New York City, NY (For Release May 16, 2017) — Dance/NYC is pleased to announce the Dance Advancement Fund, made possible by the generous support of the Ford Foundation. The purpose of the Fund is to address the inequitable distribution of resources in the dance field by supporting small dance makers with budgets less than $1 million.

The Fund leverages Dance/NYC’s capacity as a regrantor and responds directly to the organization's field research. Dance/NYC’s recent State of NYC Dance and Workforce Demographics shows dance makers with budgets of less than $1 million comprise the lion’s share (84%) of total groups but have access to only 10% of the total revenue. Over a six-year period studied, revenue decreased for this segment as a whole, and the smallest dance groups, those with budgets of less than $100,000, were particularly hard-hit, losing 32% in total funding and 38% in foundation support. Notably, the smallest organizations demonstrate the greatest capacity to adapt and have workforces that better reflect the racial diversity and presence of disabled people in New York City’s population than the workforces of larger organizations.

“Dance/NYC thanks the Ford Foundation for its commitment to supporting the art form of dance and recognizing the central role that creativity and free expression play in shaping a just society,” offers Elissa D. Hecker, Chair of Dance/NYC’s Board of Directors.

Lane Harwell, Executive Director of Dance/NYC, says: “Through its strategic support of small dance makers, the Dance Advancement Fund will advance artistic development and delivery and contribute to the field’s overall diversity, sustainability, resilience, and health.”

In late May, Dance/NYC will issue an open Request for Proposals (RFP), inviting New York City metropolitan area dance makers with annual operating budgets between $25,000 and $1 million to submit applications for two-year general support grants of $5,000 to $15,000 each year. The Fund will prioritize applications from dance makers that are headquartered outside of Manhattan and led by or otherwise producing work by African, Latina/o/x, Asian, Arab and Native American (ALAANA), and/or women and/or disabled artists.

The deadline for application submission is July 12, 2017, at 6:00 p.m. EST.

Applicants must be dance makers headquartered in the New York City metropolitan area which have been creating and/or performing dance locally as either 501 (c)(3) organizations or fiscally sponsored projects for at least three years. New (fewer than three years) fiscally sponsored projects are ineligible, as are projects for organizations for which dance making is a new activity. Grants will not be considered for applications from individual artists without fiscal sponsors, educational institutions, presenters, festivals, or service organizations. Additional information about eligibility and application requirements will be available in late May.

About Dance/NYC
Dance/NYC’s mission is to promote the knowledge, appreciation, practice, and performance of dance in the metropolitan New York City area. It embeds values of equity and inclusion into all aspects of the organization. It works in alliance with Dance/USA, the national service organization for professional dance. Visit Dance.NYC for details on Dance/NYC programming.

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