Enabling performing artists to focus on what they do best—create art and engage with audiences.

ABOUT PENTACLE

Since 1976, Pentacle has been a model in the arts administration field, enabling performing artists to focus on what they do best—create art and engage with audiences. Our mission is to design and provide unique and robust programs for performing artists at critical stages in their careers. At the same time, Pentacle enriches the cultural landscape through cross-sector partnerships in multiple communities across the city of New York and the United States.

nextSteps grew out of Pentacle’s groundbreaking ART Research Project. From 2016-2019, a cohort of eight NYC artists received bundled administrative support and mentorship that helped them move to the next level of sustainability. The results of this study were published in a report entitled FootPath, written by Hollis Headrick of Arts and Cultural Strategies, now available here on the nextSteps platform.

nextSteps is the latest manifestation of Pentacle’s decades-long pursuit to find innovative and cost effective ways to build artists’ infrastructure. Starting with Help Desk in 1999, and evolving into ARC – Advancement, Reinvention, Creativity (2007), Help Desk LA (2009), Back Office (2012), ART – Administrative Resource Team (2016), and now our Administrative Support Program – ASP (2018-present), Pentacle has created a series of infrastructure support programs that give artists access mentorship and well-trained administrative support personnel that they otherwise wouldn’t be able to acquire or afford.

With the rise of the Coronavirus pandemic, and the urgent call to rectify centuries-old social inequities, Pentacle has continued to adapt and change to meet the needs of artists through the creation of the nextSteps digital administrative platform. The technology of nextSteps allows us for the first time to serve vastly more constituents regardless of time, distance, or budget capacity. We look forward to serving artists in all the ways they need it most, so they can keep creating and performing far into the future.

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