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Author: Jo Brook

  • Announcing the 2026 Creative Opportunity Fund Recipients

    Announcing the 2026 Creative Opportunity Fund Recipients

    Congratulations to the 2026 Creative Opportunity Fund recipients!

    The New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) and the Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York (A.R.T./New York) are delighted to announce the 77 recipients of the 2026 NYSCA-A.R.T./New York Creative Opportunity Fund (A Statewide Theatre Regrant Program). Through this regrant program $240,000 was distributed via flexible, general operating support grants to small theatres across New York State. 

    We received a record 175 applications for the Creative Opportunity Fund. Recipients of the Creative Opportunity Fund were determined by a panel of theatre-makers from New York City and across the state. Nominations for panelists were solicited from the community, and 20 panelists met virtually to discuss, score, and allocate funding. 

    A.R.T./New York is thrilled to partner with the New York State Council on the Arts to continue to build and strengthen the theatrical field statewide. Read what a few of our past recipients have to say about the Creative Opportunity Fund.

    Erika Mallin, Executive Director of the New York State Council on the Arts said, 

    NYSCA is proud to support A.R.T./New York’s Creative Opportunity grants reaching 77 theaters with flexible operating support. Our nonprofit theaters are a powerful component of New York’s world-class arts and culture sector, producing challenging works and reaching new audiences with fresh perspectives.  Congratulations to all the grantees, we look forward to all you will accomplish this year.

    The Creative Opportunity Fund is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

    NYC Recipients of the 2026 Creative Opportunity Fund:

    24/6: A Jewish Theater Company

    Afro-Diasporic Ocean Festival

    Alva Puppet Theater

    Apocalyptic Artists Ensemble

    Around The Block / Al Doblar La Esquina

    Betterfly Productions

    Breaking the Binary Theatre

    Broken Box Mime Theater

    Brooklyn Youth Company

    Checkmark Productions

    Conch Shell Productions

    Creative Stage Collective

    Docbloc

    Drama of Works

    EarSay

    Fada’I Arts

    The Fantastic Experimental Latino Theater

    Flatbush Community Theater

    Flying Leap Productions

    Hamlet Isn’t Dead

    in-version ensemble

    Infinite Variety Productions

    Kairos Italy Theater

    Kaiser’s Room

    Khunum Productions

    Kids Creative Collective

    Killer Queen Opera

    Keeping People Connected

    La Senta

    Making Our Space Theatre Co.

    Mass Transit Theater 

    MultiStages Theatre 

    Naked Angels Theater Company

    Narrows Community Theater

    New Ambassadors Theatre Company

    No, YOU Tell It!

    Off the Lane

    One Whale’s Tale

    Permafrost Theatre Collective

    Project Y Theatre

    Salvatore Larussa Dance Theatre

    sarAika movement collective

    Seoulful Productions

    Soft Brain Theatre Company

    Something from Abroad
    STEPS Theatre
    Future River/Superhero Clubhouse
    Taproot Creatives

    The Anthropologists

    The Episodic Theatre Project
    The Negro Ensemble Company

    The PlayGround Experiment

    The Workshop Theater
    UNITITLED Musical Project

    Village Playwrights
    WhyWOW Studio 

    Outside-NYC Recipients of the 2026 Creative Opportunity Fund:

    Adirondack Regional Theatre

    Batavia Players

    Black Theatre Troupe of Upstate NY

    Definitely Human Theatre

    Divaria Productions

    EastLine Theatre

    Empty Head Theater

    Farm Arts Collective

    Fort Salem Theater

    Geneseo Community Players

    Greenwood Lake Theater

    Lilypad Puppet Theatre 

    Northeast Stage

    Professor Aardvark

    Quick Silver Theater Company

    The Neo-Political Cowgirls

    Triphammer Arts

    Troy Foundry Theatre

    Unique Theatre Company

    Walking on Water Productions

    Will Kempe’s Players Cooperative

    Panelists for the 2026 Creative Opportunity Fund:

    Leah S. Abrams 

    Co-Founder and Executive Director of Undiscovered Works. 

    Pamela Billig
    Artistic Director, Caught in the Act Theater Festival (OBIE Grant)

    Vanessa Cappuccio-Baer

    Co-Founder, Definitely Human Theatre & Funding Coordinator, Arts Mid-Hudson

    Catherine Gold

    Director

    Jose Ignacio Vivero

    Artistic Director, PinProductions 

    Neophytos Ioannou 

    Program & Communications Manager, Queens College School of Arts

    Grants Manager, Kupferberg Center for the Arts 

    Adam Mummery 

    Grants Manager at The Pierre and Tana Matisse Foundation 

    Rula A. Muñoz

    Director, Performer, Producer & Writer

    Jolene Noelle

    Dramaturg & Director of Institutional Giving, St. Ann’s Warehouse

    Samantha Ozeas

    Director

    Karina Camile Parker

    Co-Founder of Killer Queen Opera

    Sarah Reny

    Founder & Artistic Director of Catskill Mountain Shakespeare

    India Shanelle 

    Strategic Projects & Exec. Support Manager of IndieSpace

    Mike Spara

    Actor, Writer and Educator

    Joseph Therrien

    Boxcutter Collective Founding Member

    Nick Thomas

    Actor, Writer, Producer, spit&vigor theatre co.

