NEFA’s National Dance Project receives $2.2 million grant

(Boston, MA) Rebecca Blunk, Executive Director of the New England Foundation for the Arts, announced that NEFA has received a $2.2 million grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support the National Dance Project.

NEFA launched the National Dance Project in 1996 to encourage the creation of new dance work to share with audiences in communities throughout the U.S.  Since then, the program has distributed more than $24.4 million in grants and remains one of the few sources for dance funding in the U.S. NDP has reached over 3.2 million audience members and funds tours to an average of 37 states annually.

“With nearly $8 million invested in the National Dance Project, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation is a pillar for the program, helping to sustain many of the most important choreographers of our day,” said NEFA executive director Rebecca Blunk.

NEFA's National Dance Project is generously supported with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, with additional funding from the MetLife Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, Cultural Services of the French Embassy, and the French American Cultural Exchange. 

About The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
The Foundation’s Performing Arts Program provides multi-year grants on an invitation-only basis to a small number of leading orchestras, theater companies, opera companies, modern dance companies, and presenters based in the United States.  Although the Foundation does not confine its support to large organizations with national visibility, it does seek to support institutions that contribute to the development and preservation of their art form, provide creative leadership in solving problems or addressing issues unique to the field, and which present the highest level of institutional performance.  Grants are awarded on the basis of artistic merit and leadership in the field, and concentrate on achieving long-term results.  Special consideration is also given to programs supporting generative artists—US composers, playwrights, choreographers, and artist-led theatrical ensembles.  In conjunction with regular program grants, the Foundation also makes a limited number of grants to research and service organizations that are doing work closely related to program goals, particularly in the area of professional development. For more information about the foundation, please visit www.mellon.org.

About NEFA
NEFA creatively supports the movement of people, ideas, and resources in the arts within New England and beyond, makes vital connections between artists and communities, and builds the strength, knowledge, and leadership of the creative sector.  NEFA is a 501(c)(3) that operates with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New England state arts agencies, and from corporations, foundations and individuals.

NEFA currently administers grantmaking programs of regional, national, and international scope that support the performing arts, public art, and Native American artists. NEFA also leads projects and initiatives that range from the analysis of the impact of the creative economy to the creation of online tools which link and advance the work of the cultural community.  www.nefa.org.

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Contact: Ann Wicks, 617.951.0010 x534