National Dance Project Production Residencies for Dance Grant

Production Residencies for Dance (PRD) enhance partnerships between artists and residency sites to prepare new works for touring.

About the National Dance Project Grant Program

Visit the National Dance Project Program page to learn more about the program and its advisors.

VISIT THE PROGRAM PAGE

About NDP PRD Grants

PRD grants augment up to eight selected projects supported with NDP Production Grants annually and are aimed at helping new works become fully realized and ready for touring. PRD grants range from $18-20,000 and support late-stage production residencies where artists, in collaboration with residency partners, can access technical facilities and staff and gain significant artistic, directorial, and/or dramaturgical input. Production residencies take place either just prior to a premiere or post-premiere, but prior to the work's tour.

Background & Research

Stemming from a 2009 study that confirmed the need for late-stage production residencies for dance, and with support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, NDP has offered supplemental PRD grants since 2010, investing $931,000 to support 45 artists and projects.

NEFA has commissioned several studies of the program since it was established. These reports and additional resources about production residencies can be found below:  

• Production Residencies for Dance: Pilot Program Evaluation Summary Findings (M. Christine Dwyer)
• Lessons from NDP’s Production Residencies for Dance Pilot Phase (Steven Skerritt-Davis)
• NDP’s PRD Program Evaluation and Lessons Learned (Steven Skerritt-Davis)
• Artist Voices: Michelle Ellsworth on PRD’s “Healthy” Impact (Michelle Ellsworth)
• Artist Voices: Tere O’Connor on the Value of Learning What Doesn’t Work (Sara C. Nash)

Process & Deadline

PRD grants are awarded to approximately eight NDP Production Grant recipients each fall based on the following priorities:

1. Artists/companies receiving their first NDP grant
2. Artists/companies whose projects are taking on complex new challenges beyond their usual practice. Complexity might be in the form of innovative and/or varied technical and production elements; working in non-traditional spaces or at different levels of scale; engaging audiences in new ways; and or in other ways as defined by the artist.

Once PRD grant recipients are selected, NEFA staff work with artists/companies to identify an appropriate residency partner if needed and submit a grant application.

PRD grants support late-stage technical residencies with a U.S.-based residency partner and should be at least one week or more in length.

PRD grants are not intended for residencies that take place earlier in the development process or focus primarily on research and development or teaching.