Women in the Arts & Media Coalition

What Women in the Arts & Media Coalition does

The Women in the Arts & Media Coalition (WAM Coalition) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 1989 and reorganized/rebranded from its prior identity as NYCWAM (New York Coalition of Professional Women in the Arts and Media) in 2010, with headquarters at 22 East 30th Street in New York City. It functions as a centralized resource, advocacy coalition, and cross-disciplinary networking body for professional women in the performing arts and media industries, uniting nine full member organizations (Actors' Equity Association, Associated Musicians of Greater New York/Local 802 AFM, Dramatists Guild, League of Professional Theatre Women, New York Women in Communications, New York Women in Film & Television, SAG-AFTRA, Stage Directors & Choreographers Society, and Writers Guild of America East), fifteen affiliate organizations (including BOLD, Drama Desk, ICWP, Women in Music, Women's Media Center, Women Make Movies, and WomenArts), and one academic affiliate (the School of Visual Arts Film & Animation Department). Through this member base, the Coalition claims to represent more than 80,000 women and men in the arts and media, with one 2015 press release citing a figure of more than 100,000.

The Coalition's service offerings include a password-protected individual member directory, a Communal Calendar of events, monthly curated #StageOpps (theatre) and #ScreenOpps (film/video) submission-opportunity newsletters, a Squarespace-hosted blog, and several recurring programs. Signature programs include the biennial Collaboration Awards (recognizing women collaborating across artistic disciplines), the annual Women Arts Day (held during Women's History Month at SVA Theatre), Vint/Age, and Legal Clinics on industry-rights topics. The Coalition's technology footprint is minimal and non-proprietary: a Squarespace website (womenartsmediacoalition.org) and a blog (blog.womenartsmediacoalition.org), with Constant Contact used for newsletter distribution; no software platform, proprietary system, or technical infrastructure is described.

The organization operates as a volunteer/board-member-run nonprofit under a Co-President leadership structure. Revenue is sourced from member organization contributions, individual memberships (sign-up via Google Forms with dues not publicly disclosed), event ticket sales ($15–$25 general admission and up to $100 premium seats for the Collaboration Awards; $20–$25 for Legal Clinics), tax-deductible donations accepted via PayPal/Zelle/mail, and grant funding from the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) supported by the Office of the Governor and New York State Legislature. Customer/reach expansion is driven primarily through cross-promotion within member organizations, supplemented by Facebook, Twitter/X, Pinterest, and periodic signature events. The reported headcount of 5,001–10,000 appears to reflect the combined employee base of member organizations rather than direct WAM Coalition staff, as the Coalition itself operates with a board and volunteers.

Name

Women in the Arts & Media Coalition

Legal name

Women in the Arts & Media Coalition, Inc.

Website

https://womenartsmediacoalition.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1989

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

5,001–10,000 employees

Short description

The Women in the Arts & Media Coalition is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that serves as a centralized advocacy and networking coalition for professional women in the performing arts and media, uniting nine guilds, unions, and associations representing more than 80,000 professionals.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Arts & Media Professional Coalition Services

NAICS

Professional Organizations (813920)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Gender Equality & Women’s Rights Advocacy (BPAGAFAD)

Keywords

• Arts advocacy coalition
• Women professional network
• Nonprofit arts organization
• Media industry coalition
• Arts resource directory

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Member Organization Contributions: As a coalition of member organizations, the WAM Coalition is sustained through contributions and support from its nine full member organizations and fifteen affiliate organizations, which represent the primary institutional base of the organization.
2. Individual Membership: The Coalition offers individual membership for professionals who wish to join directly, providing access to the individual member directory and Coalition resources. Individual members can sign up via a Google Forms link.
3. Event Ticket Sales: Revenue generated from ticket sales to signature events including the Collaboration Awards Gala (tickets priced from $15 for member organization members to $100 for premium seats) and Legal Clinic sessions ($20-$25 per ticket).
4. Government Grants: Grant funding from the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), with support from the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, has enabled updates to resources and opportunities.
5. Donations: The Coalition accepts tax-deductible donations via PayPal, Zelle, and mail. Donations are solicited in memory of deceased founders and board members.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels10 records

Core offering

The Women in the Arts & Media Coalition (WAM Coalition) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit umbrella organization that operates as a centralized resource hub for professional women working in the arts and media industries. Originally founded in 1989 as NYCWAM, it coordinates nine full member organizations, fifteen affiliate organizations, and one academic affiliate, collectively representing an estimated 80,000 to 100,000-plus arts and media professionals. It delivers member services, advocacy, networking, and signature programs such as Collaboration Awards, Women Arts Day, Vint/Age, and Legal Clinics, in addition to targeted opportunity newsletters.

