As APAP|NYC 2026 concluded today, more than 3,000 artists, performers, producers, agents, policymakers, and advocates departed New York City with a shared understanding of the challenges they face — and a clearer strategy for meeting them. This is a defining moment for the arts, and the field is not waiting to be rescued.
“It’s essential that the performing arts field has to do everything they can to support artists to be courageous, uncensored, experimental, imaginative, and dangerous to the status quo.” –– Samora Pinderhughes
Across five days, APAP|NYC brought together leaders from every corner of the performing arts to confront the forces reshaping the sector and to chart a collective path forward. From national arts policy leaders, including the Chair of the National Endowment for the Arts, to legal experts and advocates including APAP Honor awardees Matthew Covey, and artists including APAP Honors awardees Cleo Parker Robinson and Samora Pinderhughes, the convening elevated voices working at the intersection of creativity, policy, equity, and community impact.
“Together, we are the architects of what comes next,” said APAP President and CEO Lisa Richards Toney in her opening address. “We are the connective tissue. We are how shows get in the can and a $17B industry becomes a real-time economic engine. We are how this ecosystem functions. We are how your work reaches communities nationwide and still, across the world.”
That framing echoed throughout APAP|NYC 2026, as participants confronted a funding and policy landscape reshaped by post-pandemic recovery, philanthropic shifts, rising political scrutiny of cultural expression, and accelerating technological change. Rather than retreat, the field gathered to sharpen its tools, reclaim its narrative, and strengthen the systems that move work from artists to stages — and into communities nationwide.
This urgency surfaced in broader questions raised throughout the convening about the role of the arts in civic life:
“The actual question is why aren’t our healthcare systems more like music? Why doesn’t our political apparatus operate more like the flow of a poem? Why isn’t inspiration thought of as part of the civic infrastructure like roads or telecommunications? There’s a critical mass of people defending the constitutional right to bear arms—who is defending the idea that inspiration is a constitutional right protected by the 14th Amendment?” – Marc Bamuthi Joseph
Artists underscored that this moment demands courage, clarity, and impact from the field:
“We have to support art in the face of passive entertainment. We must chase impact. We have to make sure the people most vulnerable in our communities stay alive, stay healthy, and have the opportunities to thrive. That they extremely deserve.” –– Samora Pinderhughes.
Policy barriers and their consequences for the arts in America were also front and center:
“Artists from global majority countries. Trans and non-binary artists, artists who voice their political opinions, and even artists who just want to go home with enough money to pay their rent are choosing to not come to the U.S.… Many agents are dropping international artists from their rosters…The cost, the hassle and the risk are just too high. If the current trends can continue in 2026, US audiences will see a decline of international touring of more than 30%…My four-year-old daughter is here…Please work with me to make sure that she grows up a citizen of the world.” –– Matthew Covey
From Defense to Strategy: What the Field Worked On
Throughout the conference, programming focused on equipping arts leaders with practical, actionable tools to navigate the current landscape and shape the future.
Arts & Public Policy
Advocacy sessions focused on strategies artists and organizations need to make their case, secure resources, and push back against mounting political and funding pressures. Programming included meetings with the NEA, rapid-response training, and pitch refinement, alongside discussions on grantmaking, funding, safeguarding artistic freedom, and how to message the arts for economic development, public health, and urban planning.
Belonging, Representation & Creative Freedom
Across affinity groups, plenaries, and professional development sessions, participants examined how to sustain inclusive practices and creative integrity amid political pressure and cultural pushback. Conversations emphasized building spaces of belonging, protecting artistic expression, and ensuring access to culture across communities.
Economy, Touring & Sustainability
APAP|NYC underscored the performing arts as an economic engine, as presenters and producers set touring plans that determine where jobs and cultural spending land. Discussions centered on cost-efficient touring, venue sustainability, and the financial realities shaping what reaches stages in 2026.
As Erin Harkey, CEO of Americans for the Arts, emphasized during the conference, the arts and culture sector generates $1.2 trillion annually––about 4.2% of the U.S. GDP—a larger share of the economy than agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting, or mining, and roughly twice the global sales of Walmart.
