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On behalf of the National Dance Project Advisor Cohort, it is with great enthusiasm that we share the 2024 National Dance Project (NDP) Production Grantees.
Each year, 20 new dance projects are selected by 12 NDP Advisors from a two-stage application process that centers artistic prowess, community partnerships, and social impact. NDP Production Grantees continue to represent various career stages, diversity of forms and aesthetics, project scale, identities, geographies, and operational models that exist within today’s dance field.
The 2024 NDP Production Grantees will receive:
- $45,000 to create a new dance project;
- $10,000 in unrestricted general operating support;
- $10,000 to support a Production Residency for Dance and/or additional community engagement work; and
- $35,000 in tour subsidy that goes to U.S.* organizations that bring the new dance project and related engagement activities to their communities.
*NEFA defines U.S. as all 50 of the United States, as well as Washington D.C., American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The National Dance Project Final Grant Review Process
Immediately following the April panel meetings, NDP Finalists are notified that they have advanced to the next round of the NDP Production Grant process and invited to submit a full proposal for their new dance project. It is at this stage that each NDP Finalist is paired with an Advisor who acts as a resource and thought partner by sharing panel feedback from the preliminary application round, acknowledging current strengths of the project, and unearthing new opportunities that may fortify the NDP Finalist’s full proposal. While the advising sessions often include topics such as touring/sharing strategies, the project budget, and work sample selections, they also offer space for conversations about sustainability practices that can be directly linked to and interrogate leadership styles, values alignment, organizational models, and field-wide structures. The NDP Finalists and their respective Advisor have five weeks to work together and can meet as frequently as they choose prior to the full proposal deadline.
In July, NDP Advisors convened via Zoom to evaluate all 40 NDP Finalist full proposals. During a week-long grant panel review process, their discussions were steeped in program criteria and NEFA values to support their collective decision-making. The NDP Advisors desire to select projects that are not only representative of today’s dance ecology, but also nurture new practices that can advance dance creation, bolster dance presenting, and expand the ways dance is experienced. This year’s NDP Production Grantees embrace both an evolution and divergence of dance styles that speak to our current world events and hopes for the future. Their projects prioritize humanity and elevate the importance of diversity, storytelling via intergenerational exchange, the breadth of accessibility, and embodied and technological archiving practices.
Some highlights from this year’s grantee pool include:
- 60% are first-time National Dance Project Production Grant recipients
- 35% are first-time NEFA applicants
- 75% of projects are led by Black, Indigenous, and/or Peoples of Color
- Projects represent 7 U.S. States and 1 U.S. Territory. This is reflective of where artists reside and instances where their creative practice is rooted elsewhere.
- Four artists/companies received 2023 Finalist Awards
2024 NDP Production Grant Awards
2024 NDP Finalist Awards
In addition to awarding 20 NDP Production Grants, we are also delighted to provide 20 NDP Finalist Awards totaling $200,000. Each NDP Finalist will receive $10,000 in unrestricted funds for the continued creation/development of their proposed new dance project. This investment allows us to extend our support for dancemakers across the country and hopefully increases the visibility of their creative praxis, forms, aesthetics, traditions, and communities. We remain excited about what will be shared and learned from their future artistic endeavors and hope you will stay tuned along with us.
Some highlights from this year’s finalist awardee cohort include:
- 60% are first-time recipients of funding from NDP
- 10% are first-time NEFA applicants
- 60% of projects are led by Black, Indigenous, and/or Peoples of Color
- Projects represent 6 U.S. States. This is reflective of where artists reside and instances where their creative practice is rooted elsewhere.
- One artist/company received a 2023 Finalist Award
The 2024 NDP Finalist Award projects are:
- Anima Mundi, Degenerate Art Ensemble, Seattle, WA
- Exhilarama!, Abby Z and the New Utility, Columbus, OH
- Ghadar Geet: Blood and Ink, Joti Singh, Oakland, CA
- Hollow Center, Takahiro Yamamoto, Portland, OR
- Letters to My Father, New York Theatre Ballet, New York, NY
- Losing My Religion, Rennie Harris Puremovement, Sharon Hill, PA
- Moving the Rights of Rivers, Artichoke Dance Company, Brooklyn, NY
- MUJERES, PARA.MAR Dance Theatre, Chicago, IL
- N(8)tive Enough, Christopher K. Morgan & Artists, San Diego, CA
- New work by zoe | juniper and Xiu Xiu, zoe | juniper, Seattle, WA
- Ramti Aave - Her Playful Arrival, Barkha Dance Company, New Hyde Park, NY
- Sermon on the Mount, PHILADANCO!, Philadelphia, PA
- Steps Beyond Silence, Maya Rau-Murthy / Natya Anubhava, Yorktown Heights, NY
- take carefully (or the world shatters when you don't find your loved ones), J'Sun Howard, Chicago, IL
- The lessing is miracle, Gerard & Kelly, New York, NY
- The Marthaodyssey, Jesse Factor, Pittsburgh, PA
- THE OPPOSITE OF GRIEF IS, Sean Dorsey Dance, San Francisco, CA
- Tribute: Guardians of Street Dance, Versa-Style Street Dance Company, Sun Valley, CA
- Welcome to the Gun Show, PUSH Physical Theatre, Inc., Rochester, NY
- Yellow Woman: How do you Own Your Body?, Yin Mei, Port Washington, NY
Special Thanks
To our NDP Advisors: Over the past 5 months, you have remained steadfast in helping us equitably steward funds for new dance projects and we can’t say THANK YOU enough. This year’s cohort is a testament to your diligent collective work as part of this process and we believe your efforts are invaluable to our field.
To the National Dance Project Team: Cheri and Kristin – Words cannot express the level of appreciation I have for your thought partnership in everything that is NDP. The balance of care and fight that you both have for this work keeps me in awe!
In addition, the National Dance Project Team would like to thank Jane Preston, Deputy Director of Programs; Abby Southwell, Technology & Data Director, and Elizabeth Timmerman, Technology & Data Administrator; for all their support before, during, and after this year’s grantmaking cycle. Your expertise allows our process to become more seamless each year and for that we are grateful.
Funders
NEFA's National Dance Project is generously supported with lead funding from the Doris Duke Foundation and the Mellon Foundation, with funding for special initiatives from the Boston Foundation, and the Aliad Fund at the Boston Foundation.
Questions
NEFA welcomes conversations regarding its grantmaking priorities and process. We support and believe in creating space for dialogues that foster mutual learning and build/strengthen our various roles in the field as allies. Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the National Dance Project Team.
