In the Arts: N.Y. Dance Troupes Merge, Fisk U. Appeals Limits on Art Sale

Two of New York’s best-known contemporary dance organizations have announced plans to merge, The New York Times says.

Pending court approval, Dance Theater Workshop and the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company will form a new entity, New York Live Arts. The boards of both groups unanimously approved the union Wednesday.

The deal gives the Jones company a permanent home at Dance Theater Workshop’s headquarters in the Chelsea district while offering greater financial stability to the workshop, which has struggled with debt since opening the building in 2002.

In other arts news, Fisk University has appealed a court decision would have allowed the Nashville institution to sell its valuable art collection but would have strictly limited how much it raised from the deal, The Tennessean reports.

The November ruling gave Fisk permission to sell a half-stake in the collection of modern art it received in a bequest from the painter Georgia O’Keeffe as long as two-thirds of the $30-million price tag be set aside to care for the works. The financially strapped university called the condition unacceptable, saying it costs far less to maintain the collection.