Mark DeGarmo Dance receives Cultural Development Fund Grant from NYC DCLA at Mark DeGarmo Dance

Mark DeGarmo Dance receives Cultural Development Fund Grant from NYC Department of Cultural Affairs to continue its Dance & Literacy programming in NYC public elementary schools, Professional Learning Program, and Virtual Salon Performance Series for Social Change.

New York, NY - Mark DeGarmo Dance has received an award from the City of New York as part of the city’s recent announcement of more than $59 million in Cultural Development Fund (CDF) grants to 1,078 cultural organizations across the five boroughs. With support coming from the NYC Mayor’s Office and the City Council, this is the city’s largest-ever allocation for the CDF and represents a major investment in the cultural life of New York City. 

For Mark DeGarmo Dance, this CDF grant will help continue its “Partnerships in Literacy through Dance & Creativity©” program, an in-school program with NYC Title I public elementary schools

that annually serves up to 1,000 students and 200 teachers in the 5 boroughs. MDD's programs are all too often the only arts and dance programs in their marginalized NYC public schools. This CDF grant will also support MDD’s Professional Learning Program, providing 30 hours of training through 10 hours each of seminars, methods, and project-based learning for MDD’s education program staff, and MDD’s Virtual Salon Performance Series for Social Change, a curated sharing of original transcultural transdisciplinary works in progress. 

President Barack Obama commended Mark DeGarmo Dance for “your service to your community and the nation.” The National Endowment for the Arts cited its scientifically evidence-based dance and literacy program during the school day for under-resourced NYC public elementary students  as “a national model.” Research by Johns Hopkins University showed “statistically significant” increases in MDD students’ grade 4 state reading scores.

The FY25 CDF funding — which is awarded annually by DCLA using a competitive, peer-evaluated grant process — includes $51.9 million from the New York City Mayor’s Office and $7.4 million from members of the New York City Council. Funding from the CDF supports a broad range of artistic, cultural, and historic organizations across New York City, helping support good-paying jobs and strengthening the city’s flourishing cultural sector. Additionally, this year’s CDF includes investments to create a more inclusive cultural sector, as funding will support people who speak a language other than English, people with disabilities, vulnerable populations, and more.

ABOUT US

Mark DeGarmo Dance educates NYC communities and children; creates, performs, and disseminates original artistic and scholarly work; and builds intercultural community through dance, working in NYC, USA, and internationally. It has been an anchor arts organization of NYC-owned multicultural The Clemente Center since 2001 and produced over 100 of DeGarmo’s performance works and over 30 cultural diplomacy tours in 13 countries. MDD’s annual Virtual Salon Performance Series and Global Dance Circle for Social Change have featured over 1,000 dance practitioners from 6 global continents. Our Arts Administration, Fundraising, and Citizen Leadership Internship Program pays emerging NYC professionals.

Mark DeGarmo, Ph.D., Founder, Executive & Artistic Director, is a dancer/ performer, choreographer, writer, researcher, and learning theorist. Honors include Fulbright Senior Scholar Fellowship (Peru), Martha Hill Dance Fund’s 15th Anniversary Mid-Career Award (USA), USA Department of State American Cultural Specialist Award (Ecuador), The White House Millennium Artist Program, Dance Teacher magazine cover feature article (USA), and A. A. Bakhrushin State Central Theatre Museum photography and costume exhibitions (Moscow, Russia). He is a graduate in Dance of New York’s Juilliard School and earned a doctorate in philosophy grounded in Transdisciplinary and Social Justice Studies from Union Institute & University.

https://markdegarmodance.org, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Vimeo. 

Our programs are supported, in part, by private and public funds from American Online Giving Foundation; Jody and John Arnhold; Benevity; Frances and Benjamin Benenson Foundation; Bernheim Foundation; Blackbaud Giving Fund; Lisa and Dick Cashin; PJ and Dawn Dearden; Rev. Dr. Lindley DeGarmo and Sarah Finlayson; Friends of Mark DeGarmo Dance; Jill Ganey; The Harkness Foundation for Dance; JPMorgan Chase Foundation; Lara and Darius Mehraban; The Kyle J. Mulrooney Foundation; Mental Insight Foundation; National Endowment for the Arts; Network for Good; New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council; New York City Department of Education; New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature; Lindsay O'Reilly; PwC Charitable Foundation; Religious Society of Friends; The Rothfeld Family Foundation; Ruth and Seymour Klein Foundation, and Barbara Sherman.