2025 National Dance Project Production Grant Webinar

National Dance Project Production Grants are made to projects led by professional choreographers or companies to support the creation and U.S. touring and/or sharing of a new dance project.

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Video Content

• 06:14 | About the New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA)
• 08:40 | National Dance Project Production Grant Overview
• 12:18 | Ongoing Opportunities for Touring/Sharing
• 13:34 | Production Grant Funding Period 
• 14:17 | Eligibility
• 24:00 | Funding Criteria
• 27:17 | Organizational/Project Partner(s) Overview
• 30:10 | Application Process
• 45:35 | Preliminary Narrative Questions
• 58:03 | Video Work Sample Requirements & Submission Instructions
• 1:01:26 | Application Timeline

ASL Interpretation provided by Interpreter Now.

Read the Video Transcript

Indira Goodwine-Josias: Welcome and thank you for joining us for this 2025 National Dance Project production grant informational webinar. This is Indira speaking. It is NEFA's practice to share a land acknowledgement for all convenings and including the virtual space we are in today. We believe that a land acknowledgement is necessary yet only a first part of a much more engaged process towards deeply rooted healing and reconciliation. We see the role of the arts as an opportunity to uplift and uphold truth and recognize our responsibility to not perpetuate the erasure of peoples. Therefore, as a committed ally and as artists NEFA wishes to acknowledge that the grounds on which our offices are located are the traditional, current and future lands of the Massachusett Naumkeag, Nipmuc and Wampanoag peoples, we recognize that many indigenous peoples have come to this place and the connection between displacement and removal, so we honor their presence. We also acknowledge the many indigenous people and lands where our distributed staff live and work, including the NDP team who are leading today's informational webinar from the lands of the Mohican, Massachusett, Pawtucket and Lenni-Lenape peoples, we honor their ancestors past, present, and future and recognize their continued existence and contributions to our society. Furthermore, we recognize the many native lands in which all of you are joining us from across the country and respect the choices you make in honoring and recognizing the caretakers of those lands. It is also important to acknowledge those of you viewing and your respective ancestors who did not come to this land by choice and those who did. Since our activities are being shared digitally to the internet, let us also take a moment to consider the legacy of colonization embedded within the technology structures and ways of thinking we use every day. Even the technologies that are central to much of the art we make leaves significant carbon footprints contributing to changing climates that disproportionately affect indigenous people worldwide. We feel it is important to reflect on this as we continue to use these digital spaces to connect. I invite you to join us in acknowledging all of this as well as our collective responsibility to make good of this time and consider our roles in decolonization and allyship. We'll now pause for a moment of silence to honor and reflect on the deep history of these lands and its people.

Thank you. Hello again and welcome to today's informational webinar. While our cameras will remain off to highlight slides, we are sharing an image of who we are and we'll acknowledge how we identify at this time. My name is Indira Goodwine- Josias, and I am the Senior Program Director for Dance at NEFA. My pronouns are she/ her and I am a black woman who in this image has straight shoulder length hair and is wearing a blue blouse with white pearls around my neck and matching earrings.

Cheri Opperman: Hello, my name is Cheri Opperman and I am the Senior Grants Manager for Dance at NEFA. My pronouns are she/ her and I am a white woman who in this image has shoulder length, brown and gray hair, wearing a blue shirt and blue earrings.

Kristin Gregory: My name is Kristin Gregory. My pronouns are she/ her and I am the Program Manager for Dance at NEFA. I am a white woman who in this image has long light brown hair and I am wearing a teal V-neck sleeveless blouse.

