Partners & Sponsors Brief
Partner with the Performing Arts and let your brand show up in every community. Because we're already there.
Association of Performing Arts Professionals is the nation's leading convener of performing arts power — the organization where cultural decision-makers gather, align, and act. Through APAP|NYC, APAP programming and professional development, advocacy, and year-round network engagement, APAP's reach and cultural convening power is unmatched. Wherever live performance and the ecosystem that drives it are being debated, funded, programmed, or reimagined — APAP is the convening infrastructure behind it.
January 2027 in New York City — 5,000+ decision-makers, one working marketplace, and a partnership that places you at the center of American civic life — and puts resources where they're needed most.
Thousands of Decision-Makers in One Place
Not passive attendees — active buyers booking the next season of American live performance.
High-Frequency Visibility
Your brand on the app, the stage, the lanyard, the elevator, the coffee cup — everywhere the field is, all week.
Physical + Digital Touchpoints
From branded conference infrastructure to year-round digital content, newsletters, and video syndication.
Proof of Presence, Not Charity
Measurable community impact, ESG-ready reporting, and a traceable line from investment to stages across America.
SECTION ONE
The Case for Trust
Why the next era of brand partnership starts with local credibility.
You Need Local Trust.
And You Can't Manufacture It.
Every major brand faces the same convergence of forces. And traditional channels aren't solving them.
1
Trust Has Gone Local
70% of people worldwide have retreated into an insular mindset — skeptical of institutions, resistant to national brands, tuning out top-down messaging. The only credibility that moves the needle now is local, proximate, and earned. You can't broadcast your way to community trust.
2
Authenticity Can't Be Bought
Consumers see through transactional sponsorships. What they respond to is genuine presence — a visible, sustained role in the communities where they live. That requires infrastructure you don't have and can't build from scratch.
3
Impact Has to Be Provable
Boards, regulators, and the public are demanding evidence that corporate investment delivers measurable community benefit — not logo placements. ESG commitments need real infrastructure behind them, and 'we wrote a check' isn't a story anymore.
"The most powerful action available to institutions seeking community credibility is trust brokering through proximate, local messengers." — Edelman Trust Barometer, 2026
The question isn't whether you need authentic local reach. It's whether an infrastructure already exists that can deliver it — trusted, embedded, and operating at national scale.
The Trust Infrastructure Already Exists.
Founded in 1957, APAP has spent 70 years building the connective tissue of American performing arts. Every January, APAP|NYC convenes the world's largest gathering of live performance decision-makers — 5,000+ presenters, managers, and buyers who decide what audiences across all 50 states will see on stage. Think CES, Davos, or SXSW — but where SXSW puts artists on the radar, APAP|NYC puts them on stages with contracts, tour dates, and revenue attached.
The Trading Floor
  • World's largest convening of live, touring performing arts professionals
  • $1.2T arts and culture sector — millions of American jobs
  • 3,300+ stages programmed by attendees
  • 7–15M audience members reached annually through programmed stages
The Milestone Moment
  • 2027: APAP's 70th Anniversary — seven decades of institutional trust
  • 2026: America's 250th — the largest cultural moment of our lifetime
  • 1,600 venues positioned as local stages for national celebration
  • A once-in-a-generation convergence for founding partners
If live performance in America has a supply chain, APAP is its trading floor — and 2027 is the year the trading floor celebrates 70 years at the exact moment America celebrates 250.
SECTION TWO
The Engine
How APAP turns a single partnership into year-round, nationwide impact.
The Platform Behind the Partnership
More Than a Conference.
A Local to National to Local Year-Round Impact Engine.
APAP isn't just a January event — it's a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with nearly 70 years of field-building behind it. Charity Navigator 4-Star rated and GuideStar Gold, APAP operates year-round leadership programs, regranting initiatives, 19 affinity groups, and the largest digital network in the touring performing arts. Here's what partners plug into.
47%
Presenters
Venue operators and programmers who decide what goes on 1,600+ stages across America.
32%
Agents & Managers
The professionals who route artists to markets and negotiate the deals that build touring seasons.
10%
Individual Artists
Performers, choreographers, and creators whose work reaches communities nationwide.
11%
Service Orgs, Consultants & Vendors
The infrastructure layer — from regional arts alliances to technology and ticketing providers.
