National Dance Project

The National Dance Project (NDP) supports the creation and U.S. touring of new dance projects and connects artists, cultural organizations, and audiences across the nation.

NDP supported Music From The Sole | photo by Sally Cohn 

About National Dance Project

Now in its third decade, 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 $38.5 million in funding primarily to support the creation and touring of new dance works, as well as other initiatives, including production residencies and regionally focused professional development for dance artists.

Advisors

NEFA's National Dance Project is guided by a rotating group of advisors who are leaders in the dance field, including dance artists, presenters and administrators. NDP advisors serve as the grant review and selection panel for NDP support, and work with applicants as they prepare their final proposals. In addition, NDP advisors serve as a policy council and are ambassadors for the program in their communities. Selection of NDP advisors takes into account geography, gender, cultural and racial equity, and includes new and established leaders in the field.

How to Become a Program Advisor

NDP Production Grant Panel Review Process

Outside, Michele has short hair and wears a black dress with a deep v-neck.

Michele Kumi Baer

She/Her/Hers and They/Them
Cultural New Deal
Kumi Cultural
Tovaangar, Land of the Tongva People (Los Angeles, CA)
Kristen has blonde hair that frames her face and she wears a black blazer.

Kristen Brogdon

She/Her/Hers
Director, Artistic & Community Programs
Northrop, University of Minnesota
Land of the Wahpekute and Očhéthi Šakówiŋ Peoples (Minneapolis, MN)
Black and white photo of Jerron as he crouches against a cracked brick wall, both arms laying to his side.

Jerron Herman

He/Him/His
Dance/Performer
Lenapehoking Land (New York, NY)
An African American woman with brown skin, long straight black hair, smiling, holding my arm, wearing a pink dress with black lace on the shoulders.

Marisa Hollingsworth

She/Her/Hers
Executive and Artistic Director
Presenting Denver
Land of the Apaches, Utes, Cheyennes, Comanches, and Arapahoes Peoples (Denver, CO)
Germaine smiles and wears a light pink headwrap.

Germaine Ingram

She/Her/Hers
Dance/Vocal Improviser, Choreographer, Cultural Strategist, Writer
Land of Lenni-Lenape People (Philadelphia, PA)
Lori has shoulder length blonde hair and wears a black sweater. She poses by some trees.

Lori N. Jones

She/Her/Hers
Director of Programming and Audience Development
The Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts
Land of the Paugussett people (Fairfield, CT)
Patrick smiles; he wears a Haku lei and leis around his neck.

Patrick Makuakāne

He/Him/His
Choreographer, Dancer, Director
Nā Lei Hulu i ka Wēkiu
Land of the Ramaytush, Ohlone, and Muwekma Peoples (San Francisco, CA)
Tariq is a Black man with a mustache and a short hair cut. He wears a teal tank top in front of a black backdrop.

Tariq Darrell O'Meally

He/Him/His
Conference & Festival Producer
International Association of Blacks in Dance
BlackLight Summit Creator/Curator/Lead Producer
Dance Place Artist-In-Residence
Land of the Piscataway and Pamunkey peoples (College Park, MD)
Heena is a brown woman with jaw-length wavy black hair. She wears a whtie tank top in front of a colorful mural.

Heena Patel

She/Her/Hers
Cultural Strategist, Creative Producer, CEO
MELA Arts Connect
Land of the Tsalaguwetiyi and S’atsoyaha (Asheville, NC)
Ali wears a purple sweater and denim pants with yellow cutouts. She has jawlength curly brown hair and she is a Brown woman.

Ali Rosa-Salas

She/Her/Hers
Vice President of Visual and Performing Arts
Abrons Arts Center/Henry Street Settlement
Associate Curator
Jacob's Pillow
Land of the Munsee Lenape People (New York, NY) | Land of the Mohican People (Becket, MA)
Judith wears a cowboy hat as a monarch butterfly rests on her nose.

Judith Smith

She/Her/Hers
Founder
AXIS Dance Company
Land of the Ohlone, Muwekma, and Chochenyo Peoples (Oakland, CA)
Tamara is a Black woman in a red beret.  She wears big hoop earrings and poses in front of bright red painted bricks.

Tamara "Fákémi" Williams

She/Her/Iya
Founder and Artistic Director
Moving Spirits, Inc.
Associate Professor
UNC Charlotte
Land of the Catawba, Sugaree, Cherokee, Coharie and Lumbee nations (Charlotte, NC) | Tupi-Guarani Land (Salvador, Bahia, Brazil)

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 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 Foundation has granted generous support for production and touring activity since 1999.  View NDP's current funders below. 

Funders

The 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 Barr Foundation, the Boston Foundation, and the Aliad Fund at the Boston Foundation.

logo in black stacked text for the Doris Duke Foundation
Mellon Foundation logo, a black free-form letter M on the left side of black Mellon Foundation text
Barr Foundation logo

The Aliad Fund at the Boston Foundation