Indira: This is Indira speaking for today's informational webinar. We'll provide important information related to the NDP production grant application process inclusive of information about NEFA and NDP production grant, framework of support, ongoing opportunities of touring and sharing grant eligibility and funding criteria, how to access the NDP application, a review of the NDP preliminary application narrative questions, work sample submission instructions, and the application process and full production grant timeline. As a reminder, everything that is shared today can also be found on NEFA's website @www.nefa.org as one of six regional arts organizations. The New England Foundation for the Arts, also known as NEFA, was established with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts to strengthen regional arts opportunities. Today, NEFA's programs are regional, national, and international in scope and support artists and communities through grants and other opportunities in dance, music, theater and public art. NEFA's vision is to contribute to a nation where artists flourish and communities celebrate art as essential to a thriving equitable society, and we strive to reach this vision via our mission to invest in artists and communities and foster equitable access to the arts, enriching the cultural landscape in New England and the nation. Each program and project that is supported by NEFA is created with the underlying goal of building a stronger and more dynamic infrastructure for the arts. We achieve these goals by leaning on our core values and continuously deepening our commitment to equity, diversity, intersectionality and accessibility. NEFA values an equitable, diverse and inclusive world, which we interpret as all people having fair access to the tools and resources they need to realize creative and community endeavors. We acknowledge structural inequities that have excluded individuals and communities from opportunity based on race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, class, language, culture, age, genre and geography, and strive to counter those inequities in our daily work. The National Dance Project Production Grant is currently supported by the Doris Duke Foundation and the Mellon Foundation.

Cheri: This is Cheri speaking. Let's talk about the National Dance Project now in its third decade, the National Dance Project is widely recognized as one of the country's major sources of funding and field building for dance. NDP has invested more than $48 million in funding primarily to support the creation and touring of new dance projects, as well as other initiatives including production residencies and regionally focused professional development for dance artists. The production grant today we'll be talking about our major grant program, the production grant, which is inclusive of creation and touring support and awards, 20 dance projects annually through a competitive two stage application process. These comprehensive grants are made to projects led by professional choreographers or companies to support the creation and US touring of a new dance project. This comprehensive framework of support includes $45,000 to artist companies towards all costs associated with making the new project. $10,000 for production residency and or community engagement plans, including the cost of activities that support the full realization of the new dance project during a residency experience and or expenses related to deepening relationships with existing communities or engaging new communities via activities directly related to this new project. $10,000 to artists, companies for general operating support. With deep thanks to the Doris Duke Foundation, this funding is totally unrestricted. For instance, it can be used for salaries, rent, insurance, retirement, computers, cameras or other equipment, tour coordinator or administrative support, or you can put it towards the project, anything production creation funds, general operating support and production residency. Community engagement funds are paid directly to the artist company if they are a nonprofit or to their designated fiscal sponsor. Additionally, $35,000 is reserved for each project's US tour and is allocated by the artist company to US-based organizations to subsidize a presentation of the NDP funded project and must be used during the works. NDP touring period. Tour funds are allocated by the artist's designated tour coordinator and distributed directly to the presenter through the NDP presentation grant process. Tour coordinators may be an agent, a manager, or the artist themselves. NEFA defines the United States as all 50 of the United States, including Alaska, Hawaii, Washington DC, as well as Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, the US Virgin Islands, and Americans Samoa.

Indira: This is Indira speaking. NEFA recognizes that our social climate continues to impact the ways that artists create and intend to share their work. We value their continued ingenuity through changing times and the artistic experiences they choose to share with communities and audiences, whether in person virtually or some imaginative combination of both. Additionally, NEFA understands that there are more opportunities and interests in artists and companies to share their work virtually reaching a more global audience. While we support the many ways artists and companies have been able to expand their reach, it is important to note that the NDP tour subsidy can only be allocated to US-based organizations. This, of course, does not prevent an artist or company from securing opportunities outside of the US. However, we must be clear about how NDP tour subsidies can be allocated and distributed. NDP production grant recipients have a window during which they must use the creation funds and tour subsidy. If you or your company's project is selected as an NDP production grantee, the window of time you will have to create, tour and or share your project is January 1st, 2026 through December 31st, 2028. Please note, NDP tour subsidy can be used for the premier of the NDP supported project.