Year-Round Programs
  • Leadership Fellows Program — 100+ alumni shaping the field's next generation of leaders
  • Emerging Leaders Institute — 400+ early-career alumni building the pipeline
  • Artist Institute and Young Performers Career Advancement — 300+ alumni combined
  • 19 Affinity Groups and 16 annual webinars keeping the network active between conferences
  • Monthly networking events and member town halls
  • Arts. Work. Life. podcast — 24,000+ downloads, bronze Anthem Award winner
Proven Track Record
  • $2M regranted through 47 ArtsForward grants for equitable venue reopening post-pandemic
  • 350+ signatories to the 10/20/30 Pledge for racial equity and gender justice in the field
  • Arts Compensation Project — first large-scale initiative tracking staffing and pay through lenses of race and gender
  • 1M+ annual website pageviews, 136K unique visitors
  • 23,000+ LinkedIn followers, growing digital footprint across all platforms
Your Brand Reaches Every Ring.
APAP's network operates in concentric rings — from the conference floor to 80–100 million Americans in communities across the country. A sponsorship doesn't stop at the event. It radiates outward through every layer of the infrastructure.
Ring 1: The Room Where Deals Get Done
5,000+ performing arts decision-makers. 50,000 sq ft of live commerce. 1,000 performances across New York City in one week. This is the most concentrated marketplace for live performance on earth — and your brand is embedded in every square foot of it.
Ring 2: 1,600 Iconic American Stages
From Carnegie Hall to the Apollo, from the Peace Center in Greenville to Yerba Buena Gardens in San Francisco — APAP members program the stages that define cultural life in their communities. Your brand travels with every tour they book.
Ring 3: The Field's Collective Tissue
150 discipline-specific and regional arts networks that carry APAP's influence — and your brand's association — deep into sectors and geographies the conference floor alone can't reach
Ring 4: New York City, Opening Night
As a founding member of JanArtsNYC, APAP anchors a citywide performing arts activation alongside NYC MOME and 40+ partner organizations drawing 40,000 attendees. Your partnership isn't a conference sponsorship. It's a footprint across the cultural capital of the world.
Ring 5: The National Advocacy Layer
From the halls of Congress to Coffee with Ken's intimate policy roundtables to national advocacy coalitions, APAP's network links your brand to the people shaping arts policy, public investment, and community infrastructure at the national level.
Ring 6: 19 Affinity Networks, Thousands of Organizations
19 active affinity groups connect thousands of arts organizations, regional alliances, and field leaders year-round — amplifying your brand through the newsletters, convenings, and channels the field actually reads and trusts.
Ring 7: The Global Artist Pipeline
APAP members span over 100 countries. International artists — from Europe, Latin America, Africa, Asia, and beyond — enter the American touring market through APAP|NYC. Your brand is present at the point where global artistry meets American stages.
Ring 8: The Full Touring Supply Chain
Every season programmed. Every tour booked. Every performance funded. The 3,300+ stages reached by APAP conference attendees represent the full supply chain of American live performance — and your name is on the programming that fills them.
Ring 9: Every Town in America
Performing arts venues are permanently embedded in 50 states, hundreds of cities, and thousands of neighborhoods. When a local presenter acknowledges your partnership — in their program, their press, their social — your brand becomes part of the civic fabric of that community.
Ring 10: 30 Million Americans Every Year
The audiences that fill these stages aren't impressions. They're neighbors, families, and communities experiencing something live, together — made possible in part by your investment.
Strategic Value
Why This Reach Is Different
APAP's network isn't a media channel. It's a trust infrastructure — local, nonpartisan, and embedded in the civic fabric of every community it serves.
Local, Not National
1,600 venues aren't broadcasting from headquarters — they're civic anchors in their own communities. When your brand appears alongside them, you inherit decades of local trust that no ad buy can manufacture.
Nonpartisan by Design
Performing arts venues serve every demographic, every district, every political leaning. APAP's network is one of the last truly nonpartisan platforms in American public life — a safe space for brand alignment in a polarized landscape.
Civic Anchor, Not Vendor
These aren't pop-up activations. APAP member venues are permanent institutions — libraries of culture, town squares of shared experience. Sponsorship here signals long-term civic commitment, not transactional marketing.
