New Utility Inc
Public records show a registered, tax-exempt organization in good standing.
What it says it does
The New Utility Inc. provides cultural dance performances and workshops to engage and inspire the public with hybrid, conceptual movement that challenges perceived limitations and uncovers possibility in the body. The New Utility brings together its choreographer Abby Zbikowski and a diverse set of performers from a vast range of training backgrounds to challenge the orthodoxy of traditional concert dance aesthetics, which are historically sexist, classist, and racist. From this diversity, the New Utility has created a new movement lexicon which triangulates dancing/moving bodies across multiple cultural value systems simultaneously, thus welcoming equally audience members from a range of cultural backgrounds and understandings of dance and movement. By performing, teaching workshops, and engaging in public discussions in a range of venues across multiple communities, the New Utility seeks to enrich the cultural experience of the public through the medium of live dance performance.
- Income
- $172,213
- Spending
- $157,691
- Reserves
- 3.1 months of spending
- Largest source of income
- donations and private grants, 56%
- Highest pay
- $8,212, artistic director
Source: Form 990EZ for the year ending December 31, 2024, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Financial health
Good: 79 out of 100. Higher than 55% of charities in its peer group (arts and culture, under $250k).
Reserves
20 of 35Spendable reserves would cover 3.1 months of spending.
Debt
20 of 20It owes 1% of what it owns.
Living within its means
15 of 15Income exceeded spending by 8% of income.
Source: Form 990EZ for the year ending December 31, 2024, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Governance
This organization files the short tax form, which does not ask about boards, policies or audits. That is normal for a small charity and is not a mark against it.
Source: Form 990EZ for the year ending December 31, 2024, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Impact evidence
Describes programs. Its tax return describes what it does but we have found no measurable results in it.
Programs described in its return (4)
- $99,888 spent. Performance of Dance Work. We continued our second phase of touring "Radioactive Practice," Abby Z and the New Utility's second evening-length work, in Swarthmore, PA with 1 performance at Lang Performing Arts Center as part of a week residency with the Dance department. We sold out the 150 seats available. We performed 3 shows at the Fusebox Festival April 12-14 in the University of Texas at Austin's B. Iden Payne Theatre for a total audience of 358 people. May 15-18, we performed 4 shows at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, MN for a total audience of 761 people. We concluded the second phase of the tour in London, UK for the international premiere of the work. One of the cast members was not available to perform abroad in October, so we sought a dancer to replace that role: training him, teaching him the choreography, adjusting and adapting material to showcase his identity, not asking him to impersonate the previous dancer. The development of this dancer totaled 150 hours of rehearsal time, including one-on-one sessions, small groups to learn sections, and finally bringing the whole group together to work as a team. Dance Umbrella presented "Radioactive Practice" at Sadler's Wells Theatre October 18-19 for a total audience of 663 people. The Guardian gave the performance a 5 star review, and at the end of the year, named it the number one dance performance of the year.
- $51,476 spent. Creation and Development of Dance Work. Abby Zbikowski and a diverse set of performers from a range of personal and movement backgrounds create layered, nuanced works of live dance performance that grapple with multiple cultural and aesthetic value systems. Utilizing fatigue, struggle, strength of will, and reliance on each other for support, the performers persevere in the brutal and beautiful parameters of the work, as a means of representing the complex dynamics of the world in which we live. By utilizing and combining different dance forms, the New Utility showcases how diversity and inclusivity can create beautiful hybrid movement forms that are greater than any one individual style or type of work. The Irish Modern Dance Theatre commissioned Abby Zbikowski through The New Utility, Inc to create a 30 min work for five dancers in Dublin, Ireland to be premiered at the Dublin Fringe Festival 2024. The commission involved three trips to Dublin in 2024: classes and auditions in March, two weeks of creation in June, two weeks of creation in August, followed immediately by two weeks of performances in Dublin and Cork in September. Three New Utility dancers and the dramaturg assisted throughout the rigorous process. The final work "The Future is on the Way" received two 5 star reviews and was nominated for best ensemble in the Dublin Fringe Festival. Utah Valley University contracted The New Utility, Inc. to create a work for their students replicating the process the company uses to create work. Rehearsal Director and Dancer Fiona Lundie and Dancer Benjamin Roach represented the company at this commission residency. They worked with students 4-6 hours per day, 6 days per week to teach, create, and compose the 15 minute work "Ground the chaos." (Due to its timing in the year, and the slowness of the University payment system, the payment for this program came through in January of 2025) Abby held a two week residency at the Wexner Center for the Arts in June with seven dancers to research and create new work to be premiered at the American Dance Festival. In August and December, she worked with three dancers, totaling 100 hours of studio creation for the new work in 2024. Abby Zbikowski donated her Guggenheim Award funds to the company to support the new work, including this residency.
