idealist.org

Coney Island USA is a small nonprofit in Coney Island, Brooklyn. The cultural face of Coney Island and a leader in the arts nationally, we operate a multi-arts center offering theater, visual arts, and museum programming.

Our mission is driven by an understanding of the traditions and cultures that are unique to Coney Island. By reinventing those traditions, we hope to revitalize the community from which we take our name, attracting international recognition and visitors while providing low-cost services to a mass, working class New York City audience. Our signature programs - The Coney Island Circus Sideshow, the Coney Island Museum, and the Mermaid Parade - are all examples of the power of cultural tourism and our commitment to community revitalization.

Since 1980, Coney Island USA has interpreted the past and experimented with the future of American popular culture and we continue to offer a growing panoply of arts events and exhibitions rooted in the traditions of P.T. Barnum, vaudeville and Coney Island itself.