Traditional sponsorships rent attention. APAP partnerships earn trust — through proximity, permanence, and the credibility of 1,600 local institutions that communities already believe in.
The Trust Differential
  • 70% of people trust local institutions over national brands — Edelman 2026
  • Arts venues rank among the most trusted civic spaces in their communities
  • Nonpartisan positioning eliminates brand-safety risk in polarized markets
  • Physical presence creates proof of commitment that digital channels cannot
What This Means for Partners
  • Authentic community credibility — not rented, earned
  • Brand-safe alignment in every political geography
  • Measurable civic impact that satisfies stakeholder scrutiny
  • A trust multiplier: your investment is amplified by the venue's existing relationship with its community
SECTION THREE
The Exchange
What the field needs, what partners gain, and why the timing is now.
Why This Partnership Goes Both Ways
The Arts Need Partners. Partners Need the Arts. That's Not a Coincidence.
APAP's network reaches 80–100 million Americans — but the organizations at the center of that network are navigating the same forces your brand is. That shared challenge is exactly why this partnership works.
What the Field Is Navigating
Performing arts organizations are contending with changed audience behavior, rising costs, reduced philanthropic support, and a sector-wide push to move from transactional relationships to genuine community connection. They need new partners, new revenue models, and new infrastructure — especially around technology, health, and civic trust. Many of these organizations are led by and rooted in communities historically underrepresented in philanthropic investment — and their work to build belonging is both the field's greatest strength and its most underfunded priority.
What Partners Get in Return
Organizations actively rebuilding community relationships are more deeply embedded in those communities than organizations coasting on legacy brand equity. When you partner with an APAP member venue in the middle of that renewal, you're not renting an audience — you're co-investing in the civic fabric. That's a different category of presence.
"The arts sector is not optional infrastructure that can wait. It is the connective tissue of community life — and it needs partners who understand that."
— Lisa Richards Toney, President & CEO, APAP
The Field Is Ready
The Field Isn't Waiting to Be Saved. It's Building What Comes Next.
Across the country, APAP member venues are already piloting arts prescriptions, hosting AI training sessions, and running civic dialogue programs. They don't need a sponsor to tell them what the community needs. They need partners to scale what's already working.
ArtsRx Pilots Already Underway
Venues connecting with local health systems before the clinical infrastructure is fully built — proving demand and building the case for scaled investment.
Standing-Room AI Sessions at APAP|NYC 2026
Demand for tech tools is proven; the training infrastructure is what's missing. Partners who step in now shape how the field adopts technology.
Trust-Building in 13 Communities
With Mediators Foundation and Braver Angels, civic dialogue programming is already in motion — creating measurable impact in communities that need it most.
Proof It's Real
This Is Already Happening.
APAP|NYC isn't a pitch — it's a platform already in motion. Here's what sponsor-activated programming looked like on the ground.
Coffee with Ken
Intimate executive roundtables hosted by Ken Biberaj connecting sponsors directly with city cultural leadership and policy makers. High-touch, high-trust, zero fluff.
ArtsRx
APAP's arts-and-health initiative in action — connecting healthcare systems with performing arts organizations to pilot community wellness programming. Sponsors here aren't logos; they're co-creators.
AI Innovation Hub
A hands-on technology showcase where sponsors demo tools the field actually needs — from AI-powered audience analytics to digital ticketing platforms. Real products, real users, real feedback loops.
AudienceView Activation
Title sponsor AudienceView didn't just put their name on a banner — they embedded their platform into the conference experience, generating qualified leads and product feedback from 3,800 decision-makers.
Every activation above was built in partnership with APAP — designed to deliver value to the field and measurable ROI to the sponsor. This is what 'proof of presence, not charity' looks like in practice.

📸 Want the full photo deck?
Request the APAP|NYC 2026 Sponsor Impact Report — including activation photography, attendee engagement data, and partner testimonials.
Return on Engagement
The Halo Effect
'We support artists in your town' becomes demonstrable reality.
Most sponsorships promise visibility. APAP partnerships deliver something harder to buy and impossible to fake: a provable chain of impact from your investment to a stage in someone's hometown. That's the halo effect — and it changes how communities perceive your brand.
You Invest
Sponsor commitment funds APAP programming, Labs, and conference infrastructure.
APAP Activates
Your investment flows through APAP's full venue network, field partners, and year-round initiatives.
