Building for the Arts NY, Inc.

Building for the Arts NY, Inc. is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization incorporated in the State of New York. We expand access to the performing arts by providing creative space, learning opportunities, and hubs for artistic connection.​ We do this through three key programs: Theatre Row, Music and the Brain, and The American Playwriting Foundation.

Building for the Arts has been at the forefront of creative placemaking since its founding nearly fifty years ago. The organization was founded in 1976 as 42nd Street Development Corporation with a vision to promote community renewal in Hell’s Kitchen by transforming the blocks west of Port Authority into a vibrant, inclusive, and accessible performing arts hub for the community. ​

The organization’s founding leadership included titans of New York City’s preservation and civic development movement, such as Fred Papert and Jackie Onassis, who had just led the campaign to save Grand Central, Dan Biederman, who saved Bryant Park, and Bill Ronan, NYC’s public transit visionary. ​

Building for the Arts became the backbone of a transformational community movement.

The organization’s founding leadership included titans of New York City’s preservation and civic development movement, such as Fred Papert and Jackie Onassis, who had just led the campaign to save Grand Central, Dan Biederman, who saved Bryant Park, and Bill Ronan, NYC’s public transit visionary. ​

Building for the Arts became the backbone of a transformational community movement.​

Working together with Hells Kitchen community leaders, the City of New York, and local arts organizations such as the Association of Hispanic Artists, the Black Theatre Alliance, and Playwrights Horizons, and with the support of the Ford Foundation and other civic-minded funders, we anchored the transformation of this neighborhood by developing the theaters, restaurants, and apartments known as Theatre Row, and helping to turn Manhattan Plaza into affordable housing for performing artists.​

​Building for the Arts still operates Theatre Row today, offering safe, professional, accessible, and affordable performing arts facilities as a service to artists and the community.​

​And we’re still growing: In 1997, we began expanding access to the performing arts beyond 42nd Street through our award-winning and highly effective music education program, ​Music and the Brain.

We continue to enhance our program offerings, including a merger with the American Playwriting Foundation in 2021.​