Product overview

The WAM Coalition is a non-profit membership organization (501(c)(3)), not a technology product company. It serves as a centralized resource and networking coalition for professional women in the performing arts and media industries. The organization does not offer a software product or platform in the traditional SaaS sense. Its core offerings include: a member directory accessible to individual members; a communal calendar of events; #StageOpps and #ScreenOpps newsletters providing submission opportunities; the Collaboration Award (signature event recognizing collaborative work among women from different artistic specializations); VintAge (signature event); Women Arts Day (annual Women's History Month celebration); a Legal Clinic providing guidance on rights acquisition; and access to a network of over 80,000 women and men through member organizations including Actors' Equity, SAG-AFTRA, Dramatists Guild, SDC, NYWIFT, NYWICI, WGAE, and others. The coalition also publishes a blog and maintains a private individual member directory.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Individual Membership Free individual membership in the WAM Coalition open to professional women working in arts and media, providing access to newsletters, events, networking, and coalition resources.
• Full Member Organizations Coalition membership tier for the nine full member organizations that constitute the governance core of the WAM Coalition, representing professional women in distinct arts and media disciplines.
• Affiliate Organizations Coalition membership tier for the fifteen affiliate organizations allied with the WAM Coalition to extend its reach into allied arts and media disciplines.
• Academic Affiliate Coalition membership tier for the one academic affiliate institution that connects WAM Coalition resources to students and academic programs in arts and media.
• Collaboration Award Annual recognition program that honors projects and collaborations advancing women in arts and media, delivered as part of the coalition's signature programming.
• Women Arts Day Signature annual advocacy and visibility event organized by the coalition to celebrate and promote women across the arts.
• Vint/Age Signature program focused on issues affecting older women in the arts and media professions, delivered as part of the coalition's targeted advocacy work.
• Legal Clinics Pro bono legal services program providing arts-and-media-specific legal guidance to member professionals on contracts, intellectual property, and related matters.
• #StageOpps Newsletter Targeted opportunity newsletter focused on stage, theater, and performing-arts job and audition listings for women professionals in those disciplines.
• #ScreenOpps Newsletter Targeted opportunity newsletter focused on screen, film, and television job and casting listings for women professionals in those disciplines.
• Communal Calendar Shared industry calendar aggregating events, deadlines, and opportunities from member organizations and the broader arts-and-media community.
• Member Directory Directory of the coalition's full member organizations, affiliate organizations, and academic affiliate, providing contact information and disciplinary scope.

Quantifiable outcome

• Represents more than 80,000 women and men in the arts and media through member organizations (stated on About Us page)
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

