Common Practice New York is a recently formed advocacy group that fosters research and discussions on the role of small-scale arts institutions in New York City. The founding members of Common Practice New York are Artists Space, The Kitchen, Light Industry, Participant Inc, Printed Matter, Triple Canopy, and White Columns.

Common Practice New York draws inspiration from Common Practice, London, an affiliated advocacy group working for the recognition and fostering of the small-scale contemporary visual arts sector in England, and founder of the Common Practice Network.

The first Common Practice New York initiative includes a series of three invitational roundtables on contemporary institutional practice organized in collaboration with students and faculty from the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College (CCS Bard) in fall 2013; a public conference developed in response to these seminars in spring 2014; and a forthcoming publication that will include transcripts from these events alongside additional contextual and artistic contributions.

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Founded over the course of several meetings beginning in 2012, Common Practice New York aims to collectively embody the question What is our common practice and why do we value it? Each group claims certain benefits to its small scale: sustainability not at the expense of quality; long-term relationships with artists and publics; less compromised access to artwork; and horizontal networks and collaboration. Yet factors such as the embrace of larger institutions to new art, ever-adapting commercial environments, novel forms of social interaction, and the rising costs of living in New York have all created unprecedented challenges for small-scale institutions.

Though our institutions may, by their very existence, negotiate these questions, Common Practice New York acknowledges a growing need for critical discussions that extend beyond the churn of our programming schedules and the rhetoric of our mission statements. The group aims to collectively examine how small-scale New York arts institutions are perceived and evaluated by audiences, artists and funders alike; to identify the challenges of operating in today's climate and revive discussions of those obstacles and inequalities which have persisted since the rise of the alternative space. In doing so, Common Practice New York aims to develop new knowledge and further a discourse on ethical positions for the presentation of art and ideas in the twenty-first century.

Generous support for Common Practice New York has been provided by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Lambent Foundation/Fund of Tides Foundation, and Outset USA.

Learn more about Common Practice New York and join our mailing list at www.commonpracticeny.org.