Coalition of Small Arts NYC
In the summer of 2020, thirty-two New York City arts organizations joined
together to form Coalition of Small Arts NYC (CoSA NYC), aimed to address the
unfolding challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, and to strengthen their
commitments to racial, social, economic, and environmental justice. CoSA NYC
formed in recognition that together, small organizations are uniquely resilient
and form a cornerstone of the cultural life of New York City. In its first phase,
CoSA NYC raised a total of $1,600,000 that was shared equally among thirty-two
organizations.
Coalition of Small Arts NYC is A Gathering of the Tribes, Anthology Film
Archives, Arts for Art, Asian American Arts Alliance, Bidoun Projects, Blank
Forms, COUSIN, Danspace Project, Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI), Franklin Furnace
Archive, Harvestworks, HOUSING, Independent Curators International (ICI), ISSUE
Project Room, Light Industry, Luminal Theater, Maysles Documentary Center, MONO
NO AWARE, Movement Research, Participant Inc, Primary Information, Queer|Art,
SPICY, The Brooklyn Rail, The Chocolate Factory Theater, The Clemente, The Poetry
Project, Triple Canopy, Ugly Duckling Presse, UnionDocs, Visual AIDS, and Wendy’s
Subway.
Individually, the organizations in CoSA NYC are devoted to collaborative
relationships with artists and publics, and recognize that the value of smallness
means placing the needs of communities ahead of institutional needs. Together,
they encompass a broad range of disciplines, including dance and performance,
music and sound, film and media arts, literature, and visual arts; with services
ranging from public exhibitions, performances, and screenings; to publishing,
archiving, and preserving artists’ works; to facilitating residencies,
professional development, education, and advocacy.
In total, the thirty-two organizations in CoSA NYC employ more than 170 art
workers, in addition to paying more than 622 contracted workers each year, and
their programs reach an annual audience of nearly 4 million people. Their annual
operating budgets reflect an average budget size of $560,000, with 80% of the
organizations’ budgets falling under $1 million. CoSA NYC represents a wide
breadth of experience and cultural histories, from cultural pillars founded as
early as 1966 to newly-formed organizations that bring a future-oriented vision
to the evolving cultural landscape.
CoSA NYC collectively serves more than 21,500 artists each year. At the core of
CoSA NYC’s shared values is a commitment to substantially paying artists, with
over $2.8 million in artist fees paid annually. While not a prerequisite for
inclusion, many of the organizations in CoSA NYC hold certification from the
activist nonprofit W.A.G.E. (Working Artists and the Greater Economy) in
recognition of longstanding histories of paying artists fair and standardized
fees. Data collected by W.A.G.E.’s Certification program has shown us that fees
and direct production support paid to artists by small organizations such as our
coalition members by far outsize larger organizations.
Many of the organizations in CoSA NYC were members of the advocacy group
CommonPractice New York (CPNY), which conducted relevant research that
points to the unique abilities of small-scale organizations to meaningfully engage
with artists and publics over sustained periods of time, fostering ideas from which
larger organizations consistently profit, and for which the metrics needed to assess
value simply don’t exist.
As art historian David Joselit argues, in “In Praise of Small,” an essay
commissioned by CPNY, “While large institutions canonize — i.e., turn information
into history — small arts organizations may pluralize its shapes … as well as the
stories it can tell. To make information malleable and mobile again in unexpected
ways, and to resist its enclosure by elites and its reification into dominant
narratives is to make art political.”
Despite the essential roles that CoSA NYC organizations play in sustaining the
vital work of thousands of artists each year, many were deemed ineligible or
declined for public relief opportunities, which in recent years have prioritized
medium- to large-scale institutions, including those with endowments and pre-
existing access to extensive funding structures. CoSA NYC seeks to bring greater
visibility to the unique challenges faced by small-scale organizations and the
communities they serve, and to ensure their survival.
Since fall 2020, CoSA NYC has received generous grants from Teiger Foundation,
The Willem de Kooning Foundation, and Henry Luce Foundation for general operating
support for CoSA NYC members. Modeled on extensive research into non-
hierarchical, cooperative decision-making gathered by the Coop Fund, funds raised
through CoSA NYC are divided equally among all thirty-two organizations. CoSA
NYC’s future plans include defining and advancing its advocacy role, and creating
an open system for more small-scale and micro-organizations to join the
coalition.