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Community Partners
Our Community Engagement Programs strive to build meaningful and impactful relationships with leaders and community organizations to provide access to the work of visionary artists and use theatre as a tool for learning and community expression. We embrace the power of theatre as a transformative art form that empowers individuals and communities to tell their stories and galvanize others to imagine and build a more inclusive world.
These initiatives embrace collaboration with fellow like-minded organizations, serving and collaborating with our hyper-local community in the Lower East Side and communities across New York City; creating accessible programs that are imagined and cultivated by the community themselves.
If you are interested in partnering with New York Theatre Workshop, please contact Community Engagement Associate, Gaven Trinidad, at GavenT@nytw.org.
Brooklyn Public Library
Brooklyn Public Library is among the borough’s most democratic civic institutions, serving patrons in every neighborhood and from every walk of life. Established in 1896, BPL is one of the nation’s largest public library systems and currently has more than 850,000 active cardholders. BPL provides a democratic space where patrons of all economic standings can avail themselves and their children of cultural and educational programs in a broad range of disciplines.
Brooklyn Public Library teams with NYTW to host the Mind the Gap program, centering intergenerational voices from Brooklyn and other residents across New York City
CAE
The Center for Anti-Violence Education (CAE) works to prevent hate violence in our communities through educational programs that center the experiences of the people most marginalized. Programs combine awareness raising, physical empowerment, leadership development and activism. CAE centers the needs of women, girls, people who are Trans, Gender-Non Conforming and LGBQ, especially those at increased risk from racism and xenophobia.
NYTW has engaged CAE with Upstander/Bystander intervention training as well as Empowerment Self-Defense workshops for it’s staff, board, and box office, with plans to expand in the future.
FABnyc
FABnyc is a team of artists and organizers working to preserve, sustain, and grow the cultural vibrancy of the Lower East Side neighborhood. FABnyc was founded in 2001 by a coalition of cultural and community nonprofits on East 4th Street to save their homes. Today FABnyc’s commitment to sustaining the cultural character and diversity of the community extends across the LES: from 14th Street to Canal, from Bowery to the East River.
NYTW proudly participates in FABnyc’s community events, co-hosting open mics and salons as part of the organization’s Open Arts LES program and Block Parties.
National Queer Theater
National Queer Theater is an innovative theater collective dedicated to celebrating the brilliance of generations of LGBTQ artists and providing a home for unheard storytellers and activists. By serving elders, youth, and working professionals, NQT creates a more just future through radical and evocative theater experiences and free community classes.
In addition to the DREAMing Out Loud program with PEN America, NYTW and NQT have created virtual programming and in-person public conversations centering on the voices of LGBTQIA+ artists.
PEN America
PEN America stands at the intersection of literature and human rights to protect free expression in the United States and worldwide. They champion the freedom to write, recognizing the power of the word to transform the world. Their mission is to unite writers and their allies to celebrate creative expression and defend the liberties that make it possible. Founded in 1922, PEN America is the largest of the more than 100 centers worldwide that make up the PEN International network.
In collaboration with National Queer Theater, NYTW provides a free playwriting program for undocumented, DACA recipients, and immigrant artists as part of PEN America’s DREAMing Out Loud program.
People's Theatre Project
Rooted in Washington Heights and Inwood, People’s Theatre Project (PTP) makes theatre with and for immigrant communities to build a more just and equitable world. Now in its 13th anniversary season, PTP is Manhattan’s largest performing arts organization north of Harlem. Through ensemble-based, multilingual and multigenerational programming, PTP’s unique brand of theatre is a powerful artistic platform for immigrants and members of the Latiné, Black, and Queer communities.
Collaborating with PTP’s Academy, New York Theatre Workshop staff introduce PTP’s students to careers in theatre through our Mentoring Workshops. In addition, New York Theatre Workshop proudly presents PTP’s touring devised theatre pieces by their Luna Company in the 4th Street Theatre.
Poetic Theater Productions
Based in NYC’s historic East Village, Poetic Theater Productions has produced ten mainstage productions and seven festivals featuring over 160 unique events since its inception in 2010. Poetic Theater Productions seeks to define the modern genre of “poetic theater” by connecting and fostering a community of artists who are passionately creating relevant and accessible work and reinvigorating a conscious theater of language. They have worked with more than 650 artists, including 271 poets and playwrights, with a commitment to creating growth and production opportunities to our ever-growing community of artists.
Since 2017, NYTW and Poetic have collaborated to produce open mic nights and salons that invite emerging artists and community members to perform their works-in-progress. The open mics have been produced in-person at NYTW, outside on 4th Street as part of FABnyc’s Open Art program, and virtually. We have also created a new free playwriting program for military veterans who are mostly women, BIPOC, and LGBTQIA+ folks, which culminates in a presentation of excerpts of their new works featuring professional actors.
