Dance/NYC’s mission is to promote the knowledge, appreciation, practice, and performance of dance in the metropolitan New York City area. It embeds values of justice, equity, and inclusion into all aspects of the organization. Dance/NYC serves the dance community through five core programs:

1. Action-oriented research
2. Advocacy
3. Leadership training, networking, and convening
4. Technological resources and viability
5. Regranting

Values of Justice, Equity & Inclusion

Dance/NYC believes the dance ecology itself must itself be just, equitable, and inclusive to meaningfully contribute to social progress, and envisions a dance ecology wherein power, funding, opportunities, conduct, and impacts are fair for all artists, cultural workers, and audiences. It seeks to advance policies, investments, programs, mindsets, and actions that remove and prevent inequities that exist along the continuum of lives in dance, from the public school classroom to the stage.

Dance/NYC’s approach cuts across its public programs—advocacy and research; leadership training, networking and convening; technology and visibility; and regranting—and all aspects of its operations. Its approach is intersectional, building upon multiple issue areas that together create a more just, equitable, and inclusive dance ecology. Dance/NYC’s approach is also grounded in collaboration. It recognizes generations of people and organizations working to advance justice, equity, and inclusion in the arts and culture, and strives to contribute to their efforts. In alignment with these relationships of accountability with various stakeholders and communities, Dance/NYC has established ongoing partnerships with colleague arts service organizations.

Dance/NYC has historically invested and continues to invest in issues related to the following areas and initiatives:

• Racial Justice 
• Disability. Dance. Artistry.
• Immigrants. Dance. Arts.
• And building on that foundation, Dance/NYC is currently advancing: Economic Justice for dance workers through the Dance. Workforce. Resilience. Initiative.

Dance/NYC’s use of terms builds on learning with Race Forward’s Racial Equity in the Arts Innovation Lab and established leaders and experts in justice, equity, and inclusion. Dance/NYC recognizes that language is constantly in flux and that words might have different meanings depending on their context and use. Please refer to the Glossary of Terms for more information.