Disability. Dance. Artistry.

DISABILITY. DANCE. ARTISTRY. FUND

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Dance/NYC established the Disability. Dance. Artistry. Fund (DDA Fund) as part of its Disability. Dance. Artistry. Initiative. The purpose of the DDA Fund, made possible by the generous support of the Ford Foundation, is to generate dance making and performance by and with disabled artists. This activity is intended to advance artistic innovation and excellence—and, by extension, further disability rights.

“The Ford Foundation is pleased to partner with Dance/NYC to advance equity and inclusion in the dance sector,” said Darren Walker, President of the Ford Foundation. “Dance and the arts have the tremendous power to inspire audiences and to transform hearts and minds. We hope the Disability. Dance. Artistry Fund will create more opportunities for artists engaged in integrated dance to share their passion with the world.”

In February 2017, Dance/NYC announced the following recipients of funding:

AXIS Dance Company’s AXIS at Gibney Dance
AXIS Dance Company’s performance of three New York City premieres as part of Gibney Dance Center’s POP Series, including a new work by AXIS’s Artistic Director Marc Brew, an internationally acclaimed choreographer.

Jess Curtis and Claire Cunningham's The Way You Look (at Me) Tonight
Jess Curtis/Gravity’s presentation of The Way You Look (at me) Tonight, a duet between disabled artist Clair Cunningham and Jess Curtis, and a workshop and symposium about disability, performance, and the philosophy of perception with Movement Research.

Dancing Wheels Company and School’s Physically Integrated Dance: Past Present and Future
Dancing Wheels’s restaging of a work by Agnes DeMille, performance of current works in its repertory that were choreographed by New York City–based choreographers, and commissioning and premiering of a work by choreographer David Dorfman.

Full Radius Dance’s Do You Know What You Are Doing Now?
Full Radius Dance’s presentation of a physically integrated dance performance with choreographic work by Douglas Scott.

Kinetic Light’s (sponsored by Fractured Atlas) Descent from Beauty
Kinetic Light’s performance of Descent from Beauty, an evening-length dance work that tells the story of Venus and Andromeda, choreographed by disabled dancer Alice Sheppard in collaboration with disabled dancer Lauren Lawson and disabled lighting and video artist Michael Maag.

Heidi Latsky Dance’s ON DISPLAY TIMESTAMPed
Heidi Latsky Dance’s performance of what choreographer Heidi Latsky calls a “poetic installation that weaves together poetic stillness and dynamic movement into public spaces throughout New York City.”

Individual grants ranged from $30,000 to $15,000 and were dedicated to production costs for integrated dance performances in the metropolitan New York City area from January 2017 through March 2018. These six grantees were selected by panel review and were among a competitive pool of 27 self-identified integrated companies that submitted applications in response to an open call. Key evaluation criteria included artistic excellence; central roles for disabled artist(s) in the proposed projects and demonstrated values of diversity, equity, and inclusion; commitment to sustain engagement with disabled artists in the future; and organizational and financial capacities to execute the projects.


Related Resources:
Announcement of DDA Conversation Series (June 26, 2017)
Announcement of DDA Fund Grantees (February 17, 2017)
Announcement of DDA Fund (August 17, 2016)
Call for Proposals, including application and budget form (October 20, 2016)
Review Panel and Review Panel Charter
DDA Fund Reporting Form
DDA Fund Budget Reporting Form

These and all products generated by Dance/NYC for the Disability. Dance. Artistry. Fund are licensed to the public subject to the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.


 

Disability. Dance. Artistry. Fund in the News

Helping Dance Reflect the Diversity of Disability

Theatre Development Fund Stages, Lauren Kay, October 11, 2017

 

Staking a Claim to Radical Space: Dance Grants Promote Integrated Performances by Disabled Artists

Nonprofit Quarterly, Erin Rubin, February 17, 2017

 

More Disability. Dance. Artistry. Fund in the News

Double bill performance with Los Ricos and Sekou McMiller & Friends

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