Artists Hit Local Stages
Tours are booked, seasons are built, community programming launches — with your brand attached.
Communities Experience It
Communities across all 50 states experience live performance made possible, in part, by your partnership.
This isn't a logo on a program. It's a traceable line from boardroom commitment to a standing ovation in Boise, Biloxi, or the Bronx.
What Makes This Demonstrable
  • Named touring support — your brand travels with the artist to every market
  • Venue-level attribution — local presenters acknowledge sponsor partnerships in their own communications
  • Community impact reporting — attendance data, demographic reach, and geographic footprint tied to your investment
  • Content capture — photo, video, and testimonial assets from every activated market
  • ESG-ready documentation mapped to your reporting frameworks
The Brand Narrative Shift
Traditional sponsorship:
  • "We gave money to the arts" → Charitable, forgettable
  • "We put artists on stages in 200 communities" → Civic, credible, shareable
APAP partnership:
  • Moves your brand from donor to enabler
  • Turns CSR line items into community infrastructure stories
The halo isn't abstract — it's the moment a local presenter tells their audience, 'This season was made possible by [Your Brand].' That's earned trust at scale.

📊 Impact Dashboard
APAP partners receive quarterly impact reports tracking venue activations, audience reach, geographic distribution, and content assets — giving your team the proof points boards and stakeholders demand.
SECTION FOUR
The Labs
Four year-round initiatives that turn sponsorship into sector-shaping infrastructure.
Expanding the Tent
The Labs + America 250
APAP is building four vertical partnerships that extend sponsor reach far beyond the conference — embedding your brand into year-round, sector-shaping initiatives with measurable community impact.
Tech Lab
Embedding sponsors into the performing arts technology ecosystem — AI tools, digital ticketing, audience analytics, and platform innovation adopted by 1,600+ venues nationwide. APAP member venues gain the training, tools, and technical infrastructure they need to modernize operations and meet audiences where they are.
$150K–$500K
Health Lab (ArtsRx)
Connecting healthcare systems with performing arts organizations to pilot and scale community wellness programming — positioning sponsors as co-creators at the intersection of culture and public health. APAP member venues gain the clinical connections, program design support, and evaluation frameworks they need to expand arts-health programming at scale.
$150K–$500K
Civic Trust Lab
Leveraging venues' convening power to rebuild social cohesion and democratic participation — aligning sponsors with nonpartisan civic infrastructure in every market. APAP member venues gain the facilitation training, partnership models, and civic programming infrastructure they need to serve as trusted community conveners.
$100K–$300K
America 250
The nation's 250th anniversary is a once-in-a-generation cultural moment. APAP is positioning performing arts venues as the local stages for national celebration — and sponsors as the partners who made it possible. APAP member venues gain the curatorial support, production resources, and national visibility they need to anchor local celebrations with artistic excellence.
$250K–$1M
Each Lab is designed as a named, co-branded initiative — not a logo placement. Sponsors shape the programming, share the stage, and own the narrative alongside APAP.
What Lab Sponsorship Includes
  • Named co-branding on all Lab programming and communications
  • Direct access to Lab convenings, research, and pilot outcomes
  • Integration into APAP|NYC conference programming (panels, demos, showcases)
  • Year-round visibility across APAP's 5,000-member network
  • Impact reporting tied to ESG and community benefit metrics
Why Commit Early
  • Labs launch in 2027 — founding sponsors set the agenda
  • America 250 programming begins ramping in late 2026
  • Early commitment = maximum co-creation influence
  • Limited to 2–3 sponsors per Lab to preserve exclusivity and authenticity

💡 Founding Partner Window
Lab sponsorships are structured as multi-year commitments with founding-partner pricing available through Q2 2026. Contact us to shape the initiative from day one.
The Tech Lab
Where the Arts Meet the Algorithm.
A first-of-its-kind accelerator embedding technology partners directly into the performing arts infrastructure — not as vendors, but as co-builders.
The Doris Duke Foundation's Performing Arts Technologies Lab received 700+ applications in its first cycle. Lincoln Center launched its Collider Fellowship for artists exploring technology in live performance. The field is signaling massive demand for tech integration — and APAP's 1,600+ member venues are the distribution network no one else can offer.
The Gap
Arts Organizations Are Digitizing Fast. But Not Together.
