Dance and the broader arts field are deeply interconnected. Dance and other arts workers collaborate, work together, and exist in a shared landscape of social and economic injustice.
Using Creatives Rebuild New York’s “Portrait of New York State Artists” data, we demonstrate that many of the same issues exist both in NYC dance and the arts across the state. This data was gathered in 2022 from 13,000 artists, and released in 2024. Dance/NYC’s “Our New York City Dance” campaign highlighted three key issues facing the dance field based on data from State of NYC Dance 2023: Findings from the Dance Industry Census. The resonances between these findings highlight the importance of shared advocacy to build a collaborative vision of worker health, prosperity, and power in the arts.
Issue 1: Workers’ Lack of Value and Protections in Society
Dance/NYC’s research found that despite dance’s essential contributions to society, workers are disillusioned with the lack of social support, including dance education, worker protections, and benefits. This is true for arts workers across New York state as well.
New York State Artists
45% of artists require community involvement for their practice to have meaning.
75% of artists face barriers to artistic education and development.
55% of artists earn money through gigs.
47% of artists believe the general public values and sees their work.
NYC Dance Workers
53% of dance workers program in public space.
44% of dance workers work without contracts at least some of the time.
37% of dance workers don’t have health insurance.
64% of dance workers support their work from their own pockets.
Issue 2: Financial Unsustainability for Workers
Dance/NYC’s research found that most dance workers do not earn a living wage from their work in dance. This is part of a larger landscape of financial unsustainability for arts workers across disciplines in New York state.
New York State Artists
62% of artists said their finances are “unstable” or “extremely unstable”.
86% of artists have a total household income of less than $50,000.
62% of artists have no emergency savings.
74% of artists have debt.
NYC Dance Workers
The average hourly rate for a dance worker is $22/hour.
41% of dance workers have worked in dance without pay.
58% of dance workers believe they don’t earn fair wages from dance work.
29% of dance workers have worked 5+ jobs in dance in the past year.
Issue 3: Justice, Equity, and Inclusion are Still Lagging
The dance workforce, and the larger arts workforce, both replicate larger systemic inequities. Marginalized workers face additional barriers, and this shows up in financial disparities in both groups.
New York State Artists
45% of white artists have savings vs. 28% of non-white artists.1
29% of transgender artists have savings vs. 34% of cisgender artists.
28% of disabled artists have savings vs. 35% of non-disabled artists.
NYC Dance Workers
Immigrant dance workers make 30% less than non-immigrants.
Trans/non binary dance workers make 40% less than cis men.
BIPOC dance workers are 22% less likely to have savings.
Given all this, it is crucial that dance and arts workers form a united front in the fight for workers’ rights and a flourishing arts and culture field.
Our workers are already involved—CRNY found that 95% of respondents believed that artists and culture bearers deserve a financial safety net, and 83% actively participated in arts and culture causes. Yet, 78% were not active members of an advocacy organization. This demonstrates there is room for us to grow in our advocacy through organizational involvement and outreach.
Dance/NYC will relaunch the “Our New York City Dance” campaign in 2025 to begin to fill this gap. With these moves, we can build a more sustainable and thriving arts ecosystem that supports all of our workers.
Funders
Creatives Rebuild New York (CRNY), a project of the Tides Center, is a three-year, $125 million investment in the financial stability of New York State artists and the organizations that employ them. This “Beyond NYC Dance: Data on Artists Across New York State” research brief was made possible through support from CRNY, using data from its 2022 Portrait of New York State Artists Survey.
- Due to limited data analysis capabilities, this number does not accurately account for multiracial individuals. ↩︎