New York Public Library for the Performing Arts

08/30/2025

Dancers and choreographers in the NYC area can apply for the lottery-based Dance/NYC's Dance Workforce Resilience Fund, which supports individual freelance dancers through one-time $1,000 grants. Applications accepted on a rolling basis thru March 3, 2026.

Dance Workforce Resilience Fund Made possible by the support of the Ford Foundation, New York Community Trust, and other generous funders, the pilot iteration of the Dance Workforce Resilience (DWR) Fund directly supports…

08/29/2025

Jennifer Ashley Tepper wrote about 10 pieces of theater history she saw this summer, including costume designs for Chicago's Roxie Hart character, in the Patricia Zipprodt collection, which is preserved by the Library for the Performing Arts. The designs are on view at Treasures at NYPL's main branch.

In many of America’s cities, theatre history exists in plain sight. Whether inside a museum or on a street corner, fascinating pieces of theatre lore exist, waiting to be discovered by an interested passerby. Here are ten inspiring displays of theatre history I saw up close and in person this summ...

08/28/2025

Dancer, actor, and choreographer Don Correia was born on this day in 1951. Here is with his wife, actor, comedian, dancer, and singer, Sandy Duncan, in the Radio City Music Hall r***e 5-6-7-8- Dance! in 1983.

📷: Sandy Duncan and Don Correia, photo by Martha Swope.

08/27/2025

Dame Cleo Laine, who passed away recently at age 97, was called "quite simply the best singer in the world" and even performed alongside Frank Sinatra in 1992.

Laine was an English singer and actor known for s**t singing and appearing in a range of musical theater productions, including Sondheim's Into the Woods and The Mystery of Edwin Drood, for which she received a Tony nomination.

📷: Cleo Laine in the musical Into the Woods, photo by Martha Swope, 1988.

08/25/2025

This week, take our free tour of the exhibition on Dance Theater Workshop. Meet in front of our Astor Gallery at 11AM on 8/27.

*This tour requires no registration, and is first come, first served. Take a tour of the Dance Theatre Workshop exhibition with Libary staff to learn how Dance Theater Workshop grew from a need for space into a lasting model of support for artists. Danc...

08/24/2025

Last chance to apply to Pioneer Works residency! Artists working in visual arts or music are eligible to apply. Deadline: Aug 31.

Each September, we select residents through an open call. Aided by a jury of experts and Alumni Residents, Pioneer Works welcomes residents who work outside existing models and “norms” of their field and will benefit from our unique facilities and culture.

08/23/2025

Artists, check out Lower Manhattan Cultural Council's 2026 grants, worth up to $16,000 for public projects and presentations across the Manhattan borough. Deadline: Sep 16.

2026 GUIDELINES AND APPLICATIONS ARE NOW LIVE! APPLICATION DEADLINE: TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2025, 5 PM ET Since 1983, LMCC’s Manhattan Arts Grants have supported Manhattan-based artists, arts groups and community-focused…

08/23/2025

Celebrating iconic dancer, Jock Soto, whose dance technique brought him from New Mexico to New York City Ballet as a principal dancer and back again. Born in New Mexico, Soto's parents are Puerto Rican and Navajo. Soto became known as one of the premier partner dancers, but Anna Kisselgoff wrote in 2005, that "from the moment Mr. Soto joined the company as a teenager in 1981, he came to notice as a talented dancer on his own merits."

On Aug 23, celebrating the 20th anniversary of his retirement from NYCB, Soto returns to the stage in New Mexico to celebrate his career, and launch the Jock Soto Scholarship, which will be awarded annually to an indigenous dancer to continue their dance training.

📷: New York City Ballet dancer Jock Soto in a studio photo in costume for Calcium Light Night, photo by Martha Swope, 1986.

08/22/2025

Today, Claude Debussy, born on this day in 1862, is known as one of the most influential composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but during his lifetime, he supplemented his income income by teaching and writing. In 1901 he had a side job as music critic of La R***e Blanche, adopting the pen name "Monsieur Croche," or, in English Mr. Quaver. Mr. Croche was known as an acerbic writer who was very serious about music.

At one point, Debussy published an article in which he conversed with Mr. Croche to allow himself space to express some of his darker views. “Have you noticed the hostility of a concert-room audience? Have you studied their almost drugged expression of boredom, indifference, and even stupidity? They never grasp the noble dramas woven into the symphonic conflict..."

📷: Claude Debussy, from the Joseph Muller collection, Music and Recorded Sound Division.

08/21/2025

Congrats to Sylvia Waters, who recently received a Dance Teacher award. Waters, pictured here on the recent panel discussion on the history of 92NY at the Library for the Performing Arts, "has guided countless dancers through the transition from student to young professional," says Dance Teacher.

Read more about the awards: https://bit.ly/47ky17J

08/20/2025

Gypsy may have closed this past week, but the Library for the Performing Arts recorded the production starring Audra McDonald and Joy Wood in April 2025, and its now accessible at our Theatre on Film and Tape Archive. This production joins other Gypsys in our archive, including ones from 1981, 1990, 2003, and 2008.

Learn more about how to access this production: https://on.nypl.org/4drFDVX

📷: Joy Woods & Audra McDonald in Gypsy, photo by Julieta Cervantes.

08/19/2025

Early career artists working in all visual art mediums are welcome to apply for the residency. Deadline: Aug 27.

Early Career Banff Artist in Residence 2026 offers visual artists the time and space to engage in intensive, self-directed research and studio practice.