The Reality on the Ground
  • 78% of venues upgraded digital infrastructure post-COVID but most adopted tools in isolation
  • Ticketing, CRM, audience analytics, and accessibility tech vary wildly across the field
  • Small and mid-size venues lack the budget or staff to evaluate, adopt, and train on new platforms
  • No shared standards, no collective bargaining power, no field-wide learning loop
What the Tech Lab Creates
  • A cohort model where 50+ venues pilot the same tools simultaneously, generating real comparative data
  • Shared procurement and licensing frameworks that reduce costs by 30-40%
  • A feedback pipeline from venue operators directly to product teams — your R&D in the field
  • Annual benchmarking reports that become the industry standard for arts technology adoption

For tech sponsors, this isn't a logo on a brochure. It's a living product lab with 1,600 venues as your beta testers and co-designers.
The Tech Lab Verticals
Four Tracks. One Ecosystem.
AI + Creative Tools
From AI-assisted programming and marketing copy to real-time captioning and translation — piloting the tools that help venues do more with less while expanding who they reach.
Digital Ticketing & Access
Building shared infrastructure for dynamic pricing, mobile-first ticketing, and ADA-compliant digital experiences — so a 200-seat theater in rural Georgia has the same tech as Lincoln Center.
Audience Intelligence
Aggregated, anonymized audience data across 1,600+ venues creates the first national picture of performing arts attendance — invaluable for sponsors targeting cultural consumers.
Hybrid & Streaming
Developing sustainable models for digital distribution of live performance — not replacing the live experience, but extending its reach and revenue potential beyond the venue walls.
Each track is designed for a named technology partner. You don't just fund the research — you sit at the table, shape the pilots, and get first access to the data.
Tech Lab Partnership
Year One Roadmap.
Q3 2026 — Partner Selection
Founding tech partners confirmed (2-3 per track). Co-design workshops with APAP staff and venue leaders to define pilot parameters.
Q4 2026 — Pilot Design
Technology partners and venue cohorts matched. Tools configured, training materials developed, baseline metrics established.
Q1 2027 — APAP|NYC Launch
Tech Lab unveiled at the 70th anniversary conference. Live demos, partner showcases, and venue cohort kickoff with 50+ pilot sites.
Q2-Q4 2027 — Field Deployment
Rolling implementation across pilot venues. Quarterly data reports, partner convenings, and mid-year benchmarking published.
Investment: $150K–$500K
  • Named track partnership (exclusive to 2-3 sponsors per track)
  • Co-branded research and reporting
  • Direct product feedback from 50+ venues
  • Main stage presence at APAP|NYC 2027
  • Year-round visibility across APAP's member network
The performing arts sector represents a $29B industry with 120,000+ organizations. The Tech Lab gives you a structured entry point into that market — with trust already built in.
— APAP
The Health Lab
Where Culture Becomes Care.
A partnership model connecting healthcare systems with performing arts organizations to pilot and scale community wellness programming — because the evidence is in, and the arts are medicine.
The World Health Organization's landmark review of 3,000+ studies confirmed that arts engagement improves health outcomes across the lifespan. Social prescribing programs in the UK now generate 1.4 million arts-based referrals annually. The U.S. is years behind — and APAP's venue network is the infrastructure to close that gap.
The Gap
The Science Is Clear. The Infrastructure Isn't.
What the Research Shows
  • WHO reviewed 3,000+ studies: arts engagement reduces anxiety, depression, and chronic pain
  • Social prescribing in the UK: 1.4 million annual referrals to arts-based programs through the NHS
  • NIH and NEA joint research confirms arts participation correlates with lower healthcare utilization among older adults
  • Veterans Affairs piloting creative arts therapies across 150+ facilities
What's Missing in the U.S.
  • No national infrastructure connecting healthcare systems to arts organizations
  • Performing arts venues have the spaces, the community trust, and the programming — but no clinical partnerships
  • Healthcare systems want community-based wellness options but don't know how to find or vet arts partners
  • No shared evaluation frameworks, referral protocols, or outcome measurement standards

APAP's Health Lab (ArtsRx) builds the missing bridge — a structured, scalable model connecting 1,600+ venues to healthcare systems in their communities, with sponsors as the named catalysts.
ArtsRx Verticals
Four Pathways. One Prescription.
