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The Campaign for the
A.R.T./New York Theatres

A visionary project that will change the face of nonprofit theatre in New York City and ensure affordable theatre for companies and audiences for 91 years 

A Crisis of Space Triggers A.R.T./New York’s
Advocacy for All

The majority of New York City’s 375 nonprofit theatres are A.R.T./New York members—and finding affordable rehearsal and performance space is one of their top concerns. But in the past decade, more than 80 small performance spaces have closed or been repurposed for commercial real estate use. 

Every week, member theatres compete for a shrinking pool of affordable performance spaces. 

Meanwhile, more than six million New Yorkers attend A.R.T./New York member theatre performances annually, and children attend more than 3,000 education performances.

Where will these companies, audiences, and schoolchildren go if there is no available space to perform? How will theatre in New York continue to flourish?

Five years ago, A.R.T./New York asked these questions and found no clear answers. 

It was time for A.R.T./New York to act—before the space crisis intensified.

The City of New York Makes another
Leadership Investment in Theatre

A.R.T./New York has again partnered with the City of New York—as it has done twice before with successful programs to create low-cost shared rehearsal and office spaces in midtown Manhattan and Fort Greene, Brooklyn. 

With a leadership investment from the City, and additional funding from New York State, A.R.T./New York will open the A.R.T./New York Theatres: two new shared, subsidized performance spaces at 53rd Street and 10th Avenue in Manhattan. A.R.T./New York has signed a 91-year lease on the facility, and the theatres will be available to the nonprofit theatre community through 2109.

The A.R.T./New York
Theatres

The two new theatres will have up to 87 and 149 seats respectively, and their fully-equipped technical and production resources will be included in the weekly subsidized rentals. A special multi-million dollar Rental Subsidy Fund will hold rents below market rate for A.R.T./New York members and help to address the urgent need for affordable performance space. 

The theatres themselves will be modern, highly flexible performance spaces with top quality audio-visual and technical systems suited to theatre that blurs boundaries between artistic disciplines, integrating movement, film, and other genres. Flexible seating can be configured for each company’s artistic desires, and the floors will be suitable for dance as well. 

In addition to being LEED Silver, the theatres will also be fully accessible for audiences, artists, and technical staff alike, with attractive, Wi-Fi capable public and special event spaces.

The A.R.T./New York Theatres will be a home for A.R.T./New York and our city’s nonprofit theatre community for the next century. Won’t you please play a leading role?

Play a Leading Role in the Future of Theatre!
Join Us!

You can play a leading role in the future of theatre with your leadership investment in this project.

The Campaign for the A.R.T./New York Theatres will create a home for hundreds of bold, boundary-pushing artists to realize their dreams, ensuring that New York City remains both economically strong and the leader of the American Theatre for the next 91 years. Join us! 

Campaign Leadership

Header:  Gideon Irving in A.R.T./New York Member Theatre All For One's production of  MY NAME IS GIDEON // photo by Maria Baranovaery