Our weekly CultureSwap Circle has quickly become the new favorite part of our week. With both familiar and new faces joining each session, it's proven to be a valuable virtual gathering for sharing experiences, troubleshooting the issues facing our industry and trading resources and tips. We hope you will join us and this amazing community this Wednesday for our next morning session.

And if you have a particular question or topic that you would like to share with the group or you want to discuss with the group, please reply back to this email. We can prompt the discussion for you or open the floor for you to "present" your experience with the group. Here are a few examples of topics that have come up during previous Circles - "how are your organizations planning for virtual gala's?" "How do you help a new colleague feel welcome and integrated into staff in this virtual world?" or "how are others providing opportunities for engaging teacher/student interactions?"

Join us on Wednesday, May 20, at 8:30am for our next CultureSwap Circle - hosted by YPA and 92Y.

What is getting you through the days during this time? Join us for our YPA Virtual Breakfast Hour tomorrow, Wednesday, April 15 from 8:30am - 9:30am to share in a morning chat and connect with arts professionals like yourself about your professional and personal struggles, finding your outlet while confined, and coping during this crisis. And if you can't participate, write us a line. We would love to hear from you!

As ever, we have compiled a list of reads, (virtual) events, and opportunities (yes, some places are still hiring!). We also keep finding great Covid-19 related resources that some wonderful organizations or individuals have put together, so we created a special section for it to share with you. If you know of more, let us know.

With news of all museum, arts organization, and cultural institution lay-offs and furloughs coming at us almost daily among just the everyday stress of living through a global pandemic, today we are thankful for resources like the Dia Foundation's Meditations from artist Diana Mangaser. For the more pragmatic reader, we also provided our usual round-up of Covid-19 resources, such as Ladies Get Paid’s new resources and benefits for those recently laid off as well as articles to help navigate the infuriatingly complicated process of applying for unemployment benefits. While we can't connect at an event or performance, there are still plenty of professional development opportunties to tune into virtually. But remember to take it one day at a time. We also have to remind ourselves that it’s ok to simply be, check in on your loved ones, have that Netflix marathon, enjoy the Switch console.

It's almost too exhausting to keep track of every single new development on a basically minute-to-minute basis these days. We're trying to take a breath anytime we can, calm our anxieties, and find silver linings in the smallest of things (sweatpants for days, anyone?). We know each of you has been affected in many different ways and are hoping that some of the articles, webinars, livestreams and more below can offer some help or guidance.

We would love to continue fostering the wonderful community that YPA has become over the past years and make sure we're there for each other. Join us for our YPA Virtual Breakfast Hour on April 15 from 8:30am - 9:30am.

Well, this has certainly been an unusual week. The cultural sector has experienced significant impacts due to COVID-19, leading many of us adjusting to working remotely indefinitely. For freelancers, some jobs have been put on hold and event organizers and operation administrators at theaters, museums, and beyond are left wondering, what's next? With uncertain times ahead, YPA wants to be here to provide news, resources, and creative outlets for navigating this global pandemic. We have to be here for each other, to respond creatively, to comfort, to provide critical thought, to support our entire community, and when ready and safe, to return with vigor when our doors open again.

To embrace our new virtual existence - our Reads section is extra padded with some tips for adjusting to your new at-home office, relaxation tips, coronavirus resources, and more. Because we completely endorse social distancing, Events includes interactive online webinars and virtual experiences. And it just may be the right time to freshen up your cover letter. Go ahead and browse our Apply section. Take care and stay strong!

We hope everyone is feeling well and healthy out there! After a weekend full of art fairs, it's time to get back into the work week. And whatever you will be dealing with in the job or at home during this coronavirus outbreak we're sending you strength and some Reads to start the week with. Under Events we have a special offer for YPA Members for an event on Wednesday evening and our Apply section is packed with opportunities sent to us by YPA Members. Thank you to all for thinking of this community and sharing! Onwards :)

We were so happy to see so many of you at our YPA Happy Hour last week—the room was buzzing with connections being made, stories being told, and opportunities being shared. Thank you for joining us!
Speaking of opportunities, we're thrilled to share one to attend the ArtsReach conference with a full-tuition scholarship in March. YPA will also be there, so let us know if you are too, we would love to connect! More details on how to apply for the scholarship are below.
Lastly, we're looking forward to spring in NYC, which usually announces its arrival through a flurry of art fairs. We have special offers of complimentary (or cheap!) tickets for our YPA Members going forward. This week we're offering complimentary tickets to VOLTA New York! Email us to snag your free tickets and see you there.

Whether you spent the long weekend soaking in the sun while hopping art fairs in Los Angeles, managed to escape to Chicago for CAA's annual conference or bundled up to brave the museums or a performance here in New York, we hope you sought inspiration and growth. Now it's time to knock out a short work week and as always, we've got resources to help in our Reads, Events, and Apply sections. Just need a place to connect over the arts with other creative-minded workers? We've got that too! Join us on Thursday, February 20 at Antler in the Lower East Side for our YPA WInter Happy Hour.  

It's the last day to apply for CultureSwap (see below for more details) and we encourage all our members to do so to make connections with other folks across arts and cultural organizations in our city. Our read section this week looks at a variety of topics from fascinating artist projects to that contested "Head of Coffee" position at the Tate Museum in London. In events, we love the NYPL's take on Valentine's Day and hope everyone finds their book match this Friday. As ever, we share many opportunities for you to apply to among them fellowships and part-time jobs too.

Finally, we hope many of you can make it to our next YPA Winter Happy Hour on February 20 starting at 6pm. Come meet like-minded arts professionals over a happy hour drink!

With so many deadlines on the horizon (Culture Swap, Emerging Leaders, Visiting Senior Fellowship, etc) we rounded up in our read section, an array of articles focused on time and project management to help conquer those goals. In events, we love the opportunity to reserve mentorship time to speak to a curator or arts professionals, and as usual, Ladies Get Paid's webinars are useful and affordable. In apply, don't miss out on all the exciting upcoming professional development opportunties or perhaps even your dream job. Finally, in case you missed it, YPA NYC co-founders were featured in NYFA's Business of Art | The Arts Administrator’s Creed: 5 Guiding Principles for Your Arts Admin Career, along with a handful of art leaders we respect deeply. Check it out! Until next week, onwards! 

We're excited to share an article this week that we contributed some thoughts to as well: Business of Art | The Arts Administrator’s Creed: 5 Guiding Principles for Your Arts Admin Career by the New York Foundation for the Arts. Read about what keeps us going in our industry and other things we thought about, like hiring neurodiverse talent and why quitting is sometimes good. Under Events we're starting the week off with a meet-up and Saturday is looking to be a fun evening in Brooklyn. We've got several interesting opportunities to Apply to and are especially thrilled about the mock interviews at the CAA conference and NYFA's Emerging Leaders Program. Lastly, you still have a few more days to put your name in the ring for CultureSwap 2020—don't miss out. You got this, til next week!

This week, dig into our Read section for a focused look at mastering negotiation, plus tips for being decisive and a helpful look at learning to navigate grieving in the workplace. In Events, growth and development is the name of the game especially if you are looking for solidarity, community building, and aim to change your institution.  Head to POWarts unionizing program or to the kick off party to start a Museum Workers Manifesto for a chance to connect, learn and make a difference. For Apply, we've got our weekly list of round ups. Plus, don't forget to put your name in the ring for CultureSwap 2020. This is such a unique opportunity to connect deeply with your peers at institutions around town, don't miss out! Until next week- Onwards!