Kristin: This is Kristin speaking. To be eligible to apply for a National Dance Project production grant, applicants must be able to meet the following criteria at the time of application submission, which will be February 28th, 2025 at 11:59 PM Eastern Standard Time. These eligibility requirements are also always available online at nefa.org. A note about eligibility for the 2025 funding cycle, we have updated and added some new elements to our applicant eligibility requirements. I will note those new changes and additions as I go through the next few slides. Applicants must be professional choreographers or companies preference is given to US based dance artists and companies, but artists and companies based outside the US may apply. We do accept applications from international artists and companies, however, preference is given to US based dance artists and companies because we recognize that many countries have different and or more robust funding opportunities for artists. Additionally, keep in mind that all NEFA funds must be paid to US-based organizations. Applicants must propose a new dance project to be developed and toward shared projects may be interdisciplinary and can include creators in other artistic forms At the time of applications, project may be in an early, mid or late stage of development so long as the project is not scheduled to premiere before October 1st, 2025. Projects may explore hybrid art forms. We recognize continued and evolving ideas of dance and movement-based forms of expression. However, the grant will be evaluated by a dance panel and there is an expectation that the focus of the project will have a movement-based practice for a process. The next eligibility requirement is new for 2025. To ensure this grant supports the sharing of new work across multiple communities, groups and audiences, projects must be ready to tour by May 31st, 2027. Due to the changing nature of our funding structures, we want to ensure that all projects receiving NDP touring subsidy are ready and equipped at the time of application to fulfill all requirements of the grant within the funding window. We cannot guarantee project extensions in the coming years. Applicants must submit or appear in one application per choreographer or company including applications for a project that will be created by a guest choreographer on another company. Applications including a work that will be created by a guest choreographer on another company are considered to be part of the one application per choreographer or company. If you are a company interested in submitting an application with the guest choreographer, please be in touch with that choreographer to ensure that they themselves will not be applying or that they have not given permission to another company to apply as well. Applicants must work with at least one US organizational partner committed to supporting the development and or presentation of the proposed new dance project. We will go into further detail about what constitutes an organizational partner and the kind of resources partners may provide to a project later in this presentation. Applicants must have nonprofit status or a nonprofit fiscal sponsor who will act on their behalf. If you do not have nonprofit status, you may work with a fiscal sponsor. You do not have to have a fiscal sponsor or nonprofit status confirmed in order to apply, but you will need one to receive payments should your project advance to the finalist stage. We are not able to make grant payments to individual artists, LLC entities or organizations incorporated outside of the US. Applicants will be expected to fulfill the requirements and reports for grant recipients if awarded. At this time, we are not able to accept applications that fall within the following categories. Artist companies currently in a creation period from an NDP production grant or who are currently touring with NDP support through the end of the current calendar year are not eligible. If you are a current National Dance Project production grantee and have not completed all aspects of the project supported by NDP funding including touring, you are not eligible to apply at this time. If you have recently received NDP support and are not sure about your status, please be in touch with us. As this varies by project, we will only discuss the eligibility of a project with the artists who are associated artist companies with an overdue grantee report to NEFA are not eligible to regain eligibility. Outstanding grantee reports must be submitted online to NEFA by February 1st, 2025. If you have an outstanding grantee report with any NEFA programs, we will not be able to accept a new application, so please be in touch with us to restore your eligibility. Grantee. reports that are outstanding must be submitted and approved by NEFA staff prior to the application deadline. We cannot make exceptions at this time. Any outstanding grant reports can always be viewed in your account through our online portal. Please note if you are a New England based artist or company and are a grantee of another NEFA program and have concerns about your eligibility based on your other grant status, please contact an NDP team member to confirm your eligibility. The next eligibility requirement is new for 2025. If you received an NDP finalist award for the same project more than once since 2020, NEFA will not accept an application for the same project for the 2025 grant cycle. Please contact NDP staff to confirm eligibility before applying. In an effort to ensure equitable distribution of resources to an increasing applicant pool, NEFA will not be able to support finalist funds for a single project in excess of $20,000. Artist companies who are planning to self-produce their NDP tour are not eligible. NDP tour subsidies support up to 50% of the artist fee per engagement and are paid to presenters on a reimbursement basis. Subsidy cannot be paid to the artist company receiving the NDP production grant. NEFA defines a self-produced tour as engagements which are being mainly supported financially by the touring artist or company. NDP touring subsidy cannot be paid to the artist company receiving a production grant also referred to as the grantee and therefore engagements supported by touring subsidy must have some kind of artist fee associated with the engagement that is paid to the artist company by a separate entity. The separate entity is then reimbursed by NEFA via a presentation grant for a portion of that artist fee. The kinds of organizations that may receive presentation grants as part of a grantee's NDP supported touring sharing period are varied. We do not strictly mean performing art centers and dance presenters. Many kinds of 5 0 1 C3 nonprofit organizations can receive touring subsidy as part of an NDP supported touring sharing period. School, youth or student companies and groups are not eligible. We are not able to support projects that are working primarily with youth under 18 or students, especially if those youth are the main performers, which does include college students. The primary artists involved in the creation and performing of the work should be professional, which generally equates to paid though there is some nuance within that definition. Artist companies creating dance projects that are specifically made for camera or dance film are not eligible. The intention of the production grant is to support a live engagement of some kind. Film may be associated with the engagement, but there should be an intention of live performance happening in association with film. Given the current land, current landscape, we understand this may be happening virtually. We are looking for the intention of live performance. Whether that can realistically happen continues to change and we understand the complications and nuances of this. All grant applications are evaluated based on the following criteria across both application rounds. Myself, Cheri, and Indira have no role in in in determining the 20 artist companies that will receive NDP support. The selection process is guided by a rotating group of advisors who are leaders in the dance field including dance artists, presenters, administrators, independent arts consultants, curators, educators, and social justice practitioners. Collectively, they're responsible for selecting the 20 projects that will receive the NDP production grant and serve as a policy and accountability council for NDPs overall process. The information about who will be serving in this role will be available on our website prior to the brand deadline. Though we acknowledge that these individuals cannot amply account for the richness of diversity within our field and country, we remain committed to uplifting new voices and perspectives each year as part of our process. The process of selecting and guiding these individuals is done with deep consideration and commitment to our values. We seek individuals who represent various communities and life experiences that will support the assessment evaluation and discussion of applications. During the grant panel meetings, as decision makers NDP advisors understand the impacts of equitably distributing resources and intentionally prioritized countering against structural inequities that have excluded individuals and communities from opportunity based on race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, class, culture, language, age, and geography. These advisors evaluate each application individually based on the following criteria. Support the creation, development and US touring, sharing virtual or in person of new dance projects that demonstrate excellence in artist practice. Support new dance projects within a range of cultural and aesthetic diversities that bolsters today's dance field. Reflect partnerships with organizations that are essential to the realizations of the proposed new dance project. Applications must include at least one US-based partner. Demonstrate a commitment to an engagement process with four communities and audiences. Because of the new dance projects, relevance, originality and or timeliness. Develop a viable plan for touring, sharing the supported project in multiple communities in the US and its territories. We want to acknowledge the virtual space. We have found ourselves in more and more and what that means for touring sustainability and NDPs touring subsidy. Artists are welcome to share their work internationally. We encourage this, but keep in mind we are not able to distribute NDP funds to international organizations. Therefore, we are not able to financially support those engagements.

