NEFA's National Dance Project Announces Awards for New Dance Production and Presentation

NDP begins 20th year of supporting new dance works in the U.S.

(BOSTON, MA) The New England Foundation for the Arts has awarded $1,637,900 through the National Dance Project (NDP) to support the creation of new dance works that will tour the United States. 

These dance works will be created by choreographers and companies with compelling artistic voices and at different stages in their career. Nineteen projects were selected out of 118 competitive applications by a panel of national dance leaders including artists and presenters who serve as advisors to the program. The projects will receive grants ranging from $20,000 to $44,000 for the creation of the new work, plus $10,000 in unrestricted general operating support for each artist recipient.  A total of $665,000 will be awarded to U.S. nonprofit organizations that present these works when they are ready to tour. 

NEFA Executive Director Cathy Edwards said, “The New England Foundation for the Arts has a historic commitment to dance, and we are proud to celebrate 20 years of investment in the creation and touring of new dance through the National Dance Project. NDP’s impact is unique as we support artists to make new work and to partner with cultural organizations in all 50 states to animate communities across the country. We greatly appreciate our long-term partners at the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, who help sustain this work.” 

Over the past 20 years, NDP has invested more than $33 million in funding to artists and organizations to strengthen partnerships and bring dance into communities across the U.S. To date, NDP has supported the creation of over 370 new choreographic works that have toured to all 50 states, Washington, DC, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, reaching over 3.6 million audience members.

NEFA's National Dance Project is generously supported with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, with funding for special initiatives from the Cultural Services of the French Embassy, the French American Cultural Exchange, The Reva and David Logan Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation.

The 2016 NDP Production grant recipients are:

  • Alice Gosti, Seattle, WA - Material Deviance In Contemporary American Culture / You are not your car 
  • Alonzo King LINES Ballet, San Francisco, CA – World Premiere in Collaboration with Bob Holman
  • Bebe Miller Company, Columbus, OH – Dances from The Making Room
  • Bill Shannon, Pittsburgh, PA – Touch Update
  • Camille A. Brown & Dancers, Jamaica, NY – ink
  • CONTRA-TIEMPO Urban Latin Dance Theater, Los Angeles, CA – joyUS
  • Dancing Earth, Santa Fe, NM/San Francisco, CA – REd GENERATION
  • Dorrance Dance, Brooklyn, NY – New Work by Michelle Dorrance
  • Ezra Dickinson, Seattle, WA – Psychic Radio Star
  • Forklift Danceworks, Austin, TX – Served – a dance for college campus employees
  • Joe Goode Performance Group, San Francisco, CA – Nobody Lives Here Now 
  • Kyle Abraham/Abraham.In.Motion, New York, NY – DEAREST HOME
  • Okwui Okpokwasili, Brooklyn, NY – Poor People’s TV Room 
  • Pam Tanowitz Dance, New York, NY – New Work for Goldberg Variations 
  • Rashaun Mitchell + Silas Riener, Brooklyn, NY – Tesseract 
  • Rennie Harris Puremovement, Philadelphia, PA – Lifted 
  • Sean Dorsey Dance, San Francisco, CA – BOYS IN TROUBLE
  • Tere O’Connor Dance, New York, NY – Long Run 
  • Urban Bush Women, Brooklyn, NY – HairStories 3.3

To learn more about the grantees and their projects, visit the directory of NDP projects with tour support available on www.nefa.org, look for the 2016 National Dance Project publication available in early September, or contact program manager Sara Nash at 617.951.0010 x512 or snash@nefa.org.

About NEFA
The New England Foundation for the Arts invests in the arts to enrich communities in New England and beyond. NEFA accomplish­es this by granting funds to artists and cultural organizations; connecting them to each other and their audiences; and analyzing their economic contributions. NEFA serves as a regional partner for the National Endowment for the Arts, New England’s state arts agencies, and private foundations. Learn more at www.nefa.org.

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 CONTACTAnn Wicks, 617.951.0010 x534