The Association of Performing Arts Professionals
is Your Most Powerful Corporate Citizenship Tool.
The bar has shifted. Companies must now prove business value by earning community trust, not just reporting it.
But accessing communities has become harder. 7 in 10 people are now unwilling to trust across difference.
Culture unlocks community trust — 73% say brand trust rises when companies authentically reflect it.
The performing arts are culture's most credible, proven bridge to the communities you need to be trusted by.
And APAP is the convener of the entire ecosystem.
Why The Performing Arts Specifically?
Presence Creates Belonging
Live outperforms livestream on every emotional and physiological measure. Presence cannot be streamed.
Shared Experience Bridges Difference
Creates collective effervescence — documented unity, shared meaning, wellbeing gains lasting a full week.
Arts Multiply Economic & Civic Impact
$153.1B economic output. 908K jobs. Arts-rich communities: 7% more active voters, 33% more volunteers.
The performing arts don't just reflect culture. They form the civic infrastructure that holds communities together.
Who Is APAP?
The national service, advocacy and membership organization for the performing arts.
Before you invest, here's the due diligence. APAP has the track record, credentials, and accountability frameworks that corporate partners require.
4★ Charity Navigator
501(c)(3) Nonprofit
GuideStar Gold
$2M Regranted Through 47 ArtsForward Grants
350+ Signatories to 10/20/30 Pledge
Arts Compensation Project
Leadership Fellows Program (100+ alumni)
Emerging Leaders Institute (400+ early-career alumni)
Artist Institute & Young Performers Career Advancement (300+ alumni)
This Is What Accountable Partnership Looks Like.
Now let's talk about what it delivers for you.
Provable Impact
Every APAP partnership includes a robust measurement framework, not just a logo placement
Communities Reached
Measure the geographic reach of your impact, aligning with your priority markets through detailed audience data and touring routes.
Performances Enabled
Quantify your direct contribution to live performances, tracking the shows, tours, and community events your investment makes possible.
Audience Demographics
Understand who you're reaching through detailed demographics (age, geography, income) from our 5,000-member network spanning all 50 states.
Press & Media Attributions
Showcase your commitment through earned media coverage, with attributions tracked across key industry, regional, and national outlets for your reports.
Partner-Specific Survey Data
Gain qualitative insights directly from our member venues, illustrating the profound impact of your partnership on their work and communities.
Year-End Impact Report
Receive a comprehensive annual impact report, meticulously formatted for board presentations, ESG, and CSR reporting, with all key metrics and narrative.
Your Return On Engagement.
Most sponsorships promise visibility. APAP partnerships deliver something harder to buy and impossible to fake.
Measurable Chain of Impact
From your investment to a stage in Boise, Biloxi, or the Bronx — with the data to prove it to your board, your stakeholders, and your community.
Narrative Ownership
Your brand doesn't just appear at APAP — it becomes part of the story of how American culture gets made and sustained.
Reputational Insulation
In a polarized landscape, the arts are one of the last spaces of genuine cross-partisan community trust. APAP puts you there.
Brand Narrative Shift
Donor to enabler: "We put artists on stages in 200 communities."""It's an investment in civic trust and community fabric."
In the same category as SXSW, CES, Davos, Aspen Ideas, Milken, TED, and Cannes —
but with deeper roots in more communities than all of them.
A Platform Already In Motion.
The proof isn't in the pitch. It's in what we built at APAP|NYC 2026 — and what it means for 2027.
93% of attendees surveyed recommend APAP|NYC to colleagues. 34% were first-timers. New programs launched. All in one year.
Connecting healthcare systems with performing arts to pilot prescribable wellness programming is creating vital new impact pathways.
Piloted at APAP|NYC 2026 with National Medical Fellowships
Coffee With Ken , Featuring AFTA's Erin Harkey
This high-impact live thought leadership series directly connects APAP with national policy and cultural impact, featuring top-tier guests.
Live thought leadership series, APAP|NYC 2026
Proven demand for tech tools means partners can now shape how the field embraces innovation and builds essential training infrastructure.
Standing-room attendance, APAP|NYC 2026
Trust-Building In 13 Communities
Through partnerships with Mediators Foundation and Braver Angels, civic dialogue programming delivers measurable impact where it's needed most.