Cheri: This is Cheri speaking. NDP believes strongly in artist organization partnerships to strengthen the development of new projects and to connect communities to dance. As part of your application, you will need to identify organizational partners that will support you in reaching the goals of your project, which can range from ideation to community engagement to how you will tour and or share your work. While projects may have more than one partner and you must list at least one on the application form, but you can and should include information about additional partners in the narrative section. The National Dance Project defines organizational partners as US-based nonprofit organizations who have working relationships with dance artists or companies and are committed to providing support for the creation and or touring of the proposed project. Organizational partners can be community based institutions of higher education, cultural organizations or producing or presenting performing arts centers, et cetera. The organizational partner is not required to present the finished work at any time, although many do. An organizational partner may provide a variety of resources during the creation and or touring sharing of a project including but not limited to access to communities who will be involved in the research creation and or presentation of the new work. Residency space, mentorship, presentations, commissioning support, tour planning assistance, administrative guidance or support, research assistance, marketplace advocacy, leveraging of additional funds for the project. The partner does not have to be a presenter. Additionally, the applicant should demonstrate how the partnership is supporting the new project and it is also beneficial to understand how the partnership will support the goals of the organization demonstrating reciprocity in the relationship. Please note on the application there is a partnership narrative question to uplift the relationships and support you may be receiving from any and all partnerships. Additionally, there is a tab to uplift one main or lead partnership. We will go over this further when we get to the narrative questions section.

