Dance / NYC, a non-profit organization that promotes New York City dance knowledge and appreciation, is tasked with counting all dance workers, from choreographers in New York City and its surrounding areas to ballet teachers and folkloric dancers in Colombia. I am. The census will be one of the biggest projects of its kind in the performing arts, the organization said.
Launched on July 20, this project aims to understand who constitutes the dance workforce and the social and economic challenges these workers face. This data helps identify economic gaps and opportunities in fair wage standards and other policies across the sector.
Alejandra Duque Cifuentes, Executive Director of the organization, said to address economic inequality and assess the health of the industry: .. “
She added that the goal is “to create a systematic tool that can address sector-wide inequality.”
Duque Cifuentes said he hopes to point out that the survey is in the hands of all dance workers and is widespread. Shen Yun Advertising across New York City as an example of the type of visibility that Dance / NYC wants to achieve.
Like the US census, the approach to outreach is complex and multifaceted. Organizers plan to distribute printed matter throughout the city using a QR code that links to the survey. Set up a kiosk at dance events and festivals. Partner with community organizations and unions. Promote on social media. Then, like a census, hire staff to make old-fashioned phone calls, knock on doors and contact as many dance workers as possible. Data will be collected until October 31st and the survey will be published in June 2023.
The organization chose the term “dance worker” to include all labor within the “economy of dance”, Duque Cifuentes said. The definitions include lighting, costumes, performing arts, educational artists, accompaniment, dance managers, fundraiser, and researchers.
The idea for this initiative was born early in the coronavirus pandemic. It was when the art employer struggled to earn a salary and the dancer quit his job within a few weeks. Duque Cifuentes said seeing the collapse of the lives of those who question the future of the dance industry provided an immediate case study on why labor protection was “more needed than ever”. ..
In 2021 studyDance / NYC, which surveyed more than 1,000 dance workers about the impact of the coronavirus on the industry, found that since March 2020, 72% need money for housing and 75% have applied for unemployment. discovered.
“What surfaced during the pandemic was’we need health, we need quality of life,'” she said, with indigenous peoples and people having the greatest loss of income in the field. Said that he suffered. “This initiative is a reflection of the individual dance workers who say they are good enough.”
In addition to establishing wage standards and worker protection, Duque Cifuentes said the data would help guide the organization’s subsidy-making efforts and advocacy efforts.
“Our hope is to tackle some of these systematic inequality head-on and really tear the veil, based on our findings,” she said. “We want data to support the stories we’ve heard for decades.”
