CUNY Dance Initiative Reveals 2024–25 Awarded Artists

The CUNY Dance Initiative (CDI), an expansive program providing New York City choreographers and dance companies with creative residencies on CUNY campuses, has announced the awarded artists for its 2024–25 cycle.

From July 2024 to June 2025, CDI is underwriting residencies for 24 early- to mid-career choreographers. These dynamic NYC-based artists, selected from an open call that drew 245 applicants, work in a wide range of dance styles and forms, from ballet to musical theater to flamenco to contemporary and culturally specific traditions. In addition to providing space and financial support for the development of new and existing projects, all residencies include master classes, guest lectures, or open rehearsals to directly connect artists with CUNY communities. The full roster of awarded artists is listed below, and details on public performances in fall 2024 will be announced in the coming months.

2024 marks CDI’s 10th year. Since its launch in 2014, CDI has facilitated 247 residencies at 13 CUNY colleges in all five boroughs; granted more than 12,000 hours of studio and stage time to artists; sponsored master classes for more than 5,000 students; and attracted thousands of New Yorkers to performances and showings at CUNY performing arts centers. CDI has also expanded its impact by partnering with three arts organizations in the outer boroughs: Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Garden (Staten Island), Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning (Queens), and Brooklyn Arts Exchange (Brooklyn).

“The CUNY Dance Initiative reflects CUNY’s commitment to New York City,” says Jeffrey Rosenstock, AVP of Governmental Affairs and External Relations at Queens College, which is CDI’s home base. “Over the past 10 years, we have contributed to our city’s creative economy by building a consortium of CUNY colleges that directly supports local dance artists. We provide choreographers with tangible resources to advance their careers – time, space, and money – while CUNY students and communities surrounding the campuses benefit from the master classes and performances we sponsor. There is no other residency program of this nature in the nation, and we are so proud that it lives at CUNY.”

2024–25 CUNY Dance Initiative Resident Artists and Host Partners 

Baruch College: Baruch Performing Arts Center (Manhattan)

BringAbout Development

BMCC: Tribeca Performing Arts Center (Manhattan)

IMGE Dance / Ishita Mili

Jon Lehrer Dance Company

Arts & Social Justice Residency at Brooklyn College in partnership with

Brooklyn Arts Exchange (BAX)

Enya Kalia Creations / Enya-Kalia Jordan

Brooklyn College: School of Visual Media and Performing Arts (Brooklyn)

Reggie Wilson / Fist and Heel Performance Group

The City College of New York: City College Center for the Arts (Manhattan)

Michael Greenberg

Ballet Neo

College of Staten Island: Department of Performing and Creative Arts, in partnership with

Snug Harbor Cultural Center (Staten Island)

Dancers Unlimited

Hostos Community College: Hostos Center for the Arts and Culture (Bronx)

Juan Usera y La Tribu del Juey Sambuco (The Sambuco Tribe)

Stephanie Peña

John Jay College: Gerald W. Lynch Theater (Manhattan)

NVA & Guests / Nicole von Arx

Tabula Rasa Dance Theater

LaGuardia Community College: LaGuardia Performing Arts Center (Queens)

Arsenal Movement dance project

Laura Peralta

Lehman College: Department of Dance and Theatre (Bronx)

Austin Warren Coats

Julia Bengtsson from The New York Baroque Dance Company

Medgar Evers College: Department of Mass Communications, Creative and Performing Arts & Speech (Brooklyn)

Bianca Leticia Medina

Kendra J. Bostock Works

Queensborough Community College: Dance Program (Queens)

Camryn Stafford

onCUE Chronicles / Quilan Arnold

Queens College: Kupferberg Center for the Arts and Department of Drama,

Theatre & Dance (Queens)

CarNYval Dance

Nélida Tirado Flamenco / Arte 718

York College, in partnership with Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning (Queens)

Renegade Performance Group / André M. Zachery

sugar vendil

To post a comment, you must register and login.