Ars Nova exists to discover, develop & launch singular theater, music & comedy artists who are in the early stages of their professional careers. Our dynamic slate of programs supports outside-the-box thinking and encourages innovative, genre-bending work. By providing a protective environment where risk-taking and collaboration are paramount, Ars Nova amplifies the voices of a new generation of diverse artists and audiences, pushing the boundaries of live entertainment by nurturing creative ideas into smart, surprising new work.
Ars Nova gets to know a wide range of artists each year by inviting them into our home and giving them free reign of our toys. A low-stakes, high-fun night at the theater, where genre-bending artists take big swings. Come see who’s caught our eye!
Our untamed variety-show-meets-party is hosted by our resident comedians and features a who’s-who of New York City’s weird, wild and wonderful performing comedy to burlesque and everything (and anything) in between.
Our annual festival of All New Talent showcases the next wave of pioneering theater, comedy, music and hybrid theater-makers, who fill our stage with their freshest ideas.
Our vibrant group of resident playwrights, Play Group, gathers biweekly to share new pages, build community and get peer feedback, concluding their two-year residences with free-to-the-public Out Loud readings of new work written over the course of their time with us.
Makers Lab hosts a dynamic group of generative theater artists, each with individually tailored residencies designed to holistically support their careers and develop their outside-the-box new works.
CAMP provides an eclectic group of comedy creators with peer support and artistic feedback as they develop a new comedic work over the course of a year, culminating in a one-night-only show in Ars Nova’s CAMP Bonfire Festival.
Artist-curators are invited to create, develop and present their own work as well as work by artists they are inspired by or wish to amplify. Vision Residents serve as panelists in all Ars Nova’s open application processes, scout new talent throughout the city, and join the artistic team as they build a years’ worth of programming, intentionally creating a more porous, equitable and power-sharing curatorial practice.
Ars Nova provides holistic support to devising companies making new work through multi-year residencies that are flexibly and individually tailored, and can include concerts, workshops, stipends, dramaturgical support, retreats and more.
We commission new projects with an eye for artists who work with nontraditional creative processes and combine multiple disciplines. We develop that work over several years by providing deep, flexible and responsive support.
Every year, we world premiere at least two original, innovative new works by emerging artists Off-Broadway. These homegrown projects are radically supported from development through premieres and introduce New York City to the new forms and voices of the next generation of theater-makers.
Ars Nova is committed to launching our artists just as far and wide as their big ideas can take them. Our productions of their work have gone on to stages around the world, including the Tony-Award winning Freestyle Love Supreme Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 and KPOP on Broadway; the award-winning return Off-Broadway engagement and international tour of Underground Railroad Game, and the Off-Broadway transfer and US tour of Small Mouth Sounds.
Ars Nova is a 501(c)(3) Not-For-Profit Organization and was founded in memory of Gabe Wiener.
