The Problem

The need for suitable rehearsal, audition and performance space in New York City is continuous:

Artists in music, dance and theatre come to New York constantly; groups form, continue, reorganize, and disband...

Space is similarly fluid: facilities open, expand, renovate, close, and move...

For performing artists, finding suitable, affordable workspace offering their required amenities is a time-consuming and often frustrating task. For facilities, the lack of an advertising budget or staff can mean that viable spaces go underused or unused.

The Solution

NYC Performing Arts Spaces serves both sets of stakeholders.

Performing artists save valuable time and money by using our free comprehensive databases of rehearsal and performance spaces. Specifying their desired rental rate, space size and/or location, users get valuable details about rentable spaces in New York City that match their needs. Contact information is always provided, so that the user can schedule a visit or book a space.

Facilities, which often have limited funds and staff, can publicize their spaces for free on the NYC Performing Arts Spaces websites, potentially increasing earned income and reaching a wider audience.

Our Websites

NYC Music Spaces, the prototype of our websites:

• debuted as NYC Music Places in 2001 and was renamed in 2006.
• was designed in consultation with focus groups of musicians and facility managers.
• serves the space needs of instrumentalists and vocalists, soloists and groups, performing the full spectrum of musical styles and genres.
• is updated weekly and now lists over 900 available spaces in NYC's five boroughs.
• is free to both users and listing facilities.
• includes free classified ads for those seeking or offering music rehearsal space shares and office space shares.

The NYC Dance Spaces website:

• was launched in June 2003 and renamed in 2006.
• serves a dance community that ranges from classic to contemporary, ballet to modern, tap to jazz.
• is adapted to dance's very distinct character and work pattern, and includes:
  (1) the ability to search for facilities whose rental rates are subsidized by the New York State Arts Council (NYSCA); (2) a filter that allows users to narrow their search results by the kind of flooring they desire; and (3) a DIY feature that allows facilities already listed on NYC Dance Spaces to update their listings online.
• has three local dance service organizations - Dance/NYC, Dance Theater Workshop and The Field - as strategic partners.
• is updated weekly and now lists over 450 available spaces in NYC's five boroughs.

Completing this database service for New York's performing artists, NYC Theatre Spaces:

• debuted in March 2007.
• also serves the needs of New York's literary community, enabling them to find spaces suitable for readings.
• has The Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York (A.R.T./New York) as strategic partner.

Performing artists from New York City, the United States and, monthly, an average of 30 countries use our websites. Over 90% of searches performed on our websites result in at least one space that meets the user's criteria.

The Reach of Our Work

We reach out as broadly as possible to find spaces suitable for performing artists. Along with many professional venues and spaces dedicated to rehearsal and performance, we also list a variety of suitable spaces in educational and religious institutions, museums and libraries, cultural and community centers.

In order to reach the breadth of performing artists, our websites have reciprocal links with many other service-oriented and space- and performance-related websites. We send monthly e-letters to a large database of individuals and groups in the arts (subscribe). As news of our services has spread by word of mouth among music, dance and theatre communities in New York and beyond, we have received many endorsements and testimonials.

In December 2005, our Director and Program Director testified before New York's City Council in a session focusing on "Strategies Facing the Performing Arts Community." Read excerpts from their testimony and their call to action under news.

NYC Performing Arts Spaces is the only organization that is able to document what kinds of New York City spaces performing artists are seeking and whether they can find it. Learn about our research, our data on supply of and demand for NYC rehearsal and performance space, and our efforts to create shared workspace by reading About the Organization or emailing eugniec@nycPASpaces.org.

Our goal is to be the most valuable workspace-related resource for NYC's diverse community of performing artists and to bridge the common needs of cultural facilities and the performing arts. We invite you to Support Our Work.

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