The Dance. Workforce. Resilience. (DWR) Initiative aims to address economic inequity and strengthen the dance ecology by directly serving individual dance workers, dance organizations, fiscally sponsored groups and projects, and nonprofit and for-profit dance entities. The Initiative will build an infrastructure of partnerships, cross-sector support, and accountability to reduce the gap between dance workers and the resources they need to thrive.

While dance workers contribute significantly to New York City’s creative economy, the dance workforce is the least unionized and least labor protected group of arts workers. Dance workers cannot be left behind in the decisions that affect their lives and impact NYC’s cultural community. A sustainable, resilient, and thriving dance workforce in New York City would include new wage standards for dance workers across their roles in the field; shared best practices for hiring dancer workers in ways that address systemic inequities and accessibility; and employment opportunities that provide dignified, living wages and benefits to the workforce, including health insurance and benefits.

Through a number of activities, the DWR Initiative aims to directly serve the whole sector, including those communities not previously served through non-profit interventions in the field such as individual dance workers, fiscally sponsored groups and projects, and for-profit dance entities.

Initiative Timeline