Mental Health & Resilience
Partnering with community mental health providers to integrate performing arts programming into treatment plans — from theater workshops for anxiety to music programs for trauma recovery.
Healthy Aging
Connecting senior care networks with venue-based programming that reduces isolation, improves cognitive function, and gives older adults reasons to leave the house — backed by NEA/NIH longitudinal data.
Youth Wellness
Embedding arts-based social-emotional learning in after-school and clinical settings — giving pediatric and adolescent health systems a creative alternative to screen-based interventions.
Community Health Integration
Training venues to serve as community health hubs — hosting wellness fairs, screening events, and referral partnerships with local health systems, FQHCs, and public health departments.
Each pathway is designed for a named health or wellness partner — pharma, insurance, health systems, or corporate wellness brands seeking authentic community health positioning.
Health Lab Partnership
Year One Roadmap.
Q3 2026 — Clinical Advisory
Convene advisory board of health system leaders, public health researchers, and arts practitioners. Founding health partners confirmed, laying the groundwork for robust programming.
Q4 2026 — Pilot Matching
Twenty-five venue-health system pairs identified across diverse geographies. Evaluation frameworks and referral protocols co-designed with clinical partners to ensure efficacy and scalability.
Q1 2027 — APAP|NYC Launch
ArtsRx program unveiled at the annual conference. Features include panel discussions with health system CEOs, live demos of arts-health programming, and pilot cohort kickoff with all selected sites.
Q2-Q4 2027 — Pilot Implementation
Arts prescribing programs actively running in 25+ communities. Ongoing quarterly outcome data collection, partner convenings, and the release of the first annual ArtsRx impact report.
Investment: $150K–$500K
  • Named ArtsRx pathway partnership
  • Co-branded research with clinical credibility
  • Direct access to health outcome data from 25+ pilot sites
  • Conference programming and main stage visibility
  • ESG and community benefit documentation
Arts prescribing isn't alternative medicine. It's upstream investment in community health — and the venues are already there, already trusted, already gathering people.
— APAP
The Civic Trust Lab
Where Democracy Finds a Stage.
Leveraging the convening power of performing arts venues to rebuild social cohesion and democratic participation — aligning sponsors with nonpartisan civic infrastructure in every market.
Trust in institutions is at historic lows. But performing arts venues remain among the most trusted gathering spaces in their communities — places where people of different backgrounds still sit together, share an experience, and feel something in common. The Civic Trust Lab turns that convening power into civic infrastructure.
The Trust Deficit
Americans Don't Trust Institutions. But They Still Trust Their Theater.
The Crisis
  • Gallup: trust in major institutions at all-time low — Congress (8%), media (16%), big business (14%)
  • Pew Research: 75% of Americans say trust between citizens has declined in the past 20 years
  • Civic participation declining: voter engagement, town halls, community meetings all trending down outside election cycles
  • Social isolation rising: Surgeon General declared loneliness a public health epidemic in 2023
The Opportunity
  • Performing arts venues are inherently nonpartisan, community-rooted, and designed for gathering
  • 1,600+ APAP member venues already host post-show dialogues, community forums, and civic events
  • Venues sit at the intersection of culture, geography, and identity — the exact place where trust rebuilds
  • Sponsors aligned with civic trust gain positioning no political ad buy can replicate: authentic, local, nonpartisan

The Civic Trust Lab doesn't create civic infrastructure from scratch. It activates what's already there — and gives sponsors a credible, nonpartisan way to invest in democratic life.
Civic Trust Verticals
Four Programs. One Democratic Mission.
Post-Performance Dialogues
Structured community conversations after performances that tackle local issues — immigration, housing, education — facilitated by trained moderators and connected to local civic organizations.
Civic Season Activations
Nonpartisan voter engagement and civic literacy programming during election seasons — registration drives, candidate forums, and issue-based performances hosted at venues nationwide.
Cross-Community Convenings
Bringing together audiences who don't normally share space — pairing performances with facilitated dialogue across racial, economic, and political lines in partnership with local bridging organizations.
Arts & Policy Forums
Hosting local and national policy conversations at venues — positioning performing arts spaces as legitimate civic infrastructure and giving sponsors visibility at the intersection of culture and governance.