Kristin: This is Kristin speaking. The following slides will offer some insight for how to submit an application to NEFA as well as some tips and important information about our new online grant portal. Before you begin a production grant application, you will have the ability to preview the application narrative questions that you will be required to answer at any time. These questions are available on the production grant informational page by clicking the preview application questions hyperlink from the gray box located on the upper right hand side of the page. When you are ready to start an application. Scroll down and click on either apply now or return to your grant application button from the same location in the gray box. This will bring you to the login page for our brand new portal and there are a few steps you will have to complete before you are able to view a blank application. Our current application portal will be sun setting and we are moving to a new grants portal. Everyone submitting an application in 2025 will have to create a new account. To create a new account and log in. Please click on new user at the bottom of the portal login page. Please only do this once and remember, write down or save the login credentials that you create. NEFA staff cannot view your password or set one for you, unlike in our older system. For this new system, you will use your email address as your username. The new user button will direct you to a page where you will create your profile. You will only need to do this once and the system will remember this information and some of it will autofill into your application for you. You can change your profile information anytime after your initial account creation. Organization versus individual. If you are applying as a legally registered entity in any capacity, be it 5 0 1 C3 or LLC, then select organization. If you are applying as an individual choreographer or artist, select individual. If you are not sure perhaps the following information about what will be collected for each option may help you determine which category to select. Please note the determination you make at this stage has no effect on how your application is received. This is a data collection method only. Required information for organizations. At the time of account creation organizations will be required to enter the following information required organization legal name, the name, your organization has been legally registered as required organization, public name. This is your doing business as name and may be the same as your legally registered name or different required organization, EIN or federal employer ID Tax ID number only legally registered entities will have this. If you are an LLC, you may have to enter zero zero dash followed by seven more zeros to bypass this. Please do not ever enter your personal social security information into this or any other field required unique entity ID or UEI. Again, legally registered entities will have a UEI. To get your UEI please visit sam.gov. That's S-A-M.gov. If you do not yet have one, you may enter 12 zeros into this field. For the time being. required institution type, please select the option that best represents your organizational structure. Required legal status, please select the option that best describes how your organization has been legally registered in the US. If applicable, please note this category is in no way a reference to or request for information about citizenship or immigration status. required artist discipline. Please select the option that best represents your form and aesthetic. Please note the options for the last three. data collection fields have been predetermined and NEFA has no say in the category options. These selections have no effect on your application. Optional organizational website, optional creative ground profile only New England based organizations will have a creative crown profile. You may skip this if you do not have one required contact information. Please enter the information for the person that grant staff should reach out to regarding questions about or issues with your application. Please note the email that you enter in this section will become your username. Please remember which email address you enter. required please enter the address where your organization is legally registered and required. How did you hear about NEFA? Please select all that apply. Required information for individuals at the time of account creation, individuals will be required to enter the following information required. First and last name of applicant. Required occupation, please enter any titles you feel are relevant required phone number grant staff may need to contact you regarding your application. Please include the best number for you to be reached at required email branch. Staff may need to contact you regarding your application. Please include the best email address for you to be reached at. Please note the email you enter in this section will become your username. Please remember which email address you enter. Optional creative ground profile only New England based artists will have a creative ground profile and you may skip this if you do not have one. required. please enter your current mailing address where any potential grant documents would be best inclined to reach you. And required how did you hear about NEFA? Please let us know. To finish registering, please check your email. NEFA staff cannot support you in this step. You will receive an email with a link to create a password. Please create a password you can remember or save it somewhere. Again, NEFA staff cannot recover your password for you. If you lose your password, you can use the forgot your password link on the portal's main login page. Hopefully you'll now be logged into our portal. However, you will not see a blank application form just yet. After you have created your account, you can stay logged in and a separate browser tab or separate window. Return to nefa.org to select the apply now button. In order to be directed to a new blank application form, you will have to select the apply now button to get to the blank application form and please only select this button once as every time that you select apply now. It will continue to bring you to a blank application form. A few notes about the new portal, the save my progress and resume later check mark in the orange box will not actually save your application. You have to select the check mark and then select save in the box. That will appear after selecting the check mark. Saving your application will take you out of the application every time. We are sorry we cannot change this. Additionally, any information entered in the application will not save unless you actively save your work. We highly recommend working from a Word document and copying and pasting everything into the form once you are completely ready to submit to save yourself and us a lot of frustration. Unfortunately, there is absolutely nothing that we can do to get back any information entered into the form but not saved. Please pay attention to the character counts. We cannot do anything to help you. If you go over character limits, the form will not allow you to submit and we have no ability to override this. Character counts are inclusive of special characters, spaces and paragraph marks. Special formatting including bold, underlined and italics will not appear in the form and bullets and tabs and numbering may appear in the form different to how they appear in Word and they may take up extra characters than you had allotted for. The form will allow for diacritical marks. To return to your saved form. If you are not logged in and you have already saved an application form in our portal, please do not click the apply now button again as once again, this will bring you to a brand new blank form every time you click that button. This is frustrating for you as well as for us. If you have already completed this step once to get back to an already saved version, you may click the resume my application button located directly under the apply now button or you can return to your grant form via the return to my grant application link at the bottom of any page on nefa.org. You can also bookmark the portal login page and return to your application directly at any time. If you click the apply now button more than once and you fill in information and save the form, this will create duplicate applications in both your dashboard and our system and this is tricky to navigate for ourselves as well as for you. If you are logged into the portal, you'll find any in progress applications in the my active application section from either the main landing page or the menu across the top. Your applications prior to 2025 if you have any, will not be available in the portal at this time. If you need access to previous applications, you can go to my historical applications in the portal and follow the link there to our former grants portal. Be aware that the login credentials for that portal will be different from the new ones you set up for this application. We are sorry. We are continuing to improve the portal experience for all users. As we do so, the portal may appear different. As mentioned earlier, you will have the ability to update account information entered at the time of registration. However, where and how this is accomplished might change in the future. Please stay tuned for more comprehensive information about tutorials for our updated grants portal coming to nefa.org in the near future.

