Fractured Atlas is a

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

technology company that provides business tools for

artists An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, the ...

History

Fractured Atlas was founded in 1998 by Executive Director Adam Huttler as a theater production company. Between 1998 and 2001, the company produced or presented numerous

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

, and

performance art Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...

shows in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Fractured Atlas's final major production, Post-Traumatic Slave Syndrome, opened on September 7, 2001 at a theatre in lower Manhattan. Following the financial fallout of the

September 11 terrorist attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial ...

, Fractured Atlas began a shift from a production company to a service organization. The organization re-opened as a membership-based support organization for other artists in 2002. In 2007, it established the Open Arts Network, which closed in 2017. In its early years as a service organization, Fractured Atlas was known for its programs providing health and other

insurance Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to hedge ...

fiscal sponsorship Fiscal sponsorship refers to the practice of non-profit organizations offering their legal and tax-exempt status to groups—typically projects—engaged in activities related to the sponsoring organization's mission. It typically involves a fee-b ...

, professional development, and other technical assistance. While these programs were all web-based, the organization did not begin seriously to position itself as a "technology company" until late 2009, when it announced the launch of ATHENA (later renamed Artful.ly). In August 2013, Fractured Atlas acquired Gemini SBS, which was previously an affiliated for-profit company that developed web applications for non-profit and arts industry clients. In 2014, Fractured Atlas launched the Arts Entrepreneurship Awards and a

software development Software development is the process of conceiving, specifying, designing, programming, documenting, testing, and bug fixing involved in creating and maintaining applications, frameworks, or other software components. Software development invol ...

fellowship program for artists.

Programs

The organization's primary services include fiscal sponsorship and insurance, along with the software products Artful.ly and Spaces. Other significant activity includes the Arts Entrepreneurship Awards and a software development fellowship for artists.

Fiscal Sponsorship

Fractured Atlas's fiscal sponsorship programs allows non-commercial art-related projects to be supported through grants and tax-deductible donations without the project having to maintain independent 501(c)(3) status. As of May 2014, the organization reported to be sponsoring nearly 3,500 artists and organizations through this program, and to have raised over $62 million in support of their work.

Arts Entrepreneurship Awards

The Arts Entrepreneurship Awards seek to honor innovators and entrepreneurs in the business aspects of arts and culture.

2014 Winners

* Rubber Repertory (Austin, Tex.) * Creative Partners (Chicago, Ill.) * ArtHome (New York, N.Y.) * Of a Kind (New York, N.Y.) * Todd Scalise (Erie, Pa.)

Awards and recognition

Fractured Atlas has received a 4-star rating (the highest possible) on Charity Navigator in each of the past three years. Fractured Atlas earned a 4.5 star aggregate rating on Great Nonprofits."Fractured Atlas - Volunteer, client and donor reviews and ratings"
GreatNonprofits. Accessed June 12, 2014.

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.fracturedatlas.org Arts organizations based in New York City Organizations based in New York City Fiscal sponsorship organizations