National Dance Project

National Dance Project grant recipient Spectrum Dance Theater | Photo: Gabriel Bienczycki

The National Dance Project fuels the creation of new dance works and brings the work of the most compelling dance artists of our time to audiences across the nation.

More about National Dance Project

Extending beyond core grantmaking for creation and touring, NDP works through various initiatives to nurture a vibrant ecology for dance. Currently these emphasize production residencies, international exchange, regional development of dance artists, and the work of contemporary art centers. Launched in 1996, NDP has distributed more than $24 million in funding and has become one of the few dedicated sources for dance funding in the country.

More background information

Funding Priorities

NDP is interested in supporting work that reflects the evolving environment for dance, including but not limited to projects that:

Push aesthetic boundaries and reflect the cultural and aesthetic diversity alive in dance today.
Nurture long-term and multi-faceted partnerships between choreographers and presenters, leading to the highest quality possible in the production values for the completed work.
Are interdisciplinary, enabling choreographers and dance artists to partner with creators in other artistic forms or explore hybrid art forms.
Enable choreographers and dance artists to experiment with new technologies in the creation of work and to explore new ways of engaging audiences in all stages of a dance work’s development and presentation.
Involve choreographers and dance artists who have been making work for less than ten years or who have been involved in NEFA’s Regional Dance Development Initiative.
Expose audiences, and U.S.-based choreographers, to international work of outstanding quality and originality, primarily through NDP Touring awards.

Partners

NDP is guided by a rotating group of field experts comprised of Hub Site representatives and Advisors. Hub Site representatives are leaders of U.S.-based presenting organizations, have extensive knowledge of the dance field, and have been instrumental in developing new dance work and dance audiences within their communities. NDP Advisors are artists and organizational leaders from the dance field. Together, NDP Hub Site representatives and Advisors make funding recommendations and provide feedback on program development and policy.

HUB SITE REPRESENTATIVES

Erin Boberg-Doughton Performing Arts Program Director Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (PICA) Portland, OR	George Lugg Associate Director REDCAT (Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater) Los Angeles, CA
Paul Brohan Director of Artistic Initiatives Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center at the University of Maryland College Park, MD	David Ravel Director Alverno Presents Milwaukee, WI
Yolanda Cesta Cursach Associate Director of Performance Programs Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, IL	Janera Solomon Executive Director Kelly-Strayhorn Theater Pittsburgh, PA
Laura Faure Director Bates Dance Festival Lewiston, ME	Sixto Wagan Director, Center for Arts Leadership University of Houston Houston, TX
Colleen Furukawa Vice President - Programming Maui Arts & Cultural Center Maui, HI	Martin Wechsler Director of Programming The Joyce Theater New York, NY
Mary Luft Executive Director/Founder Tigertail Productions Miami, FL

ADVISORS

Adele Myers Artistic Director Adele Myers and Dancers Hamden, CT	David Thomson Dancer/Choreographer New York, NY
Michael Reed Senior Director - Programs & Organizational Initiatives Arizona State University Gammage Tempe, AZ	Marya Wethers Program Manager New York Live Arts New York, NY
Andrea Rogers Executive Director Emerita Flynn Center for the Performing Arts Burlington, VT	Sam Miller (Founder & Honorary Advisor, National Dance Project) President Lower Manhattan Cultural Council New York, NY

International Exchange

NDP’s International Partnerships create opportunities for artists, presenters, and communities to engage with artists and audiences from other countries, explore commonalities and differences, and experience diverse cultural perspectives.

To date, NDP has developed partnerships with the U.K., The Netherlands, Australia, France, and Mexico. Currently, NDP supports international exchange through two ongoing avenues of funding: the French U.S. Exchange in Dance (FUSED) program and NDP Touring Awards, which are open to international artists and companies.

Background

For 30 years, a series of programs at the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) supported dance creation and touring in the U.S. As a result of the "culture wars" of the early 90's, congressional cuts to these programs left a void in financial support for dance that threatened the future of dance touring and - ultimately - dance as an art form.

In immediate response to the changes, NEFA created a regional program in 1995 to support dance touring in New England called the New England Dance Project. The goal of this program was to develop audiences for dance in New England communities by supporting the touring of dance artists and companies to the region. But it soon became clear that this program needed the support of a national effort.

NEFA began conversations with peers and advisors in the dance field to discuss the development of a national program. Dance/USA, the Association of Performing Arts Presenters, and many other peers participated in the design of the National Dance Project (NDP). As designed, NDP's purpose would be to link the creation and touring of new work by building upon artist/presenter partnerships.

This approach - linking all aspects of producing a dance work - was created to ensure that a diversity of projects would realize their potential. Linking the support for creation and touring of work not only assists in meeting artists' and presenters' objectives, but also fosters the working relationships between the two.

NEFA launched NDP in March 1996 with a two-year leadership grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation provided support with a three-year grant for dance touring in New England, which was later renewed for another three years. The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation provided funds for touring activity in the first two years. The Philip Morris Companies, Inc. provided support for touring from 1997-2002, and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation has granted generous support for production and touring activity since 1999. View NDP's current funders below.