Meet Chelsea Ainsworth | Executive Director of AOS/ Choreographer/ Dancer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Chelsea Ainsworth and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Chelsea, can you talk to us a bit about the social impact of your business?
Arts On Site (AOS) is paving the way for hundreds of artists to be seen by providing a safe and affordable way to create, join community, and perform to live audiences. As a women-led nonprofit organization AOS is run by a team of 10 women and hosts a community of over 8,000 artists.

Having established a performance space over the last 9 years in the East Village AOS has recently launched a series called the Arts In Sight Festival series started in 2021 until at least 2030. With six companies featured at each festival, AOS will highlight over 450 music, dance and theater companies.

The idea is to create a space for underrepresented artists to be seen. In 2021, AOS committed to host four festivals that focus on representing BIPOC, Women, AAPI, and Queer artists and added an artists with disabilities festival last year. Together with partners AOS is developing plans to incorporate more festivals over the next nine years to support other underrepresented artists who identify as being of a minority based on gender, age, ethnicity, economic status, physical disabilities, or sexual orientation.

GOALS
Produce a sustainable series to support underrepresented artists
Partner with organizations & guest curators
Expand our audience and community by curating new voices
Provide adequate financial compensation for all artists
Build towards hosting a different festival every month

This series of performances celebrat​e​s the rich dimensions of diversity and ensures the inclusion of marginalized voices in NYC. Right now, it’s more important than ever to give underrepresented populations a platform to share their viewpoints through artistic expression. These artists need to be seen and their voices need to be heard. These performances provide a space for a community of artists & art enthusiasts to come together and address issues of discrimination and subordination that exists within our society.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I am committed to a life surrounded by art, and I bring people together so that they can do the same. I believe artists are at the forefront of change and I have dedicated my life to providing space that creates a sense of community and home for artists to focus on equity, artistry and joy.

My History and Business
I moved away from home at age 13 to make a commitment to the arts. I went to NCSA and then Juilliard. In 2012 I began curating performances and in 2016 with the help of Adrian Rosas and Kyle Netzeband founded Arts On Site which has become a critical arts organization, rehearsal space and performance venue in the East Village of NYC. This non profit is a women led organization that believes in building community and supporting artists. Since then AOS has hosted approximately 900 performances by about 3000 performing artists, empowering a team of 10 women directors. In 2017 Kyle Netzeband and I with a team of volunteers built a 20-acre retreat and residency center in Kerhonkson, NY, which accommodates 20 guests with arts facilities, where we have hosted over 100 week long residencies sponsoring artists from NYC.

In 2020 and 2021, when the world presented many challenges we kept going. In the face of Covid-19 we designed and built a new performance space to continue supporting artists. My dance partner and I also started a dance company called Dual Rivet, quarantining so we could continue to make dance.

I’ve put my life savings into my businesses and my career at large. Hopefully I will support festivals and performances for the rest of my life, giving thousands of artists space to created and showcase their work. And I will continue to perform and teach through Dual Rivet, bringing the joy of movement to everyone I meet.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
New York City has so many incredible theaters, restaurants, bars etc. Some of my favorite spots are Saint Marks Yoga and Spirit Lab Yoga, The independent Film Center (IFC), Sugar Monk bar, Mud Coffee, The Russian and Turkish Baths, Cafe Mogador and Rosies (for the happy hour). All shows at Lincoln Center or NYLA New York Live Arts are wonderful as well

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I’d like to shoutout all of the incredible mentors and lights that have helped pave the way for me and other so many other artists including Zvi Gotheiner, teachers at Juilliard Risa Steinberg and Alexandra Wells, my dancer teacher growing up Christy Curtis, my mom and dad, The Bang Group humans, and my dance partner Jessica smith.

Website: https://www.artsonsite.org ; https://www.dualrivetdance.com ; https://www.aosrr.com

Instagram: @ainsworthchelsea ; @artsonsite ; @dualrivet ; @artsonsiterr

Image Credits
Kyle Netzeband, Art Davison