Our Work
Friday, September 2, 2022
Featured Advocacy
Updated October 26, 2025
Have you taken action based on our suggestions? We'd love to hear about it!
ACTIONABLE ITEMS
Kennedy Center
Sign on to the call for the reinstatement of the Kennedy Center dance programming team and the recognition of the Kennedy Center United Arts Workers union.
National Endowment for the Arts
Contact your representatives in Congress and urge them to protect funding for the National Endowment for the Arts in the FY26 Budget.
National Endowment for the Humanities
Tell your representatives in Congress to protect funding for the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Institute of Museum and Library Services
Contact your representatives in Congress and urge them to protect funding for the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
State Arts Education
Tell your State representatives to support A6490B / S6318A which would make arts education part of the core curriculum in New York Public Schools.
Culturally Diverse Arts Funding
Contact your State representatives, encouraging them to pass S115A / A2607 for culturally diverse arts funding.
New York Space Act
Contact your state representatives to support the New York Space Act (S1077 / A50), which would incentivize converting old office spaces into affordable housing and arts spaces.
New York Health Act
Sign the Petition for The New York Health Act (A07897 / S7590). The legislation proposes to provide comprehensive health coverage for every resident or full-time worker in New York. New York Health Act. You can also get involved with the Campaign for New York Health.
New York for All
Tell New York State lawmakers to pass New York for All which would protect immigrant New Yorkers by limiting coordination between local law enforcement and federal immigration enforcement.
Dignity not Detention
Contact New York State lawmakers in support of the Dignity Not Detention Act, which would end immigrant detention in New York State.
Mask Bans
Sign the Stop Mask Bans Petition and Explore Long Covid Justice’s resource list on resisting mask bans and protecting bodily autonomy.
ADVOCACY UPDATES
Congress Passes Major Spending and Tax Bill, Slashing Essential Services
In July, Congress passed the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” cutting essential services for working-class communities while approving $3.3 trillion in tax cuts that disproportionately benefit the most wealthy households. While the bill's impacts are far-reaching, several provisions directly affect dance workers and our communities. Overall, the bill advances cultural and economic priorities that risk deepening inequities in arts funding and access, while sidelining the needs of working artists and communities.
• Learn more about the overall impacts of the new spending bill
Healthcare: The bill approves the largest cuts to Medicaid and Medicare ever, which the Congressional Budget Office estimates will cause 16 million Americans to lose their healthcare coverage.
• Learn more about the New York State healthcare impacts
• Join the Campaign for New York Health
• Review the Freelancers’ Guide to Health Insurance
Food security: The bill cuts the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, causing an estimated 22 million families to lose some or all SNAP benefits.
• Learn more about the impacts to SNAP
Immigration: The bill provides more than $150 billion for immigration enforcement while rolling back asylum and child welfare protections.
• Review New York Immigration Coalition’s statement on the immigration impact
• Check out Make the Road NY’s “We Protect Us” immigration resources
Nonprofits: The bill is estimated to reduce resources available to nonprofit organizations by disincentivizing charitable giving, which will significantly affect the nonprofit dance sector.
• Review the impact on nonprofits
Arts and culture: The bill directs $40 million toward Trump’s “Garden of Heroes,” conceived in response to the removal of Confederate statues, and allocates $250 million to the “Make Kennedy Center Great Again” initiative. It also limits access to arts education by making some lower-earning degree programs ineligible for federal student loan support, disproportionately affecting students pursuing arts degrees.
• Learn more about the impact on arts and culture
• Learn more about the impacts on federal student loans
City Budget
On June 30, 2025 The NYC Council passed the FY2026 Budget with a historic investment in arts and culture. The budget included a $75 million increase in the arts and culture budget, with $45 million baselined. This marks the largest arts and culture budget in city history and the first growth in baseline funding in over a decade! Additionally, the budget saw a $45 million increase in city arts education funding, with $41 million of it baselined.
We thank everyone who joined us in pushing for more sustainable arts and arts education funding!
• Review the City Council’s Press release on the FY26 Budget
• Review Dance/NYC’s Testimony to City Council on Arts Education Funding
State Budget
The New York State Budget passed in mid-May, over a month past its deadline. The final budget includes key affordability measures such as the launch of the Housing Access Voucher Program. Notably, it also determines funding for the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), a vital source of financial support for arts and culture organizations statewide.
In response to Governor Hochul's initial proposal to cut NYSCA's budget by nearly a third, Dance/NYC joined sector leaders in calling for $200 million in funding. The final budget allocates approximately $172 million—a modest decrease of less than 2% from last year.
• Review coverage on what’s in the Fiscal Year 2026 state budget
• Learn more about the New York State Council on the Arts
Executive Order Tracking
Since entering office, President Trump has signed numerous executive orders that threaten the safety and rights of our communities. These include actions affecting nonprofit organizations, federal funding, immigration, LGBTQ+ rights, and DEI programs.
Though many of these orders are facing legal challenges or have limited enforcement power, they represent harmful federal priorities and racist ideologies that we must be prepared to respond to.
• Browse the National Council on Nonprofits’ Summary of the Executive Orders Impacting Nonprofits
• Review Americans for the Arts FAQs on Executive Actions Impacting the Arts
• Browse the Immigration Policy Tracking Project
• Review The National LGBTQ+ Bar’s Executive Order Litigation Tracker
• Scan an Updating List of Executive Orders by Category
NEA Guidelines Changes and Lawsuit
In February 2025, The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA)—the federal government’s arts agency—announced changes to its grantmaking policies, making it more difficult for BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ arts organizations to access federal funding.
Key changes include:
• Eliminating Challenge America Grants, which fund arts for underserved communities.
• Amending eligibility requirements for Grants for Arts Projects, requiring five years of programming history instead of three.
• Mandating compliance with all Executive Orders, including recent anti-diversity, equity, and inclusion and anti-trans policies.
However, some of these changes have been successfully challenged in court:
• In February, the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education and others challenged two Trump-issued anti-diversity executive orders. A district judge temporarily blocked the orders, which led federal agencies, including the NEA, to stop enforcement.
• On March 6, several arts organizations, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, sued the NEA over its anti-trans requirements. On September 19th, the court ruled in favor of the arts organizations, determining that the anti-trans requirements violate First Amendment protections on free speech.
• Learn about the outcome of the ACLU/NEA Trial
• Review a Summary of the ACLU/NEA Trial
• Learn more about the block on anti-DEI executive orders
• Learn more about the NEA guidelines
• Review the Grants for Arts Projects guidelines
• Complete Dance/USA’s survey on the impact of changes to NEA grant requirements