Technology & AI — On Artists’ Terms
Rather than treating AI as an external threat, APAP|NYC positioned artists and arts organizations as leaders in how emerging technologies are used. Sessions introduced tools that streamline workflows and expand access, while artist-led conversations tackled creative rights, governance, and digital trust. The prevailing message: technology should widen the circle, not replace human creativity.
Arts, Health & Community Wellbeing
Building on pandemic-era lessons, sessions highlighted the growing role of the arts in health and wellness — from social prescribing to community-based healing practices — reinforcing the sector’s expanding public value.
A Global Marketplace Powering Local Communities
As the world’s largest convening for the presenting and touring industry, APAP|NYC 2026 functioned as both a strategic summit and a live marketplace. More than 300 organizations shared new work, built partnerships, and met with presenters, agents, and managers shaping the year’s touring landscape.
Across Manhattan, hundreds of showcases and performances launched new work, sparked regional and national tours, and set the cultural calendar for the year ahead — ensuring that live performance reaches communities of all sizes, from major cities to rural towns.
These decisions have direct economic consequences: APAP|NYC operates as a real-time engine for a performing arts marketplace that moves an estimated $46 billion annually into U.S. communities, supporting jobs, venues, local businesses, and municipal revenue nationwide — more than major global brands like McDonald’s or Starbucks generate in yearly sales.
APAP’s Growing Influence
APAP|NYC welcomed more than 3,000 total attendees, including 169 participants from 27 countries — among them the United Arab Emirates, Canada, Brazil, Austria, Armenia, Germany, Denmark, Spain, France, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Peru, Poland, Portugal, and Taiwan.
Reflecting the organization’s expanding reach and leadership across the field, APAP also welcomed new members to its Board of Directors, bringing expertise from touring, presenting, artist representation, and cultural advocacy:
- John Bolton, Senior Vice President & General Manager, Plaza Theatre & Oak View Group, Palm Springs, California
- Amy Davidman, Partner & Agent, TBA Agency, Bay Area, California
- Anne del Castillo, Arts Advocate, New York, New York
- Roque Diaz, Arts & Culture Consultant, Progressing Forward, Saint Paul, Minnesota
- Seth Malasky, Senior Vice President, Agent, Wasserman Music, New York, New York
- Sean Wright, Executive Director, The Grand Theater / Performing Arts Foundation, Wausau, Wisconsin
Honoring Leadership and Impact in the Field
APAP|NYC also marked the presentation of the APAP Honors Awards, recognizing individuals whose leadership, creativity, and advocacy have shaped the performing arts field.
This year’s honorees included:
- Cleo Parker Robinson — APAP Award of Merit in the Performing Arts
- Renae Williams Niles — Fan Taylor Distinguished Service Award
- Alicia Adams — William Dawson Award for Programmatic Excellence
- Matthew Covey — Sidney R. Yates Advocacy Award
- Colleen Jennings-Roggensack — Arts Champion Award
- Samora Pinderhughes — Spark of Change Award
- Jannina Norpoth, Chris Williams, and Nate Zeisler — Young Performers Career Advancement (YPCA) Award
As APAP|NYC 2026 came to a close, the conference ended not with easy answers, but with renewed purpose: to protect creative freedom, strengthen economic impact, and ensure the performing arts remain a vital force in civic life.
“Throughout 2026, APAP will convene, create, and campaign around a defining idea: an abundant future for the performing arts. This means welcoming the new and becoming the next,” said APAP President and CEO Lisa Richards Toney. “…Expanding our tent, inviting unlikely partners, championing new resource models, and reframing for power and impact — everything we practice at this conference.”
Richards Toney added that in 2027, APAP will mark its 70th anniversary: “We’ll recognize APAP as a real-time engine for the nearly $50 billion performing arts sector… We won’t just celebrate where we’ve been; we’ll be celebrating what we are becoming. And we are inviting all of you to coauthor that future with us, and to carry forward what has always defined this community: generosity and innovation.”