Mission

The New York Independent Venue Association (NYIVA) exists to unify New York’s passionate and proudly independent venue owners, operators and presenters with the goal of securing the long-term future and sustainability of our priceless live-performance culture for the benefit of New York’s communities and emerging artists.

 NYIVA represents over 200 live performance venues, festivals, and promoters including comedy clubs, jazz clubs, performing arts centers, historic theaters, and spaces, both for-profit and nonprofit in New York State. Our members are nonprofit organizations and independently owned and operated businesses, not publicly traded or multi-national corporations.

NYIVA is committed to access, equity, and parity for our members and the field at large. NYIVA strives to preserve and nurture the ecosystem of independently-owned and/or operated live performance spaces and promoters throughout New York. Our mission is to:

• Educate and empower live performing arts organizations and businesses through collaboration, resource sharing, and best practices.

• Initiate and support policy changes that provide opportunities to the live performing arts industry.

• Bring together nonprofit and for-profit arts and culture as an ecosystem.

• Provide technical assistance and education to our members.

Essential to the arts ecosystem, our members act as the training grounds for up and comers before they play in the world’s largest spotlights, and are also the pinnacle of the spotlights themselves. We are the open mic nights where Lady Gaga honed her craft, the stages where Jerry Seinfeld worked up his first “tight ten,” and the spaces where the only limits to artistic innovation are the ceiling heights. We create the artistic havens that become drivers of economic growth, the world-class destinations fueling cultural tourism, and are the cornerstones keeping local main streets alive and vibrant with $12 generated for every $1 spent on a ticket. In 2019, NYIVA members employed over 17,000 statewide, sold over 17,000,000 tickets, and generated $7 billion in economic activity.