    Cindy Tsai

    Performer, Producer, and Arts Administrator

    Lauren Wagner

    Executive Director, Long Island Arts Alliance

    Kiera Wolfe

    Marketing Manager, Ensemble Studio Theatre & Prose Editor, Mudroom Magazine

  • Welcome to the A.R.T./New York Blog

    Welcome to the A.R.T./New York Blog

    Welcome to the NEW A.R.T./New York website AND Blog! We are thrilled to share this new space with you.

    Our new website is not just a redesign, but a renewed commitment to connecting the New York theatre community by fostering collaboration, expanding networks, and creating more opportunities to build meaningful relationships across our field. This blog is an extension of that commitment — an invitation: to reflect and ask questions together within a rapidly changing arts landscape.

    Here, the A.R.T./New York staff will share what we are noticing, learning, wrestling with, planning for, hoping for — across the realities of the nonprofit arts and culture sectors. Sometimes that may look like a personal reflection. Other times, we may offer context around policy shifts, funding challenges, space issues, or broader cultural and advocacy conversations shaping our field.

    With so much shifting on the daily, we believe there is true value in pausing to interpret what is happening around us, connecting the dots between systems and our lived experiences, and naming why it matters and how we might respond with care, creativity, and collective responsibility. We are artists — we know how to do that.

    We also hope this space will be a reflection of the A.R.T./New York’s values. We are committed to equity, transparency, mutual support, and the sustainability of the nonprofit arts community. The perspectives shared here are rooted in those commitments — not as fixed answers or solutions, but as part of an ongoing habit of listening, questioning, and learning alongside our fellow theatremakers.

    Thank you for being here. We invite you to explore, reflect, stay curious, and learn with us. Read on!

  • Community Forum Spring 2026

    Community Forum Spring 2026

    Monday May 18, 2026

    This Spring, A.R.T./New York is focused on reconnection. Our Spring Community Forum is designed to increase visibility in every direction: we are more visible to you, you are more visible to us, and you are more visible to one another. 

    What we learned from the Health & Wealth Report is that theatre companies are leaning into collaboration more and more as they face resource challenges; 72% of organizations are collaborating more now than in 2019, and co-productions are a top-priority, with 62% of theatres seeking new producing collaborations in 2026. 

    A.R.T./New York is committed to helping you find your people, connect with community, and build resilient relationships. That work happens in rehearsal rooms and board rooms as much as on the internet and zoom squares. We are building better digital resources to connect you with the people and information you need.

    This Community Forum is a living, breathing embodiment of that evolution: a celebration of our interconnectedness, and the resources we have to offer one another. . Together, we will explore how to better serve and protect the network, investing in the partnerships, collaborations, and shared strategies that make our field more resilient and sustainable.

    This year’s theme — Network: a Net that Works — is an invitation to activate your relationships to help you plug into what you need and, in turn, offer what you have. 

    On May 18, our Community Forum will include the following moments: 

    Vendor Fair
    Connect directly with top theatre service providers and experts to empower your theatremaking —from ticketing platforms and nonprofit consultants to fundraising strategists, arts accountants, accessibility consultants, and more. 

    Meet-and-Greet Sessions
    Connect with your artistic peers and like-minded theatremakers in these facilitated yet casual breakout moments. Organized by shared discipline or organizational mission, area of interest or expertise, these gatherings make it easy to find your people. Designed to spark meaningful conversation and foster resource-sharing, these quick meet-and-greets create space for genuine connection and future collaborations. 

    Fireside Chat
    This fireside chat brings together organizational leaders and collaborators who are in active practice with A.R.T./New York across different areas of our work. Together, we’ll explore what it takes to cultivate meaningful partnerships: where our communities intersect, how different needs and perspectives shape collaboration, and where the gaps still exist in our networks of support.

    The conversation will begin with a welcome from an artist in our community whose own practice embodies this spirit of collaboration, followed bya discussion about how we nurture relationships, invest in partnerships, and imagine new ways of working together.

    This spring Community Forum will be an investment in the interconnectedness of our community—designed to generate momentum that continues well beyond the Forum itself. 

    Digital Brochure
    Register