Indira: This is Indira speaking. As mentioned earlier, the selection of NDP grantees is the sole responsibility of the NDP advisors. They seek to select projects that represent the fullness of our field as exemplified through NEFA's values, as well as artistic and life experiences, career stage, dance aesthetics, forms, genres and more. As you complete your NDP proposal, we encourage you to answer all questions to the best of your knowledge, including sharing aspects of your project and subsequent touring that are still in ideation. Remember, while you will respond to each question separately. All of your responses should work together to provide the advisors with a full understanding of your proposed new dance project. Now we will share the narrative questions that you'll need to answer as part of the 2025 NDP production grant preliminary application. As part of this review, we will also provide insight on what to consider when crafting your responses. Question one, please describe the proposed new dance project. While this question may seem self-explanatory, it is also an opportunity for you to share with the advisors why this work is important now. This narrative question aligns with two program criteria. The first stating support, the creation, development and US touring or sharing virtual or in person of new dance projects that demonstrate excellence in artists practice. The second stating support new dance projects within a range of cultural and aesthetic diversities that bolsters today's dance field. Question two, please share the full timeline for the proposed new dance project inclusive of an ideation phase, creation development period, projected premier date or window and desired touring or sharing timeframes. This question is an opportunity for you to outline in a more concise and linear way how the project comes together. You can think of it as a quick guide for sharing your project's key activities from its ideation phase to creative process and residencies, the project's premier and the project's desired touring or sharing plans. Please note we understand that some applicants have been working on their project prior to applying for NDP. You should feel empowered to still include that information as it relates to the project's timeline. This narrative question aligns with the program criteria that states support the creation, development and US touring or sharing virtual or in person of new dance projects that demonstrate excellence in artists practice. Question three, what does success mean to you in respect to the proposed new dance project? What is your overall desired impact for the project? This question offers space for you to define success on your own terms and uplift your values as it relates to your project. Your response will ground the advisors in how they assess and evaluate your application by centering your definition of success and desired impact for your project. Ideally, how you answer this question should be in alignment with the ways in which you will choose to engage with community, establish various types of partnerships and creative collaborations as well as the touring and or sharing of your project. This narrative question aligns with two program criteria. The first stating support the creation, development and US touring or sharing virtual or in-person of new dance projects that demonstrate excellence in artists practice. The second stating support new dance projects within a range of cultural and aesthetic diversities that bolster today's dance field. Question four, who are the communities and audiences this proposed new dance project is intended for? What are the engagement activities or strategies you plan to use to connect with them? For this question, the advisors are interested in learning more about the communities and audiences you desire to reach through your proposed new dance project and how you will engage with them. This goes beyond the presentational aspect of your project and should include other ideas for deepening and or building connections with the communities and audiences that you have identified. It is also important to acknowledge that we recognize that who you create your project with and who you create your project for may not be the same. Providing this level of specificity is very important to furthering the advisors understanding. This narrative question aligns with the program criteria that states, demonstrate a commitment to an engagement process with and or for communities and audiences because of the new dance projects, relevance, originality and or timeliness. Question five, with regard to the communities and audiences identified above in your response, how will access or accessibility be addressed in the proposed new dance project? This question provides an opportunity to specifically share how you will address access needs for the communities and audiences you desire to engage with and impact via your project. You will notice that we as NEFA have not defined what accessibility is because we recognize that the term accessibility can encompass a lot of things. Therefore, the advisors understand and expect that responses to this question will differ amongst applicants. Lastly, we recognize that the work of accessibility is not that of an artist or company alone. It is a matter of collective responsibility that we hope is amplified in your application through the partnerships you choose to engage with for creation development and the US touring or sharing of your project. This narrative question aligns with the program criteria that states demonstrate a commitment to an engagement process with and or for communities and audiences because of the new dance projects, relevance, originality and or timeliness. Question six, who are the current organizational partners for the proposed new dance project? What are their contributions and why are they important to helping you reach your project goals? While we know that there is much you will offer as an artist or company through your project within various communities, that information should not be prioritized in this response. Your response should provide advisors with a clear understanding of the alignment between your project goals and the support from organizational partners that will assist you in reaching those goals. This is an opportunity to highlight their commitment contributions and even connection to your project. This question also provides space for the advisors to begin to understand more about your partnership network and how those relationships can support the creation development of your proposed new dance project as well as potential touring or sharing opportunities. This narrative question aligns with the program criteria that states, reflect partnerships with organizations that are essential to the realization of the proposed new dance project. Question seven, please describe your creative process or practice and how it supports achieving the goals you outlined above. For collaborative models of making include how and why the collaborators contributions are integral to the realization of the proposed new dance project. At this point in the application, you have shared a lot about your project, its intention and desired impact. Now the advisors want to directly connect how your creative process or practice will support you in manifesting your goals. This narrative question aligns with the program criteria that states support the creation, development and US touring or sharing virtual or in person of new dance projects that demonstrate excellence in artists' practice. Question eight. In addition to the performers and collaborators, how does this project contribute to the diversities of today's dance field? As part of NDP, we value how artists are choosing to advance, enhance, or subvert various forms of dance. We believe that representation is important and remain committed to disrupting the perpetual exclusion and erasure of artists representing forms, genres, practices, traditions, lineages, experiences and or identities through their projects. We recognize that the contributions of diverse artistic collaborators including the dancers is important. However, for this question, the advisors seek to also understand how the overall proposed new dance project is contributing to the diversities of today's dance field. This narrative question aligns with the program criteria that states, support new dance projects within a range of cultural anesthetic diversities that bolsters today's dance field. Question nine, how do you imagine the proposed new dance project being toured or shared? How will your previous touring or sharing experiences inform these ideas? Given this grant is a creation and mentoring funding opportunity, it is important for the advisors to begin to understand how applicants are imagining their project be toured or shared. While we understand that tour planning takes time, it is important to be as forthcoming as possible when expressing desires to tour or share your project. This may include but is not limited to uplifting confirmed tour sites, those that are in progress and even where you see opportunities based on themes and approach to your project. We encourage you to reflect on what you have shared already in your application, especially as it relates to the communities and audiences you intend to impact and your projects partnership network. You can use that as information to expand upon as you craft your response to this question. Please note, the desire to tour or share your project should already exist. There should not be an expectation that if or be you receive NDP funding that touring will then manifest. This narrative question aligns with the program criteria that states, develop a viable plan for touring or sharing the supported project in multiple communities in the US and its territories. As a reminder, when inside of the portal, we encourage you to press save often when filling in responses. Unfortunately, our new system will not auto save your information and there is no way for us to retrieve it for you. Should you have any questions as you prepare your preliminary application. The NDP team invites you to lean on us as a resource as it is our desire to support you in submitting your most confident application. Additionally, NEFA strives to be more transparent about our grant making practices and invite you to learn more about the NDP production grant panel review process via our website. We hope this information supports a deeper understanding of the decision making process.