- Teaching Workshops. In her classes, Abby Zbikowski utilizes an intercultural approach to the practice of contemporary dance, placing her methods in direct dialogue with the African Diasporic and African forms that have shaped her perspective as a dance-maker and educator, as a means to identify the confluence of aesthetic worlds and cultural information embedded in the practice of contemporary dance. Participants experiment with pushing their bodies past perceived limits of speed, range of motion, strength, coordination, and endurance, as well as challenge their own held views on conventions of established forms. Abby Zbikowski taught masterclasses in conjunction with the company's performances, including two classes of 30 students each on January 24th and 25th at Swarthmore, four days of classes and auditions in Dublin for 15 to 35 dancers March 9-12, a class of 60 at the University to Texas at Austin on April 12th, and a masterclass for 15 on May 14th in Minneapolis. Funds and fees for these workshops are included in the Performance Work grants/allocations and expenses.
- Public Discussions. The New Utility is invested in rigorous conversations in the dance and arts fields regarding ethical cultural practices, inclusivity, diversity, and aesthetic experimentation. The New Utility advocates for live and performance arts in education and as a vital part of the human experience in this world. During the "Radioactive Practice" tour, post-performance discussions are one of the key ways we connect with the public regarding the conceptual underpinnings of the our work. At Swarthmore on January 24th, we held a public screening of the film "Radioactive Practice(2022)" with a 30 minute question and answer with the 30 attendees. At the Fusebox Festival in Austin, TX, we held two post-performance discussions on April 12th and 13th in which about 75 audience members stayed to participate. Abby also participated in a public discussion called "Invisible Borders: Conversation about border and body politics in the work of artists Tania El Khoury and Abby Z" held at an outdoor cafe and moderated by Sanchita Sharma. It was attended by about 50 people, filling the space nicely. On Friday May 17th, another post-performance discussion took place at the Walker Art Center, attended by approximately 120 people. On Friday October 18th, we held a post-performance discussion following the international premiere of the work. The 374 member audience for the show was partly onstage and partly in the auditorium seating, but all were moved to the auditorium seating for the discussion for which at least 200 stayed to participate. Funds and fees for these discussions are included in the Performance Work grants/allocations and expenses.
Source: Form 990EZ for the year ending December 31, 2024, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Legitimacy checks
Is it registered with the IRS? Passed.
Listed in the IRS master file of tax-exempt organizations as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Has the IRS revoked its tax-exempt status? Passed.
Not on the IRS automatic revocation list.
Source: Automatic revocation of exemption list, Internal Revenue Service, file dated November 6, 2026.
Are donations tax-deductible? Passed.
On the IRS list of organizations eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions.
Source: Publication 78 data: organizations eligible for tax-deductible contributions, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Is it keeping up with its IRS filings? Passed.
Most recent return on file covers the year ending December 2024.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
How long has it been tax-exempt? Passed.
Recognized by the IRS since May 2019.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Is it in good standing with state regulators? Passed.
Not on California's list of charities barred from soliciting. Other states are not yet checked.
Source: May Not Operate or Solicit for Charitable Purposes list, California Attorney General, Registry of Charities and Fundraisers, file dated November 4, 2026.
Ratings and checks are our reading of public records, using the published method. They are not a statement about anyone's honesty. If you work for this organization, you can send corrections or results, confirm you want gifts through Veridonate, or ask to be removed from giving.