How To: JanArtsNYC 2026
Find out more about the field and what your colleagues are up to in NYC! | Updated December 17
The performing arts field is a highly rhizomatic ecosystem supporting a wide array of convenings for presenters, artists, agents, managers, producers, and more. Each year, a high concentration of professionals (nearing 45,000, if not more) intersect in New York City for a wide array of convenings, independently sprouting around the anchor of the APAP (Association of Performing Arts Professionals) conference in Midtown New York City.
These different convenings are supported with promotional support via a partnership between the NYC Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment and APAP: JanArtsNYC.
2026 JanArtsNYC Partner Events are:
Association of Performing Arts Professionals (APAP) NYC | January 9 - 13
Out-FRONT! Festival by Pioneers Go East Collective | January 3 – 11
Under The Radar Theatre Festival | January 7 – 25
Jazz Congress at Jazz @ Lincoln Center | January 7 – 8
Prototype Festival | January 7 – 18
Unity Jazz Festival (Jazz @ Lincoln Center | January 8-9
NYC Winter Jazzfest | January 8 – 13
PhysfestNYC | January 8 – 18
Works & Process Underground Uptown Dance Festival | January 9 – 15
Wavelengths Conference (globalFEST) | January 9
globalFest | January 11
National Sawdust Artists in Residence | January 11 & January 26
International Society for Performing Arts (ISPA) | January 13 – 15
You can find additional details and full links to JanArts events here: https://www.janartsnyc.org
While this might be common knowledge to those with deep roots and history in the field, we want to support folks who haven’t been to APAP (or New York City for that matter), and the generally curious by providing some on-the-ground coverage of what WAA members and other venues and spaces in the city have in store for this jam-packed period.
WAA will be at APAP, too, and our HQ will be Booth #119 in the EXPO, so we encourage those attending to stop by and hang with us!
WAA Members In NYC
This year we want to highlight the work and programming that WAA members are bringing to the East Coast this year. A few of the events that you shared with us:
@ The Hilton Midtown
JANUARY 10 - 11
Saturday and Sunday, 12:30pm – 8pm | Pat Harris and Associates will be continuing nearly 20 years of hosting performances.
Featuring:
Jack West & Walter Strauss, acoustic groover masters represented by M M Music Agency. Saturday 12:30pm and 4:30pm, and again at 6pm on Sunday.
Youth & Family Showcase — Gibson Suite
Saturday January 10, 9:00am – 11:45am
Featuring:
Storyteller & Musician, David Gonzalez with MADDOG AND ME: BULLYING AND THE POWER OF KINDNESS
Theatre Company: First Woman/Daniel Carlton with PIGFOOT MARY'S HARLEM RENAISSANCE.
Both represented by Holden & Arts Associates,
Justin Roberts
23 Skidoo & The Secret Agency
Both represented by Dandelion Artists
And artists represented by Bailiwick Booking Agency!
Robin Klinger Entertainment - Rendezvous Trianon
Robin will be producing this room all weekend! If you still have yet to secure a slot, she still has four available for interested artists and agents. Email Robin (robin@robinklingerentertainment.com) for the scoop.
Elsewhere
JANUARY 9
Pat Harris (Pat Harris & Associates) Annual Harlem After Dark Uptown Jazz Party An intimate night at their Harlem Brownstone featuring 10 artists! RSVP with her directly by texting: 917-623-7144
Elsie Management will be producing other showcases in New York as well! You can find those full details, including location, line ups and RSVPs on their website here: https://www.elsieman.org/showcases/
Danielle & Ken Waldman's American and Global Roots Celebration
8:30pm - 11pm at Don’t Tell Mama (343 W 46th Street) featuring Ken, four artists from the Canis Major Music roster, and more!
Presenters and Programmers can RSVP by emailing Danielle Devlin directly: danielle@canismajormusic.com
Also in the line-up is Elizabeth Mitchell featuring Special 20th Anniversary Tour - You Are My Little Bird (Smithsonian Folkways).
RSVP and get more info about this performance from Sarah McCarthy at Dandelion Artists: sarah@dandelionartists.com
Sunny Jain, musician, composer and bandleader featured in WAA^LA’s Amplified Pitch Sessions will perform Love Force as part of the Under the Rader.
9pm at the Peter Jay Sharp Theatre at Symphony Space (2537 Broadway at 95th Street).
Represented by Amanda Cooper at ALC Arts.
JANUARY 10
Las Cafeteras, the LA-based 2024 WAA Juried Showcase ensemble and modern-day troubadours represented by The Awesome Company (more detail below).
