National Dance Project

NEFA’s National Dance Project (NDP) was launched in 1996 to encourage the creation of new work in dance that would be shared with audiences in communities throughout the United States. Since then, the program has distributed more than $21.2 million in grants and has become one of the few sources for dance funding in the country. Through grantmaking and other activity, the program supports dance in ways that enhance partnerships between artists and presenters with the equally important goals of engaging and expanding audiences for dance.

Types of Support

NDP is designed to be a dynamic system of support for the field.  Extending beyond core grantmaking (Production Grants, Touring Awards, and Presentation Grants) for creation and touring, the program also works through various initiatives to nurture a vibrant ecology for dance. Currently these include emphases on international exchange, regional development of dance artists, and the work of contemporary art centers with a focus on performing arts and collaborations across disciplines. 

Funding Priorities

NDP is particularly 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 new 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.

	The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation is the lead funder of the National Dance Project. The mission of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation is to improve the quality of people's lives through grants supporting the performing arts, environmental conservation, medical research and the prevention of child maltreatment, and through preservation of the cultural and environmental legacy of Doris Duke's properties. To learn more about the foundation’s support for the performing arts, visit www.ddcf.org/arts.
	The MetLife Foundation is dedicated to strengthening communities throughout the U.S. by supporting health, educational, cultural, and civic organizations and programs. Since 2007, the MetLife Foundation has partnered with NEFA as the lead corporate sponsor of the National Dance Project. MetLife Community Connections connects world-class dance artists and the public through community engagement activities.
	The Mellon Foundation’s Performing Arts program provides funding on an invitation-only basis to leading US orchestras, theater companies, opera companies, modern dance companies, dance-specific presenters, and a limited number of research and service organizations. The Foundation seeks to support institutions that contribute to the preservation and development of their art form, provide creative leadership in addressing issues unique to the field, and present the highest level of institutional performance.