and surroundings. This includes community gardens, public plazas, local cultural organizations, and more.
Magnum Foundation
The Magnum Foundation is a nonprofit organization that expands creativity and diversity in documentary photography, activating new audiences and ideas through the innovative use of images. Through grantmaking and mentorship, Magnum Foundation supports a global network of social justice and human rights-focused photographers and experiments with new models for storytelling.
The MAP Fund
The MAP Fund is founded on the principle that exploration drives human progress, no less in art than in science or medicine. MAP supports original live performance projects that embody a spirit of deep inquiry. In particular, MAP is interested in supporting artists that question, disrupt, complicate, and challenge inherited notions of social and cultural hierarchy across the current American landscape. MAP supports projects that address these concerns through the processes of creating and distributing live performance to the public, and/or through the content and themes of the work itself. Since 1989, the program has disbursed over 27 million dollars to more than 1000 projects in playwriting, choreography, music composition, and ensemble, site-specific, and community-based performance.
National Black Theatre
National Black Theatre (NBT) was founded in 1968 in the heart of Harlem by the late Dr. Barbara Ann Teer, an award winning, visionary artist and entrepreneur. With a distinguished history of innovative work in its community, NBT is among the oldest Black Theaters in the country, and amongst the longest owned and operated by a woman of color. NBT’s core mission remains the same today as it was at the time of its founding: to produce transformational theatrical experiences that enhance African American cultural identity by telling authentic stories of the Black experience, to educate, enrich, entertain, empower and inform the national conscience around current social justice issues that impact our communities, and to provide a safe unhindered space for artist of color to articulate the complexity, and beauty of their experience through theater.
New York Classical Theatre
New York Classical Theatre creates and reinvigorates audiences for the theatre by presenting free productions of popular and forgotten classical plays in public spaces throughout New York City. They are also committed to developing and producing new plays by living playwrights that enrich and expand our understanding of what defines a classic.
Penumbra Foundation
Penumbra Foundation is a nonprofit organization that brings together the art and science of photography through education, research, outreach, public and residency programs. Its goal is to be a comprehensive resource for photographers at any level, artists, students, professionals, historians, researchers, conservators and curators.
People’s Theatre Project
People’s Theatre Project (PTP) cultivates ongoing artistic dialogue in NYC’s neighborhoods of color to amplify youth voices and grow local action. Established in 2009, PTP is deeply invested in the Washington Heights and Inwood neighborhoods of northern Manhattan, and strives to be a consistent, dynamic and impactful presence in the lives of the young people it serves there.
Queens Council on the Arts
The mission of Queens Council on the Arts is to foster and develop the arts in Queens County and to support individual artists and arts organizations in presenting their cultural diversity for the benefit of the community. Since its founding in 1966, QCA has evolved into a wide-ranging arts service organization fostering live cultural experiences and providing grants, professional development, and education services throughout the borough. In recent years, QCA has innovated a variety of programming and events to support emerging artists and cultural leaders.
Recess
Recess creates opportunities for artists to work in a public setting, initiating partnerships among artists and audiences. By welcoming radical thinkers to take risks as they address complex questions in real time with their public, Recess defines and advances the possibilities of contemporary creative practice.
Staten Island Arts
Staten Island Arts was founded in 1992 as a grassroots arts collective by working artists and arts administrators who regarded a local arts agency as an essential tool in community-based cultural development. Staten Island Arts’ mission is to cultivate a sustainable and diverse cultural community for the people of Richmond County. Its programming and services make the arts accessible to every member of the community; support and build recognition for artistic achievement; and provide artists, organizations, and arts educators with the technical, financial and social resources to encourage cultural production. They are proud to spotlight the unique character of their local cultural resources so that they can be appreciated by a wider audience.
SAY: The Stuttering Association for the Young
SAY: The Stuttering Association for the Young is a national non-profit organization that empowers, educates, and supports young people who stutter and the world that surrounds them. Through summer camp, speech therapy, and creative expression, SAY builds a community of acceptance where young people who stutter gain confidence and communication skills.
Theatre of the Oppressed NYC
Through partnerships with social service organizations and city agencies, Theatre of the Oppressed NYC (TONYC) creates theatre troupes with community members who face pressing social, economic, health, and human rights issues. The troupes create and perform plays based on real-life struggles, which engage diverse audiences in theatrical brainstorming — or Forum Theatre — to activate communities and creatively challenge systems of oppression. Each year, TONYC’s Legislative Theatre Festival brings the forum theatre troupes into the room with legislators and advocacy groups to brainstorm policy-level strategies to pressing community issues.
Young Audiences New York
Founded in 1952, Young Audiences New York initially presented chamber music recitals for school children. Since then, its programs have continually evolved to meet the changing needs of children, youth and families, and it has built longstanding partnerships with schools and community organizations and an experienced company of practicing artists across disciplines. Young Audiences New York ensures that its work is informed by research and best practice, leveraging its affiliation in the nation’s largest arts in education network, Young Audiences Arts for Learning.