9:30pm at Joe’s Pub (425 Lafayette Street). More info and tickets here
Martha Wainwright represented by Paquin Artists Agency
Doors at 6:30pm, Show at 8pm. Limited Capacity RSVP Required. More info and RSVP here
JANUARY 11
GALLIM, will share Immediate Tragedy as well as We the People (Sections 1 & 3)
3:45pm and 6pm, Studios 6C and 6D, The Ailey Studios (405 W 55th St)Represented by Opus 3 Artists
Martha Graham Dance Company, will share excerpts of BLUSH and MOTHER
5pm, Studio 5, New York City Center (131 W 55th St)
Represented by Opus 3 Artists
Sō Percussion will offer a sneak-peek of their January 23rd Carnegie Hall Performance as part of the New Works Preview (more detail below). Rob Robbins of Alliance Artist Management will see you there!
8:30am: Bus Arrives at The Hilton Midtown
9:15am: Performance
10:30am: Bus Returns to The Hilton Midtown
Vonda Shepard with Special Guests: Constantine Maroulis & Jeffrey Gaines
8pm at The Iridium (1650 Broadway). Contact Alisa Carr Kaeser from Indigo Talent for Reserved Tickets
JANUARY 9 - 11
The Dance Manager's Collective Showcase will feature a wide range of performances, you can find them all on their website, but here are some from our members (organizations bolded and linked):
Pentacle TRL
Almanac Projects
Dancers Unlimited
Drye Marinaro Dance Company
Hivewild
Kairos Dance Theater
LayeRhythm
South Chicago Dance Theatre
Volta
Amanda Szeglowski / cakeface
Gridlock Dance
slowdanger
SOLE Defined: The Pulse
Cathy Pruzan Artist Representative
Giordano Dance Chicago
Boston Dance Theater
Darrah Carr Dance
Sharp Dance Company
Jody Sperling/Time Lapse Dance
Los Angeles Jazz Company
LaTasha Barnes’ “The Look of Love”
Soles of Duende
Hélène Simoneau Danse Company
Malpaso Dance Company
Music from the Sole
Los Ricos
Bridgman | Packer Dance
Ephrat Asherie Dance
JANUARY 12
Gelsey Bell: mɔɹnɪŋ [morning//mourning] in Concert, (the phonetic spelling for the words “morning” and “mourning”) is an experimental music-theatre work by singer and composer Gelsey Bell. The piece traces the weeks, months, years, and millennia following humanity’s disappearance from Earth.
8pm at Roulette (509 Atlantic Ave, Brooklyn, NY). More info and tickets here.
Represented by Amanda Cooper at ALC Arts.
JANUARY 13
push/FOLD Open Workshop+Audition, push/FOLD seeks one to two (1-2) professional-level dancers, ages 22 and older, for paid contracts starting August 2026. Join us at the incredible New York City Center. This workshop-style audition is open to all advanced to professional-level movers from any dance genre or tradition.
10:30am - 2:30pm at New York City Center, Studio #4 (130 West 56th Street). More info and register here.
Other Notable NYC Goings-On
Shows and showcasing during JanArtsNYC goes beyond the programs offered by the thirteen organizations, we’ve collated and highlighted some venues of note that you might want to check out!
Drom | https://dromnyc.com/
85 Avenue A, East Village, New York, NY
About a thirty-minute transit trip Downtown from APAP HQ in Midtown Manhattan, DROM is a long-running East Village haunt known as a vital space for diverse music. During JanArts Drom is host to a variety of showcases featuring artists from around the world in partnership with a range of organizations; the highlights:
1/8: Along with neighbour Berlin (25 Avenue A), will host the UNFIT Global Music Showcase featuring 11 artists from 9 countries
1/9: Drom is a stop on the Winter Jazzfest Manhattan Marathon, which sees 3 dozen bands across 7 area venues performing a range of boundary-pushing music;
1/10: The long-running and legendary Secret Planet showcase features a wide geographic and musical breadth.
Joe’s Pub | https://publictheater.org/joes-pub
425 Lafayette St, North Houston, New York, NY
Another staple of JanArts is Joe’s Pub. An artistic program of the Public Theatre, it offers a wide variety of performances and art forms all year. Its primary mission of supporting artists at all stages of their career through artist development programs extends through offering the space for a myriad of Shows and Showcases during JanArts giving artists much needed visibility to Presenters and Venues throughout the country.
1/10: Catch WAA Alumni/Member Las Cafeteras, whose music, rooted in Afro-Mexican traditions, takes folk, and their message – of “building a world where many worlds fit” – into the future.