Cheri: This is Cheri speaking. Work samples. This preliminary application requires you to provide a three minute work sample. For work samples longer than three minutes clearly indicate cue times. If you are submitting two clips, each clip should be at least one minute in length. All video work samples should utilize original audio if available. Since you are applying for funding of a project not yet fully produced, you may submit a clip of the in progress project named in the application. Video of the proposed project is not required. However, we recommend that you submit work samples that show the capacity by the artist or company to fully realize their ideas. This is an opportunity to connect and align the narrative answers to the application with the visual manifestation of the work. A clip of similar work with the company or choreographer named in the application or a combination of both. The description field offers an opportunity to highlight your choices. These might include important collaborators, content and context relating to the new project. We encourage you to use the description to offer what you want the advisors to see within the work sample. Please also note that the panel reviewers will be looking at these on computers, tablets and phone screens, so please be mindful of very dark, hard to see images or audio that is not clear. For work sample submissions, video work samples may be uploaded to any of the following video sharing sites, Vimeo, Dropbox, YouTube, or Google Drive. We do not accept work samples via social media platforms. For instance, TikTok, Instagram or Facebook. Please enter the URL link to the video. In the work sample link form field. Please include one work sample per section. For multiple work samples, please enter the information in the order the videos should be viewed. And for password protected links, please provide the password and do not change permissions for video before May 9th, 2025. And ensure that videos can be downloaded. If you are a company and you are looking to bring in another choreographer, it is helpful to see a sample from the company who will be performing the work as well as the artist who is creating the work. And if you do not submit specific cue times, advisors will watch the first three minutes and will stop after three minutes total. NDP staff are not responsible for contacting applicants for work sample corrections.

