About Ars Nova

How We do it

At Ars Nova, how we make is just as important as what we make, which is why we’re committed to ensuring that theatermaking and theatergoing is as sustainable as possible for artists and audiences.

OUR CORE VALUES

We are zealous in our pursuit of our mission to discover, develop and launch early career artists;
We trust and follow the artists’ impulse, placing it in the center of everything we do while aiming to be flexible, responsive and say ‘Yes’ whenever possible;
We embrace uniqueness by celebrating and advancing artists whose work is unconventional, adventurous, forward-thinking and often genre-bending;
We believe in telling stories with a heart, born from artists with diverse backgrounds, perspectives and points of view, and value entertainment as a virtue in and of itself;
We are ambitious, fearless industry leaders who take calculated, daring risks;
We approach our work collaboratively, eschewing silos, promoting a horizontal, “best idea rises to the top” atmosphere and supporting a healthy work/life balance that appreciates the importance of people’s lives outside of the theater;
We believe that each and every member of our community deserves to be treated with generosity, equity and respect and are committed to creating and maintaining a safe, inclusive and diverse work environment;
We see providing a fun, inviting atmosphere that welcomes everyone, while also specifically cultivating the next generation of audiences, as a core companion effort to our mission to develop the next generation of artists. We embrace and celebrate that next generation as the most diverse in our nation’s history; and
We strive to remove all barriers to access, so we: make affordable tickets available for all of our programming, directly reach out to audiences where they are and engage on the platforms they naturally employ to consume entertainment media.

OUR CORE PRACTICES:

Fair Pay

The majority of our annual operating expenses go towards compensating people for their time, talents and labor. We call this investment the Fair Pay Initiative, which we formally launched in 2017 with significant investments in immediate raises from the theater industry’s widely-accepted wage floor.

Our Fair Pay commitments are:

To compensate artists and arts workers a living, not minimum, wage;
To consistently prioritize individual compensation, pushing against a non-profit culture that attempts to make more possible with less on the backs of undercompensated workers;
To consistently interrogate our practices and push as far as we can towards fair wages every year;
To implement these values equitably and transparently.

Learn more about our Fair Pay commitments:

The work of the Fair Pay Initiative is both not enough and never done. Do you believe that artists and arts workers should be compensated fairly? Do you want to help us get further towards this goal? Support our commitment and efforts.

Accessibility

What’s Ars is Yours: Name Your Price is rooted in our mission to make the smart, surprising new work of New York City’s most promising emerging artists accessible to the next generation of theater-goers, and is an expansion of our long standing Ticket Subsidy Initiative.

For the 2024/25 season, all tickets will be Name Your Price.

You can name your price to all performances of our Off-Broadway World Premiere Productions, starting at $15 in week one, $25 in week two, and $35 thereafter.

Plus, you can name your price starting at $15 to all other programming, with almost every dollar going directly to the lead artists of that performance. ($300 from the ticket sales goes directly to the theater technicians and the front-of-house staff.)

Name Your Price tickets are directly subsidized by our community of supporters. Please pay it forward by paying as much as you’re able for your night out or contributing directly to support radical access and subsidized tickets. Bonus points for both!

Meeting Access Needs

We strive to make our shows as easy as possible to engage with for everyone! Come as you are; you are welcome here! Both our venues are wheelchair accessible and offer gender-neutral restrooms.
You will find information on every show page about:

Seat spacing, sizing, and type(s) available;
Wheelchair accessibility;
When and if ASL interpretation, captioning, or assisted listening devices are available;
When and if audio-description or touch tours are available;
When and if relaxed performances are available;
When and if mask-required performances are available.

Have an accessibility question or suggestion? We’d love to hear from you! Contact accountability@arsnovanyc.com.

Transparency

Ars Nova defines transparency as providing an honest and complete accounting of its work and decisions to all stakeholders. This requires 1) open access to the facts and context necessary for an informed and equitable decision-making process, and 2) a proactive commitment to communicating regularly and thoroughly, both internally and externally.

Our organizational priorities, programming, budget and structure are set each June, and will be shared here no later than October.

Accountability

We share information with you, our community, to be better collaborative partners and to make it more possible for you to hold us accountable to our stated values and goals. We welcome any feedback on the information shared and/or our corresponding actions. Any thoughts, feedback or questions can be submitted to accountability@arsnovanyc.com.

This inbox is monitored by our Culture & Community Director, Kisha Jarrett, who will gather this feedback and share it with additional people or teams as appropriate.

Ars Nova’s Name Your Price program is supported in part by Con Edison, New York City Council Member Erik Bottcher with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and by Seth Sprague Educational & Charitable Foundation, Bank of America, N.A., Co-Trustee.

Accessibility or Funds for Anti Oppression Microgrant support provided by the Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York (A.R.T./New York)