Heavy Trip & Big Ears Festival Present | January 13, 14, & 15
Heavy Trip & Big Ears Festival are thrilled to present three adventurous, boundary-crossing concerts at Public Records (233 Butler St., Gowanus, Brooklyn) this January, bringing some of today’s most compelling voices into dialogue.
1/13: Relena & Meara O’Reilly’s Hockets For Two Voices
1/14: Hatis Noit & Brìghde Chaimbeul
1/15: Myriam Gendron & Zoh Amba
More info: https://heavy-trip.com/events
French Quarter – Jazz in NYC | January 9, 10, & 12
Each year, Paris Jazz Club brings the finest French jazz to NYC; over three nights, a total of seven groups hit 3 of the city’s prime jazz venues.
1/9: Six groups hit The Bitter End for a Winter Jazzfest evening
1/10: Five groups perform at Nublu
1/12: Five groups gather at Small’s Jazz Club
More info: https://www.parisjazzclub.net/en/events/french-quarter-jazz-in-nyc-2026
Celebrate Our Folk | January 10 & 11
For the 8th year, Yonas Media hosts the memorable Celebrate Our Folk music showcase, exploring the boundaries of folk and roots music at Connolly’s, a short walk from the APAP action. Bold new Brazilian artivist folk to rockin Latin-Ameri'kana; a range of Memphis voices the founding fathers of funk to gospel-inflected folk and beyond; and much more. (Connolly’s Pub & Restaurant,121 45th St, Times Square, New York, NY)
More info: https://www.yonasmedia.com/ym-apap-2026
The Dance Manager's Collective | January 9, 19, & 11
The Dance Manager's Collective has an amazing and growing list of the myriad dance showcases on offer across NYC
More info: https://dancemanagers.rendezville.com/#/showcases/
New Works Preview | SOMEWHERE | January 11, 2026
In this program of premieres by leading American musical innovators, Sō Percussion offers a sneak-peek into their program for a Jan 23 Carnegie Hall performance, and celebrates the bi-directional impact of popular genres like jazz, tap, hip-hop, rock, and disco on concert music and experimental composition. Bryce Dessner (The National) reintroduces the electric guitar-like “chord stick” that he invented for Sō Percussion. Pulitzer Prize winner Caroline Shaw writes a new percussion quartet, the next chapter in a multiple Grammy-winning collaboration that includes 2025’s Best Chamber Music / Small Ensemble Performance. Michael J. Love’s virtuosic tap dance transforms the group into an interdisciplinary percussion quintet. Kendall K. Williams imports Trinidad and Tobago’s high-octane “Panorama” style for a new quartet with marimbas and vibraphone. Catch a bus from The Hilton at 8:30am, bus returns at 10:30am
Out-FRONT! Festival curated by Pioneers Go East Collective | January 3 – 11, 2026
Judson Church, 243 Thompson Street, NYC, NY.
A Radical Queer Art + Dance festival championing LGBTQ+ and Feminist artists for a lively exchange of art and culture. Curated & produced by Gian Marco Riccardo Lo Forte, Remi Harris, Joyce Isabelle, and Philip Treviño.
More info: https://pioneersgoeast.org/out-front/out-frontfest2026
Under The Radar Theatre Festival | January 7 – 25, 2026
For over two decades, the Under the Radar Theater Festival has brought bold, risk-taking work to New York City, celebrating groundbreaking theater and performance from around the world and just down the street. Produced in collaboration with venues across the city, the festival showcases innovative multidisciplinary artists whose work speaks powerfully to the present moment. Under the Radar returns in January 2026 with a signature slate of more than 25 new productions staged throughout the city.
More info: https://utrfest.org/
Jazz Congress | January 7 – 8, 2026
Produced by Jazz at Lincoln Center, Jazz Congress features a series of workshops, panels and networking opportunities, all geared to expanding the audience for jazz. Attendees include presenters, artists, managers, agents, journalists, radio programmers and other jazz professionals.
The conference will take place January 7-8, 2026. It will be held at Jazz at Lincoln Center, which is located at Broadway and 60th Street in New York City.
All panels in The Appel Room will be livestreamed for free at www.jazzlive.com
More info: https://jazzcongress.org/
NYC Winter Jazzfest | January 8 – 13, 2026
The always high-quality festival features not only a wide range of amazing artists pushing the boundaries of “jazz” but is a great way to scope out many of Manhattan and Brooklyn’s best venues. “Marathons” take over Manhattan and Brooklyn on Friday and Saturday Jan 9/10, respectively, with talks and shows scattered throughout the five-day fest, which this year, is anchored in Maya Angelou’s “Still I Rise” – a visual anthem of resilience, power, and joy.
More info: https://www.winterjazzfest.com/