Dance/NYC Reveals Dance Advancement Fund Grantees & Runners-Up

Dance/NYC has revealed the 25 recipients and three runners-up of the fourth iteration of the Dance Advancement Fund made possible by the generous support of the Howard Gilman Foundationand 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 ability to thrive by supporting dance makers in the metropolitan New York City area with operating budgets between $25,000 and $250,000.

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.

Grantees of this iteration of the Dance Advancement Fund are:

• 7NMS| Marjani Forté-Saunders + Everett Saunders

• Buffy Productions

• Company SBB // Stefanie Batten Bland

• Dancers Unlimited

• Diversity in Arts and Nations for Cultural Education, Inc.

• Donna Uchizono Company

• Exit12 Dance Company

• Flex Dance Program Inc.

• General Mischief Dance Theatre

• iLAND

• Jeremy McQueen's Black Iris Project

• Jiva Performing Arts, Inc.

• Kinding Sindaw

• Kyle Marshall Choreography

• LayeRhythm Productions, Inc.

• MBDance

• Moriah Evans

• Ogemdi Ude

• Pony Box Dance Theatre

• Project Connect

• Redhawk Native American Arts Council

• Surati for Performing Arts

• Tabula Rasa Dance Theater

• The Japanese Folk Dance Institute of NY

• Unpezverde

Runners-Up are:

• Kathy Westwater Dance

• Pacemakers Dance Team

• The Church of the Unruly

The selected dance-making organizations and groups will receive general operating support grants ranging from $6,000 to $40,000, awarded over a two-year period from September 1, 2024 to August 31, 2026. Recipients will receive half of the total grant amount each year, along with professional development opportunities. Runners-up will receive one-time awards of $1,500 to $3,200.

Professional development offerings for grantees are provided by program partners Arts FMS, Mariclare Hulbert Consulting, and Pentacle. Each grantee will have access to personal one-on-one consultations with a focus on a variety of topics including: visioning and strategic planning; fundraising and resource gathering; marketing, storytelling, and communications; general administration & operations; and individualized fiscal management coaching. In total, professional development offerings are valued at nearly $85,000 across the full grant period.

This iteration of the Dance Advancement Fund, its components, and continued evolution is a reflection of ongoing learning and dialogue with current and past grantees, partners, Dance/NYC's task forces and committees, ongoing research, the collaboration and advisement of Niya Nicholson of MOVE|NYC|, and current events impacting the field.

"We are thrilled to recognize a diverse cohort of grantees for whom this support can make a substantive difference in the longer term planning of their creative work and basic operations," says Sara Roer, Dance/NYC Co-Executive Director. "Funding paired with professional development allows each company to both define and move toward thriving on their own terms."

"The Dance Advancement Fund is unique in its focus on multiyear general operating support, a key tool for dancemakers as they build their creative and organizational practice," says Anna Campbell, Senior Director of Programs and Planning at Howard Gilman Foundation. "As these companies evolve, so does the dance landscape in New York City. The Howard Gilman Foundation looks forward to seeing the continued impact of these grants on our performing arts ecosystem."

"The Dance Advancement Fund is a crucial source of support for New York City's dynamic dance landscape," notes Rocío Aranda-Alvarado, Senior Program Officer in Creativity and Free Expression at the Ford Foundation. "By empowering smaller dance companies to deepen their artistic exploration and expand their reach, this initiative supports grantees' creative visions as they contribute to the rich diversity of expression that defines our city as a center for dance production."

Dance/NYC remains committed to providing resources and 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 $750,000+ in the resilience and thriving of the New York City metropolitan area dance sector.

The 25 grantees include representatives from five counties in the New York City metropolitan area: Bronx (2), Hudson (3), Kings (9), New York (9), and Queens (2). Grantees are majority ALANNA-led (88%), and include majority women-identifying and gender nonconforming/nonbinary/genderqueer non-cis-man led (79%), includes disabled leadership (36%), majority LGBTQIA2S+ led (60%), and majority immigrant led (52%).

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 150 metropolitan New York City area dance groups who submitted applications in response to an open call. Key evaluation criteria included: a dedication to sustaining practice beyond the two-year grant period, commitments and measurable actions in alignment with stated values of diversity, justice, equity, and inclusion, organizational and financial health (regardless of budget size), a commitment to paying artists and arts workers a living wage, with a well-articulated narrative for how the funds will help advance the organization and a willingness to engage in ongoing learning/professional development and to share learnings within a cohort of grantees.

Dance/NYC provided all eligible dance makers who participated in the full application process with an honorarium of $640 to offset the costs of completing an application. Additionally, substantive technical assistance options were provided to all applicants, inclusive of one-on-one sessions with the program consultant and a series of professional development webinars provided by Niya Nicholson and Laurel Lawson to support completion of key components of the application.

Additional information on grant requirements and eligibility can be found on our website at Dance.NYC.