Dance/USA Fellowships to Artists Receives $1.9 Million in Funding from the Doris Duke Foundation

Dance/USA, the national service organization for the dance ecosystem, announces today the next round of Dance/USA Fellowships to Artists (DFA).

Dance/USA has received $1.9 million from the Doris Duke Foundation to continue the program for a third round. A singular national regranting program impacting the dance community, DFA supports dance and movement based artists from across the U.S. and its territories who work at the intersection of social and embodied practices. DFA encompasses a wide variety of modalities of social transformation through dance, which typically do not fit into established models of arts funding. This includes community-building and culture-bearing practices, healing and storytelling practices, activism and representational justice practices, and more.

Now in its third iteration, the DFA program remains one of the few regranting programs available to independent U.S. dance artists with an unrestricted financial award. Fellowship awards of $31,000 will be given to at least 25 individual artists to be used at their own discretion.

In addition, the Artist Fellows will have the option to participate in an emergent programming process that honors the Fellows' choices around connection, rest, and desire. The facilitated process will be self-directed by the Fellows and administratively supported by Dance/USA. As with Round Two of DFA, the program plans to provide financial support to underwrite photography, family care, one-on-one consultations, and other professional development needs during the Fellowship period.

“DFA fills a unique role in the dance ecosystem as it supports, centers, and amplifies dance and movement-based artists who dedicate their lives to social change and activism through dance,” said Dance/USA Executive Director Kellee Edusei. “I am thrilled Dance/USA is able to support another round of Fellows from across the U.S, because of the generous commitment of the Doris Duke Foundation.”

“For society to truly thrive, we believe that it is essential to holistically support artists to leverage their boundless creativity,” said Ashley Ferro-Murray, program director for the arts at Doris Duke Foundation. “We're proud to support a program that brings visibility to the power of dance artists as social change agents and provides flexible unrestricted funding for these artists to deepen their impact on a wide range of communities.” 

To date, sixty-one choreographers, dance artists, artist activists and dance-related community organizers from across the U.S. have received a DFA Fellowship since the program was created in 2018. DFA works closely with its Fellows and other artists from across the dance ecosystem in program design, panel review, and service offerings as a reciprocal system of support. Access the Round One and Round Two Dance/USA Artist Fellows. Learn more about DFA on the Dance/USA website.

Dance/USA is committed to inclusion, justice, and accessibility, and places Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC), LGBTQIA+ individuals, and people with disabilities at the center of the organization's decision-making.

Applications for this program will open in the summer of 2024. Interested artists will apply via Letter of Inquiry by the end of the summer, and fifty finalists will then be invited to submit a full application in the spring of 2025. The Fellowship year will take place from the fall of 2025 to the fall 2026.

For questions, please contact Haowen Wang, Dance/USA Director of Regranting, via email or 202-460-9215. ASL and spoken language interpretation services are available upon request.

The mission of the Doris Duke Foundation (DDF) is to build a more creative, equitable and sustainable future by investing in artists and the performing arts, environmental conservation, medical research, child well-being and greater mutual understanding among diverse communities. To learn more, visit dorisduke.org.

Propelled by our belief that dance can inspire a more just and humane world, Dance/USA will amplify the power of dance to inform and inspire a nation where creativity and the field thrive.

Established in 1982, Dance/USA champions an inclusive and equitable dance field by leading, convening, advocating, and supporting individuals and organizations. Dance/USA's core programs are focused in the areas of engagement, advocacy, research, and preservation. Learn more about Dance/USA at danceusa.org.

To post a comment, you must register and login.