Dance/NYC Announces Dance Advancement Fund 2022–2023 Grantees

The service organization Dance/NYC has announced the 37 recipients and 8 runner ups of the 2022-2023 Dance Advancement Fund, made possible by the generous support of the Howard Gilman Foundation and the Ford Foundation. The purpose of the funding initiative is to address the inequitable distribution of resources in the dance field and advance its resilience and thriving by supporting dance making organizations and groups with budgets between $10,000 and $500,000.

For Dance/NYC, thriving dance makers have the resources to make dance with dignity, defined as the ability to pay dignified wages to all dance workers and collaborators who engage in the ideation, creation, execution, performance, and distribution of their artistic works; remain generative artists, defined as the creation of new works and/or the sustaining, archiving, performance, and preservation of repertory and/or legacy works; and work in accountability and healthy interdependent relationships with their collaborators, audiences, local communities, and the field.

This iteration of the Dance Advancement Fund, its components, and continued evolution is a reflection of ongoing learning and dialogue with current and past Dance Advancement Fund grantees, field partners, Dance/NYC's task forces and committees, Dance/NYC's ongoing research, former and current Dance/NYC grantees and applicants across Dance/NYC's grantmaking programs; the direction, vision, conjuring, and advisement of Ebony Noelle Golden of Betty's Daughter Arts Collaborative, LLC; and the current events impacting the field.

Recipients of the Dance Advancement Fund will each receive two-year general operating support awards of $3,000-$25,000 annually, from January 1, 2022 through December 31, 2023, in addition to a suite of professional development opportunities. Runner-up grantees will receive one time, flat grant awards of $1,500-$6,500.

Professional development offerings for grantees, a key component of this iteration of the Fund, are provided by program partners Gibney's Digital Media Initiative, Pentacle, PURPOSE Productions, and TrustPlus. Each grantee will have access to personal one on one consultations with a focus on a variety of professional development topics, access to filming and video editing services, and individualized financial wellness coaching. Additionally, grantees will participate in cohort meetings led by program consultant Ebony Noelle Golden, and professional development workshops led by the consulting partners. In total, professional development offerings are valued at nearly $172,000 in total across the full grant period.

"When we developed the Dance Advancement Fund, our goal was to support and empower dancers and arts administrators," said Alejandra Duque Cifuentes, Executive Director, Dance/NYC. "While monetary resources are undeniably helpful, we believe deeper and more enduring support is found when unrestricted funds are paired with professional development that gives grantees the tools and guidance to foster their growth. This development is a critical component of the grant program, and it will help create a stronger foundation for grantees to build on. We're excited to witness how grantees evolve over the next two years as a result of this support."

In recognition of the labor and resources required to participate in the application process, Dance/NYC provided all eligible applicants with an honorarium. Dance/NYC is committed to valuing the labor of dance workers in the same way as it advocates to the dance community and across the arts sector.

In total, the Dance Advancement Fund represents an investment of nearly $1.1 million in the resilience and thriving of the New York City metropolitan area dance sector. There remains a significant need for general operating funds for dance makers with modest budgets, particularly in the current economic climate. Dance/NYC's Coronavirus Dance Impact Study (http://bit.ly/CoronavirusDanceImpact) reveals that the most critical need for organizations is unrestricted general operating support for salaries and wages (87%) with 47% of dance organizations articulating the possibility of permanent closure due to the pandemic. The range of proposals and requests for funds highlight the particular and necessary place of importance that the Dance Advancement Fund occupies.

Grantees:

• Arthur Aviles Typical Theatre
• Ayazamana Dance Group
• Bombazo Dance Co, Inc.
• Company SBB // Stefanie Batten Bland
• Coopdanza, Inc/USA
• Dancers Unlimited Inc
• Davalois Fearon Dance
• David Thomson
• Divine Rhythm Productions
• Emily Johnson / Catalyst
• Ephrat Asherie Dance
• Flamenco Latino
• Full Circle Souljahs
• General Mischief Dance Theatre
• Hivewild
• J CHEN PROJECT, Inc
• Jaamil Olawale Kosoko
• Jeremy McQueen's Black Iris Project
• jill sigman/thinkdance
• Jiva Performing Arts, Inc.
• Kinding Sindaw Heritage Foundation Inc
• Kyle Marshall Choreography
• Ladies of Hip-Hop
• Leonardo Sandoval & Gregory Richardson / Music From The Sole
• MBDance
• Navild Acosta
• Passion Fruit Dance Company
• Pony Box Dance Theatre, Inc
• Rohan Bhargava/Rovaco Dance Company
• Sidra Bell Dance New York
• Surati for Performing Arts
• Sydnie L. Mosley Dances
• The Japanese Folk Dance Institute of NY
• Shamel Pitts | TRIBE
• YIN MEI DANCE
• z tye performance
• ZCO/DanceProject

Runner Ups:

• Born Dancing
• MODArts Dance Collective
• Netta Yerushalmy
• New York Chinese Cultural Center
• Peridance Contemporary Dance Company
• TABULA RASA DANCE THEATER
• Thresh
• Valetango

The 37 grantees include representatives from seven (7) counties in the metropolitan New York City area: The Bronx (6), Hudson (3), Kings (11), Nassau (1), New York (11), Queens (4), and Westchester (1). Grantees are majority ALAANA-led (34 of 37), and include majority women-identifying and gender nonconforming/nonbinary/genderqueer and transgender led (30 of 37), six (6) with disabled leadership, nineteen (19) with immigrant leadership, seventeen (17) non-heterosexual led organizations, and one (1) self-identified integrated and disability dance artistry company performing work by and with disabled artists. A majority of the grantees have an annual budget under $250,000 (34 of 37) and majority have more than 10 years of service (26 of 37).

These grantees were selected by a review panel of dance workers, including members of Dance/NYC's task forces and committees, and were among a competitive pool of over 200 metropolitan New York City area dance groups who submitted applications in response to an open call. Key evaluation criteria included: clear artistic vision and excellence; a dedication to sustaining practice beyond the two-year grant period, with a well-articulated narrative for how the funds will help advance the organization, and a willingness to share learning with the field; commitments and measurable actions in alignment with stated values of diversity, justice, equity, and inclusion; a commitment to paying artist and arts workers a living wage; and a diversity of dance perspectives. Additional information on the review process can be found by visiting Dance.NYC. Consultancy support for the Fund was provided by Ebony Noelle Golden of Betty's Daughter Arts Collaborative.