Performing Artservices, Inc. is a non-profit organization whose mission is to produce, present and facilitate the endeavors of artists working in contemporary forms of music, theater and dance.

Performing Artservices, Inc. was founded in 1972 to provide professional management, producing and administrative services to a group of performing artists in dance, theater and music whose developing careers required services they could not afford individually. Among these first artists were John Cage, David Tudor, Richard Foreman, Mabou Mines, The Sonic Arts Union (Ashley, Behrman, Lucier, Mumma), The Grand Union (Rainer, Gordon, Paxton, Dunn, Brown, Lewis), The Viola Farber Dance Company and the Philip Glass Ensemble. All facets of the artists/companies careers were handled by Artservices' staff: business and fiscal management, fund raising, booking and contract negotiation, tour management, publicity and promotion and local production.

During its very first year of operations, Artservices booked and managed an eight-week concert tour of European Festivals for John Cage and David Tudor. Some of Artservices' major productions have included the Childs/Glass/Lewitt collaboration, "Dance"; a four-concert series of Glass' music at Town Hall; "Lovely Music Live", a five-week series of concerts by American composers at Marymount Manhattan Theater in New York; Karole Armitage's first large scale European tour and collaboration with composers Rhys Chatham and Jeffrey Lohn. More recently Artservices produced Robert Ashley's opera tetralogy, "Now Eleanor's Idea".

In 1978 Artservices founded Lovely Music, the record company which is devoted to recording American experimental/avant-garde music. By 1998, the catalogue comprised over 100 releases on LP, CD, and videotape.

From 1989 to 1994 Artservices co-produced, with the World Music Institute, the "Interpretations" series, a concert series exploring the relationships between creative artists and their interpreters, featuring leading figures in contemporary American music and multimedia arts. Artservices has assisted with the production of twenty-five seasons of Richard Foreman's Ontological-Hysteric Theater, the production of several New York seasons for choreographer Molissa Fenley, and annual productions by The Other Theater.

Current Roster of Artists and Projects:

Robert Ashley
Molissa Fenley and Dancers
Richard Foreman's Ontological-Hysteric Theater

Performing Artservices, Inc.
260 West Broadway
New York, NY 10013
Tel: 212/941-8911
Fax: 212/334-5149
artservicesinc@mindspring.com

Page updated: December 24, 2006