History

1972

Forty-nine Off Off Broadway theatres, including AMAS Musical Theatre, Classic Stage Company, Manhattan Theatre Club, Playwrights Horizons, Repertorio Espanol and Theatre for the New City join together to form the Off Off Broadway Alliance (known as OOBA).

1982

The name Off Off Broadway Alliance changes to Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York, more popularly known as A.R.T./New York.

1991

The Elizabeth Steinway Chapin Real Estate Loan Fund is created, with a $1.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, to provide low-interest loans of up to $200,000 for the purchase and/or renovation of performance spaces. This was the only such loan fund in the country and during its tenure made over $4 million in loans to 42 theatres. The Chapin Fund was officially retired in 2025, and its legacy can be seen in the 42 theaters it helped to support around NYC.

1992

Thanks to a three-year grant from the Joyce Mertz Gilmore Foundation, A.R.T./New York launches the Nancy Quinn Fund for the fastest growing sector of our membership, theatres with budgets below $100,000. The NQF officially ended in 2018, but A.R.T./New York continues to fund smaller budget theaters through its current grant programs. 

2000

A.R.T./New York purchases the LuEsther T. Mertz South Oxford Space (SOS), a 19,000 sq. ft. Federal Style building in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. The building provides subsidized office space along with two rehearsal studios, a performance/meeting space, an outdoor garden, and shared kitchen and gallery space. Click here to see how you can rent space at SOS today.

2001

After the attack on the World Trade Center, A.R.T./New York provides unprecedented citywide financial aid including nearly $3 million in cash grants to theatre companies with support from The Mellon Foundation. Additionally, A.R.T./New York receives a $1,000,000 grant for The Bridge Fund, which allows A.R.T./New York to make low-interest cash flow loans of up to $50,000.

2002

A.R.T./New York is awarded a special Obie Award in recognition of our services on behalf of the theatre community.

A.R.T./New York signs a 20-year lease on Spaces at 520, a 32,000 sq. ft. shared office and rehearsal space facility in midtown Manhattan. To this day, Spaces at 520 provide theatermakers with access to affordable offices and a diverse array of rehearsal spaces.

2008

After three years of careful planning, A.R.T./New York signs a lease on two theatres and related spaces. The A.R.T./New York Theatres become the most ambitious real estate project the organization has undertaken in its history.

2010

A.R.T./New York is awarded a special Tony Honor for Excellence in the Theatre.

2011

As a result of its Rockefeller Foundation Cultural Innovation Fund grant, A.R.T./New York publishes a white paper, Theatres for the 21st Century, which explores new financial and artistic models for the field. The paper also discusses a new collective resource-sharing model called ArtsPool.

2014

ArtsPool launches as an independent company, after incubating at A.R.T./New York, which received pivotal seed funding from the New York Community Trust and the Scherman Foundation’s Katharine S. and Axel G. Rosin Fund. ArtsPool’s first three members are A.R.T./New York, Big Dance Theater, and The Harbor Lights Theater Company, and to this day it continues to support arts organizations across disciplines. 

2016

A.R.T./New York partners with NYSCA to create the NYSCA-A.R.T./New York Creative Opportunity Fund (A Statewide Theatre Regrant Program). A.R.T./New York’s first ever statewide funding program, the Creative Opportunity Fund provides general operating support for small theatres with budgets of $500,000 or under. 

2017

After a soft opening in late 2016 with New Georges’ production of Alligator, A.R.T./New York celebrates the Grand Opening of the A.R.T./New York Theatres in January 2017.

2020

A.R.T./New York undergoes a very public leadership change, which ultimately results in the organization adopting shared leadership between Risa Shoup and Talia Corren, as co-Executive Directors who served together from 2022 until 2026. 

This was also the start of the COVID-19 pandemic which forced many theaters to temporarily close their doors for over a year. A.R.T./New York offered cash assistance to member theaters through a fund supported by the Stavrios Niarchos Foundation, Leon Levy Foundation, and other supporters.

2022

The Howard Gilman Foundation and A.R.T./New York partner to create the New York City Small Theatres Fund, a regrant program administered by A.R.T./New York in support of theater companies with a budget of $15,000 to $250,000.

2023

A.R.T./New York celebrates over 50 years of working in service with non-profit theatermakers throughout New York State. We received a Lucille Lortel Award for contributions to the field and opened 4 new studios at Spaces@520, and presented the findings of our very first CDF Impact Survey, now an annual tool used to track the impact of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs’ Cultural Development Fund across the nonprofit arts sector.

2025

We present the findings of our historic report, Health + Wealth: Empowering Theatermakers with Data. Health + Wealth examined the financial, operational, and programmatic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on A.R.T./New York member theaters. It offers suggestions for funders, theatermakers, and service providers to better work in service toward the sustainability of nonprofit theater in light of these findings. It also presented new programs and other initiatives that A.R.T./New York will launch over the next several years.

2026 

For the first time in over a decade, A.R.T./New York launches new digital resources, including a brand new website and a new space rental platform, as well as consolidated networking tools aimed at meeting theatermakers where they are and helping them stay connected and in collaboration. Also in this year, Risa Shoup stepped down as a Co-Executive Director of A.R.T./New York, and Talia Corren became the sole Executive Director. Alex Etling, Daniella Benavides, and Danielle King were promoted into new senior management positions. A.R.T./New York simultaneously proves that the only constant is change but that the need for theater is indelible.