31 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Actors' Equity Association (AEA)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFull member organization of the Coalition. AEA is the labor union representing professional performers and stage managers in the legitimate theatre throughout the United States. Its members automatically become Coalition members.
• Associated Musicians of Greater New York, Local 802 AFMcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFull member organization. One of the largest local unions of professional musicians in the world, representing musicians' common interests and advocating for economic and social justice.
• Dramatists Guild (DG)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFull member organization. The professional association of playwrights, composers and lyricists, working to protect their rights and improve working conditions.
• League of Professional Theatre Women (LPTW)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFull member organization and founding member of the Coalition. LPTW is an advocacy organization dedicated to reinforcing the positive image of women, promoting their visibility, and increasing their opportunities in American professional theatre.
• New York Women in Communications (NYWICI)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFull member organization empowering women in all communications disciplines at all career stages to reach their full potential.
• New York Women in Film & Television (NYWIFT)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFull member organization dedicated to helping women reach the highest levels of achievement in film, television and other programming media. Membership includes people working in all areas of film, television and new media, with a network of 40 chapters representing 10,000 people around the world.
• Screen Actors Guild — American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFull member organization representing more than 150,000 actors, announcers, broadcasters, journalists, dancers, DJs, program hosts, recording artists, singers, stunt performers, and voiceover artists. National offices in L.A. and N.Y. with local offices nationwide.
• Stage Directors & Choreographers Society (SDC)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFull member organization, the national independent labor representative for directors and choreographers working in the American professional theatre, with jurisdiction over Broadway, Off-Broadway, and other stages.
• Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFull member organization, a labor union representing professional writers in the motion picture, television and radio industries. Guild agreements provide protections in fees, payment, rights in material, credits and arbitration.
• School of Visual Arts (SVA) Film & Animation DepartmentcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAcademic affiliate of the Coalition. Hosts signature Coalition events (Collaboration Awards, Women Arts Day) at the SVA Theatre. Students are eligible for the Student Collaboration Award. First Academic Affiliate of the Women in the Arts & Media Coalition.
• BOLDminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAffiliate organization founded in 2015, empowering Black Women in the Creative Arts to live BOLD lives by contributing creatively to the telling of our stories and cultivating whole-hearted community.
• Drama DeskminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAffiliate organization formed in 1949 by New York theater critics to make the public aware of vital issues concerning the theatrical industry. Drama Desk Awards are the only major New York theater honors where productions on, off, and off-off Broadway compete against one another.
• International Centre for Women Playwrights (ICWP)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAffiliate organization dedicated to supporting women playwrights around the world by supporting their efforts to gain professional equality and to express their artistic vision without censorship.
• The Lambs, Inc.minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAffiliate organization. America's first professional theatrical club, established in 1874 and incorporated in 1877. Located at 3 West 51st Street, NYC. Involved in founding Actors Equity, The Actors Fund of America, ASCAP, and SAG.
• Los Angeles Female Playwrights Initiative (LA FPI)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAffiliate organization, an LA-based movement working to ensure that women playwrights are fairly represented locally and beyond, connecting L.A. female playwrights to other women theater artists and organizations nationwide.
• National League of American Pen Women (NLAPW)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAffiliate organization founded in 1897, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit supporting and promoting the development of creative talents of professional women in arts, letters, music, and allied professions. 81 branches in 35 states with 1,600 professional women members.
• National Theatre ConferenceminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAffiliate organization founded in 1925, an organization of distinguished members of the American Theatre to initiate, encourage, and support projects of value and significance.
• Professional Women Singers Association (PWSA)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAffiliate organization founded in 1982, advancing careers of women singers and promoting musical excellence in opera, musical theater, concert and cabaret performance, and sacred music.
• The Rehearsal ClubminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAffiliate organization whose mission is to preserve its historic legacy of over a century while supporting young, talented, and deserving young women forging careers in the performing arts, with affordable housing and networking support.
• 365 Women a Year: A Playwriting ProjectminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAffiliate organization, an international playwriting project with the goal of writing women back into the social consciousness and empowering and promoting female playwrights around the country.
• Theater Resources UnlimitedminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAffiliate organization, a nonprofit helping producers produce, emerging theater companies emerge healthily, and all theater professionals navigate the business of theater. Leading professional development, mentorship, and networking organization.
• Women in MusicminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAffiliate organization established in 1985, advancing the awareness, equality, diversity, heritage, knowledge base, opportunities, and cultural aspects of women in the music industry through education, networking, support, empowerment, and recognition.
• The Women's Media CenterminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAffiliate organization whose mission is to assure that women and women's experiences are reflected in the media, that women are represented as sources for subjects of the media, and that women media professionals have equal opportunities for employment and advancement.
• We Make MoviesminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAffiliate organization redefining what it means to be a film studio — a film collective with a thriving worldwide community and production company that helps bring hundreds of projects to life each year through affordable production insurance, gear discounts, free weekly labs, and an international film festival.
• Women Make MoviesminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAffiliate organization facilitating the production, promotion, distribution, and exhibition of independent films and videotapes by and about women, facilitating development of feminist media, and addressing under-representation of women in film.
• WomenArtsminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAffiliate organization (also known as Fund for Women Artists) helping women do their creative work by directing funds to artists, building audiences through the WomensArtNetwork online listings, providing information on funding resources, and advocacy.
• New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA)minorOthersGovernment arts funding body. Updates to Coalition resources and opportunities have been made possible by NYSCA with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. NYSCA support enables the Coalition to maintain and update its resource databases.
• SAG-AFTRAminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-producer of Women Arts Day 2026 with WomenArts, NYWIFT, HerFlix, Women Independent Producers, and the School of Visual Arts BFA Film Department. Also co-producer of Women Arts Day 2025.
• HerFlixminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-producer of Women Arts Day 2026 and 2025, a collaborative event celebrating women artists for Women's History Month.
• Women Independent ProducersminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-producer of Women Arts Day 2026.
• Houghton Hall Arts CommunityminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerVenue partner for Coalition events including the Legal Clinic and the 2025 Collaboration Awards (Fred and Adele Astaire Ballroom at Houghton Hall Arts Community, 22 East 30th Street).

