The Baryshnikov Arts Center
The Baryshnikov Arts Center (BAC) will be an international center for multi-disciplinary experimentation and collaboration. Scheduled to open in Fall 2005, it is located in the new performing arts complex, 37 ARTS, in New York.
The Baryshnikov Arts Center will be a home for emerging and accomplished artists to use as a creative laboratory, a meeting place and a performing space, in which to experiment and create new work.
Artistic Panel
Distinguished international artists from diverse fields have been invited by Baryshnikov to comprise BAC's Artistic Panel. Together with Baryshnikov, they will select promising young artists across disciplines to participate in the center's programs. The Panel will also take active roles in designing and implementing activities.
Laboratory
Central to the activities of the BAC will be a laboratory program offering residencies, mentoring, and opportunities for interdisciplinary exposure and experimentation for talented artists from all over the world. Resident artists will have the opportunity to work with members of the Artistic Panel in creative collaboration. They will have the freedom and support to research, explore, and discuss their ideas and ultimately showcase their work.
Another dimension of the center's laboratory will be to provide an unprecedented creative experience for the most promising students of the arts from colleges and training institutions in the New York area and beyond. These students will be selected to work with artists in residence and participate in the showcasing of their work.
Serving the Community
While the Laboratory is a vital part of Baryshnikov's vision, BAC will fulfill another critical need in New York's vibrant cultural community. A rental subsidy program will provide affordable office and state-of-the-art, high-ceiling, column-free studio space for New York's arts organizations and touring companies performing in NYC.
Baryshnikov Dance Foundation
A 501(c)3, not-for-profit organization dedicated to foster the development of new and experimental work. The Foundation has uniquely transformed itself to accommodate the artistic vision of Baryshnikov -- a vision shaped by curiosity, diversity, possibility and an appreciation for the arts, at its most engaging. Through White Oak Dance Project, the Foundation has commissioned 48 new dance works and has produced close to 50 international tours. For more information on our programs and/or if you would like to make a tax-deductible contribution, please visit www.baryshnikovdancefoundation.org. Your generosity is very meaningful to us, particularly at this juncture, and we look forward to your continued interest.
The Facilities
State-of-the-art theaters will be housed on each of the first three floors of 37 ARTS. The three theaters will have 499, 399 and 290 seats, respectively. These theaters will be separately and privately owned.
The Baryshnikov Dance Foundation will own the fourth, fifth and sixth floors of the 37 ARTS building, for a total of 15,000 square feet of space. This space will serve as home for the Baryshnikov Arts Center, the Laboratory, and as an artistic haven for many groups in need of affordable studio and office space in Manhattan. Studios at the center are column-free, with high ceilings, large windows, and sprung wood floors.
The fourth floor will house two large studios, 43'x43' and 43'x29'. These studios will have a retractable wall, and , when used together, will be ideal for showings of new work and may also be used for film screening. The combined space will have the capacity to seat 123 people.
The fifth floor, 72'x43', will be used primarily for offices. The space will be divided for use by two to three arts groups with shared facilities, to include a reception area, conference room, kitchen, and equipment room.
The sixth floor will have one large studio, 44'x43', and one small studio, 30'x27'. The latter will be ideal for auditions, play readings, music rehearsals and smaller dance rehearsals. The Baryshnikov Dance Foundation will also occupy an office space on this floor.
In addition, Baryshnikov Arts Center will have access to the roof of the building that will have an unobstructed view of Manhattan and New Jersey from the South and the West.