Each program is designed for sponsors seeking nonpartisan civic positioning — foundations, financial institutions, media companies, and brands committed to social cohesion without political risk.
Civic Trust Partnership
Year One Roadmap.
Q3 2026 — Framework Design
Convene a Civic Trust advisory council, bringing together bridging organizations, political scientists, and venue leaders. Founding sponsors confirmed and program models finalized, ensuring a robust and impactful approach.
Q4 2026 — Venue Training
Select 30 pilot venues for participation. Deliver comprehensive facilitation training, establish local civic partnerships, and distribute essential dialogue toolkits to empower local teams.
Q1 2027 — APAP|NYC Launch
Officially unveil the Civic Trust Lab at the annual conference. Showcase live civic dialogue demonstrations, highlight sponsor contributions, and kick off the pilot venue cohort with national visibility.
Q2-Q4 2027 — Community Activation
Implement civic programming actively across 30+ communities. This includes post-performance dialogues, civic season activations, and cross-community convenings, generating valuable participation data and media coverage.
Investment: $100K–$300K
  • Named civic trust program partnership, aligning your brand with nonpartisan community building.
  • Co-branded initiatives with established nonpartisan civic credibility.
  • Direct access to participation and engagement data from 30+ pilot communities.
  • Prominent conference programming and visibility at key industry events.
  • Comprehensive impact reporting aligned to ESG and civic engagement metrics for transparent accountability.
In a country struggling to find common ground, performing arts venues are one of the last places where strangers still choose to sit together. That's not nostalgia — that's infrastructure.
— APAP
America 250
The Nation's Stage. Your Brand's Moment.
The 250th anniversary of the United States is a once-in-a-generation cultural event. APAP is positioning performing arts venues as the local stages for national celebration — and sponsors as the partners who made it possible.
July 4, 2026 marks America's semiquincentennial — and the celebrations will extend through 2027 and beyond. While the federal America250 commission sets the national narrative, the real celebrations happen locally. APAP's 1,600+ member venues are where communities will gather to mark this moment — and sponsors have the chance to own that local-to-national story.
The Moment
250 Years. 1,600 Stages. One Story.
Why This Is Different
  • The semiquincentennial isn't a single event — it's an 18-month cultural moment spanning 2026-2027.
  • The federal America250 commission is setting the national frame, but local activation is where the story lives.
  • Unlike the Bicentennial (1976), this anniversary arrives in a fractured media landscape — there's no single broadcast moment. The story will be told venue by venue, community by community.
  • Performing arts venues are uniquely positioned: they're local, they're cultural, and they already program seasons around national themes.
Why Sponsors Win Here
  • Own the local celebration: your brand attached to the marquee moment in hundreds of communities.
  • National narrative, local execution: one partnership, 1,600 activation points.
  • Content engine: every venue generates photo, video, and testimonial content tied to the anniversary.
  • Bipartisan by design: celebrating America's founding through the arts is the rare brand-safe patriotic play.
  • Multi-year visibility: programming ramps in late 2026 and runs through 2027, giving sponsors sustained presence.

The last time America celebrated a milestone like this, there was no social media, no streaming, and no ESG reporting. This time, every local celebration becomes a shareable, measurable brand moment.
America 250 Programming
Four Pillars of Celebration.
Signature Commissions
New works commissioned specifically for the semiquincentennial — original performances exploring American identity, history, and aspiration. Sponsors are named co-commissioners with premiere rights and touring visibility.
50-State Activation
A curated season of America 250-themed programming across APAP member venues in all 50 states — ensuring the celebration isn't concentrated in coastal cities but reaches every region, every community.
Heritage & Legacy Series
Programming that lifts up the stories of communities historically excluded from the national narrative — Indigenous, Black, Latino, Asian American, immigrant, and rural voices centered in the celebration.
APAP|NYC 2027 Festival
The 70th anniversary conference becomes the national launchpad for America 250 arts programming — a week of premieres, panels, and celebrations with sponsors at the center of the biggest performing arts gathering in the country.
America 250 sponsorship is limited to 2-3 founding partners. This is the highest-visibility, most emotionally resonant opportunity in the APAP portfolio.
America 250 Partnership
Year One Roadmap.
Q3 2026 — Founding Partners
America 250 founding sponsors confirmed (2-3 maximum). Curatorial advisory convened. Commission selections begin and 50-state venue programming framework established.