Active in 13 communities, launched at APAP|NYC 2026
APAP Honors, By IMG Artists
APAP's signature awards ceremony celebrates and elevates the visionary leaders who consistently advance the arts field.
Signature ceremony, APAP|NYC 2026
Title sponsor AudienceView integrated its platform directly into the conference, generating qualified leads and valuable product feedback from decision-makers.
What We're Building Together.
Drawing on 70 Years of Civic Infrastructure.
In 2027, APAP marks seven decades of connecting the performing arts to communities, building civic infrastructure, and sustaining the performing arts ecosystem. APAP|NYC 2027 is not a birthday party. It's an inflection point — and we're using it to build what the next 70 years need.
Impact Pillars
A dedicated arts-tech learning infrastructure — built for the field, shaped by a founding partner.
Prescribable arts at scale, connecting healthcare systems with performing arts nationwide.
Connecting performing arts training to workforce development, and to employers.
Nonpartisan, cross-community trust-building at scale — already active in 13 communities.
Advocacy Infrastructure Tools
APAP|NYC Is A Behemoth.
Every January, the global performing arts ecosystem converges on APAP|NYC.
Driving a field that supports 2.6 million jobs and generates $151.7B in the annual economic activity of a $1.2T sector.
3,000+ attendees
1,000+ performances over 5 days
50,000 sq. ft. EXPO hall
400+ exhibiting organizations
30+ countries represented
APAP|NYC Is Just The Beginning.
Your sponsorship flows through APAP's multiple overlapping ecosystems — each with its own massive reach — multiplying your brand's presence far beyond what any single partnership can deliver.
5,000+
APAP Members
Presenters, venues, artists, agents, and managers — each deeply embedded in their own communities. 1,600 of them run the iconic stages that define American cultural life.
150+
Field Partners
Americans for the Arts. NEA. ISPA. Broadway League. Dance/USA. League of American Orchestras. NIVA. Regional arts alliances. Each with their own national networks — all flowing through APAP.
45,000+
JanArtsNYC
APAP co-founded and co-anchors a 13-year citywide activation with the NY Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment, that draws the entire performing arts world to NYC.
These aren't separate audiences. They overlap, amplify, and flow into each other.
That's the halo effect. And it adds up:
30 Million Americans. Every Year.
Not impressions. Real communities experiencing live performance together — powered in large part by your investment.
Choose Your Level of Sponsorship
APAP|NYC 2027
Year Round Integration
  • Advocacy Hub
  • Advocacy Tools
  • Thought Leadership Events
  • Digital Series
  • Newsletters
  • Video Series
APAP|NYC 2027
Headline Moments
  • 70th Anniversary Gala
  • Plenaries
  • Performance Showcases
  • 50,000 sq.ft. expo space
  • Artist Directory
  • Conference Title
  • Conference App
APAP|NYC 2027
Signature Programming
  • Branded APAP Sessions
  • Branded Sponsor Led Sessions
  • Arts & Tech Track
  • Arts & Health Track
  • Arts & Trust Track
  • Arts & Workforce Development Track
  • Professional Track
APAP|NYC 2027
Conference Footprint
  • Happy Hours
  • Coffee Stations
  • Networking Lounges
  • Photo Booths
  • Registration desk
  • Elevator Wraps
  • Way Finding
  • Lanyards
  • Wi-Fi
APAP's Impact Pillars
→ Arts-Tech Accelerator → ArtsRX Incubator → Arts & Workforce Development → Arts & Civic Trust Hub
Custom packages available for multi-year commitments and category exclusivity.
Next Steps
Let's Build This Together.
"The arts sector is not optional infrastructure that can wait. It's the connective tissue of community life. And we need partners who understand that." — Lisa Richards Toney, APAP President & CEO
One conversation is all it takes to explore how your brand fits into the APAP ecosystem.
Founding partner commitments close April 2026 — category exclusivity is first-come, first-serve, and spots are limited. The APAP|NYC 2027 website goes live that same month.
Thank You
Sam Myers Jr
Chief Strategy and External Affairs Advisor
Association of Performing Arts Professionals (APAP)
smyers@apap365.org | 202.680.9739