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Women's Media Center: Women's Media Center is an affiliate organization of WAM Coalition and operates as a comparable nonprofit working to ensure women are represented in media. Founded by Jane Fonda, Robin Morgan, and Gloria Steinem, it pursues similar advocacy and visibility goals across journalism, broadcasting, and digital media.
• BOLD (Black Women in the Creative Arts): BOLD is an affiliate organization of WAM Coalition founded in 2015, empowering Black women in the creative arts. It pursues a more targeted demographic mission than WAM but shares the same coalition/advocacy structure and serves as a comparable women-of-color arts networking peer.
• League of Professional Theatre Women (LPTW): LPTW is a founding member organization of WAM Coalition and a peer advocacy organization dedicated to promoting visibility and opportunities for women in American professional theatre. LPTW runs its own programming (including the Lucille Lortel Award) that overlaps directly with WAM Coalition's theatre-focused mission.
• Women Make Movies: Women Make Movies is an affiliate organization of WAM Coalition and a peer nonprofit facilitating production, distribution, and exhibition of independent films by and about women. Operates a similar nonprofit/advocacy model focused on women's representation in film.
• New York Women in Film & Television (NYWIFT): NYWIFT is itself a member organization of WAM Coalition but operates as a leading independent advocacy organization for women in film, television, and new media with ~10,000 members across 40 chapters. NYWIFT is directly comparable as a women-in-media advocacy network with overlapping programming (mentorship, awards, networking) and shared NYC base.
• WomenArts (Fund for Women Artists): WomenArts is an affiliate organization of WAM Coalition and operates as a direct peer — a nonprofit helping women artists secure funding through the WomensArtNetwork listings and direct grants. It shares WAM's mission of increasing women's visibility and resources in the arts.
• Women in Film (Los Angeles): Women in Film is the LA-based counterpart to NYWIFT and a broader peer to WAM Coalition — a nonprofit advocacy organization for women in entertainment with a strong mentorship, networking, and awards (Crystal + Lucy Awards) mandate that closely mirrors WAM's Collaboration Award and Women Arts Day.

Broad incumbents

• Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media: The Geena Davis Institute is a research-driven advocacy organization addressing gender representation in media. Comparable in mission to WAM Coalition's gender equity goals but operates nationally with celebrity/foundation backing and a research/advocacy emphasis rather than direct artist services.
• Time's Up: Time's Up is a broader, higher-profile advocacy organization focused on gender equity across entertainment and beyond. It operates at significantly larger scale with corporate and celebrity backing but shares WAM Coalition's mission of advancing women in arts/media, making it an adjacent incumbent rather than a direct competitor.

Others

• The Dramatists Guild of America: The Dramatists Guild is a core member organization of WAM Coalition and a much larger professional association for playwrights, composers, and lyricists. Included as an ecosystem participant — the Guild's individual programs complement WAM's cross-disciplinary coalition role but operate at significantly larger scale (national vs. coalition-level).

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/WomenArtsMedia
• Facebookfacebook.com/WomenArtsMedia
• Instagraminstagram.com/avis.boone
• Pinterestpinterest.com/womenartsmedia

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Women in the Arts & Media Coalition