Q4 2026 — Programming Ramp
Commissioned works in development. Heritage & Legacy series curated. Venue-level programming calendars set for 2027. Marketing and media campaign launches with sponsor co-branding.
Q1 2027 — APAP|NYC Premiere
The 70th anniversary conference serves as the national launchpad. Premiere performances, sponsor showcases, Heritage series debuts, and 50-state activation kickoff.
Q2-Q4 2027 — National Celebration
America 250 programming live across all 50 states. Commissioned works touring. Content capture at every venue. Culminating in a national impact report and celebration recap.
Investment: $250K–$1M
  • Founding partner status (maximum 2-3 sponsors)
  • Named co-commissioner on original works
  • 50-state brand visibility through venue programming
  • Premiere access and main stage presence at APAP|NYC 2027
  • National media campaign co-branding
  • Legacy documentation and impact reporting
There will only be one 250th. The brands that show up for this moment — not with ads, but with art — will be remembered as the ones who understood what the occasion actually called for.
— APAP
SECTION FIVE
The Investment
What you get, how it works, and why now is the moment to move.
Let's Build This Together
Ways to Be Part of It
APAP|NYC 2027 and the 70th Anniversary year offer a range of partnership opportunities — from headline moments to year-round integration. Every package is customized to your goals. Here's the landscape.
Signature Events
70th Anniversary Gala, Opening Night, Closing Celebration, Awards Ceremony — the milestone moments 5,000+ attendees remember.
Conference Programming
Plenaries, curated tracks, and sponsor-led sessions — your expertise on stage in the room where decisions are made.
APAP Labs
Arts & Tech, ArtsRx, Arts & Trust — named co-branded verticals with year-round programming and conference anchor tracks.
Year-Round Thought Leadership
Virtual summits, in-person convenings, digital series, newsletters, and video content keeping your brand active between Januarys.
Conference Presence
Title sponsorship, app, registration desk, elevator wraps, lanyards, Wi-Fi — every physical and digital touchpoint of the attendee experience.
Showcasing & Artist Discovery
Put your name on the stages where careers are launched and touring contracts are signed.
Community & Social
Happy hours, coffee, networking lounges, photo booths — the human moments attendees talk about long after the conference ends.
Every Partnership Starts With a Conversation
We don't sell packages off a shelf. We sit down, learn your goals, and design a partnership that delivers real value — to your brand, to the field, and to the communities our network serves. The full prospectus details 30+ individual opportunities across four investment tiers. The next card covers timing, urgency, and how to start.
Why Now
Three Forces. One Window.
This isn't a standing offer. It's a convergence of timing, milestone, and national moment that won't repeat — and the window for founding partners is closing.
APAP Turns 70
Seven decades of trust. The 70th Anniversary Gala, year-long programming, and field-wide recognition create a once-in-an-era platform for founding partners to be part of the story — not just the audience.
America Turns 250
The nation's semiquincentennial is the largest cultural moment of our lifetime. APAP is positioning 1,600 venues as the local stages for national celebration. Sponsors who move now shape how that story is told in their communities.
The Founding Window Closes March 31
Founding Sponsors are locked into the April 2026 registration launch — the start of a 9-month visibility runway. After March 31, you're a sponsor. Before it, you're a co-creator.
Seventy years of trust. Two hundred and fifty years of nation. One moment to be at the center of both.
What Founding Partners Get
  • Highest recognition tier across all APAP|NYC 2027 and Labs materials
  • Featured placement in April 2026 registration launch
  • Co-design influence on programming, Labs, and conference activations
  • 9+ months of sustained visibility before a single attendee arrives
  • First-mover positioning in America 250 performing arts programming
What Waiting Costs
  • Later sponsors inherit the framework — they don't shape it
  • Post-launch visibility is shorter, narrower, and less integrated
  • America 250 programming slots are finite and filling
  • Lab co-creation seats are limited to 2–3 per vertical
  • The field remembers who showed up first
For the field, early partners aren't just funders — they're co-architects of what the performing arts sector becomes next.
The earlier you commit, the more you shape.

📞 Let's Talk
Schedule a 30-minute conversation with our partnerships team to explore the right package for your organization.
Sam Myers Jr., Chief Strategy & External Affairs Advisor | sam@apap365.org
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