Kristin: This is Kristin speaking. All applicants will be notified of their application status in early May. The second stage full proposal application is by invitation only, selected from the pool of applications submitted on February 28th, 2025. For those applications not selected, we do offer an opportunity for all applicants to receive feedback each fall. Up to 40 applicants are invited to submit full proposals by June 16th, 2025. Applicants invited to submit proposals will be paired with one of the NDP advisors. Advisors will work with finalists on the development of full proposal applications. They can let you know any questions that came up about your preliminary application during the panel meeting and will provide panel feedback. They can also look your budget narrative answers. Help you select work samples, et cetera. As a finalist, it is important to get your application materials to your advisor well in advance of the deadline so that they have time to read, review, and give feedback ahead of the June application deadline. We encourage you to start your application as early as possible during the open application phase. We try to make ourselves as available as possible to answer questions and support applicants with technical difficulties. However, please keep in mind that there are only three of us and last year we had 219 eligible applications. If you have questions or are having difficulty, please reach out early as we cannot guarantee our availability and responsiveness as the deadline approaches. We are not available after 5:00 PM Eastern Standard time on the day of the deadline, which is February 28th, 2025 though you do have until 11:59 PM Eastern Standard time to submit your application. If you run into issues with the portal, lose power or are having some other kind of issues after 5:00 PM on the day of the deadline, please send us an email immediately but know that we will not be able to support you until we return to the office on the next business day. We will be in touch about any issues the applicant's experience trying to submit should those circumstances require support. NDP staff are able to provide feedback for all applicants. However, this is very involved process and it takes time to gather panel feedback as well as to have the availability in our calendars to give these conversations the time and space they deserve. We appreciate your patience with this process. We are able to begin scheduling feedback calls each fall. Applicants will be notified of the process to receive panel feedback on application submissions via email following the conclusion of the full grant process in early fall 2025. Feedback is provided via a phone call with an NDP staff member. We do not provide written feedback.

Indira: This is Indira speaking. This concludes our 2025 NDP production grant informational webinar. As always, should you have any questions, we encourage you to contact us prior to submitting your preliminary application on February 28th, 2025. All of our contact information can be found on NEFA's website at www.nefa.org We thank you for joining us and look forward to receiving your application.