2023 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

• 07:20 | About the New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA)
• 10:13 | About the National Dance Project (NDP)
• 11:07 | Production Grant Package of Support
• 13:37 | Ongoing Opportunities for Touring/Sharing
• 15:54 | Grant Eligibility and Funding Criteria
• 33:39 | Accessing the Application
• 40:49 | Application Narrative Questions
• 55:06 | Work Sample Submission Instructions
• 58:14 | Application Timeline

ASL Interpretation provided by Interpreter Now.

Read the Video Transcript

Indira: Welcome. And thank you for joining us for this 2023 National Dance Project Production Grant informational webinar. It is NEFA's practice to share a land acknowledgment for all convenings including the virtual space we are in today. We believe that a land acknowledgment 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 up 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 Massachusetts, 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 webinar from the lands of the Mohican, Massachusetts, Pawtucket, and Munsee 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 in attendance 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 leave 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. Lastly, NEFA understands this process requires a constant state of learning and growth, and we are committed to doing the work that ensures our acknowledgment is directly linked to accountability and action. We expect our shared education and efforts will be reflected in multiple revisions of our written land acknowledgment over time, as well as other direct actions that continue to uplift the indigenous people on whose land we have the privilege of working. 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 will 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 thank you for joining us for today's webinar. While our cameras will be off throughout this informational webinar to highlight slides, we are sharing an image of who we are and will acknowledge how we identify at this time. My name is Indira Goodwine-Josias, and I am the program director for Dance at NEFA. My pronouns are she/her and hers. I am a brown-skinned black woman who in this image has long black braids and is wearing a coral dress with a necklace that has white triangles on it.

Cheri: Hello, my name is Cheri Opperman. 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 short, dark brown hair and wearing dark eyeglasses and a red collared shirt and red glass earrings.

Kristin: This is Kristin Gregory speaking. I am the program manager for Dance at NEFA, and my pronouns are she/her and hers. I am a light-skinned white woman who in this image has shoulder-length, straight dye blonde hair, a maroon v-neck t-shirt, and a white quartz pendant.

Indira: This is Indira speaking. For today's webinar, we will provide important information related to the NDP Production Grant application process inclusive of information about NEFA and NDP, NDP's package of support, ongoing opportunities for touring and sharing, grant eligibility and funding criteria, application access and process, application narrative questions, work sample submissions, and the application timeline. As a reminder, everything that is shared today can also be found on NEFA's website at www.N-E-F-A.org. As one of six regional arts organizations, 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. Our vision states that NEFA contributes 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 brought to life at 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, inclusion, 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 work. The National Dance Project Production Grant is generously supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Mellon Foundation. Their continued partnership has allowed us to support artists, presenting organizations, and the communities they engage with in exciting and impactful ways, so we thank them.

Cheri: This is Cheri speaking. The National Dance Project is now 27 years old. It was launched in 1996 to support the creation and touring of new dance works through grantmaking and other activity including residencies and regional dance development initiatives. Today, we'll be talking about our major grant program, the NDP 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 package of support is a comprehensive and includes $45,000 to artist companies towards all costs associated with making the dance project, $11,500 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 artist companies for general operating support with deep thanks to the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation for this funding is totally unrestricted, for instance, it can be used for salaries, rent, insurance, retirement, computers, or other equipment, cameras, tour coordinator or administrative support, all of this, or 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 their fiscal sponsor. Works may not premiere before October 1st, 2023. Additionally, this package of support includes $35,000 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 work's 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 artists themselves.

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 your creative ingenuity during this time and the artistic experiences you still desire to share with communities and audiences, whether that be in person, virtually, or some imaginative combination of both. NEFA understands that there are more opportunities and interests in artists and companies to share their work virtually reaching a global audience. While we support the many ways artists and companies have been able to expand their reach, it is important to note that NDP tour subsidy can only be allocated to US-based organizations. This does not prevent an artist or company from securing opportunities outside of the US, we would love to see that as well. However, we must be clear about how tour subsidies can be allocated and distributed at this time. Production Grant recipients have a window during which they must use the creation funds and touring subsidy. If you or your company are selected as an NDP Production grantee, the window of time you will have to create, tour, or share your project is from January 1st, 2024 through December 31st, 2027. Projects that are not completed and have not allocated their touring subsidy in this time period should be in conversation with NEFA staff. Please note, touring subsidy can be used for the premiere 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, which is March 1st, 2023. These eligibility requirements are always available online at NEFA.org, N-E-F-A.O-R-G. A few notes about the eligibility, applicants must be professional choreographers or companies, preference is given to US-based dance artists and companies, but artists and companies based outside of the US may apply. We do accept applications from international artists and companies, however, the 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. Applicants must propose a new dance project to be developed and toured and shared, projects may be interdisciplinary and can include creators in other artistic forms. At the time of application, projects may be in an early, mid, or late stage of development so long as the project will not be premiering before October 1st, 2023. Artists and companies proposing projects that will premier after fall 2025 may want to consider waiting to apply until March of 2024. Projects may be interdisciplinary and can include creators and collaborators in other creative forms or explore hybrid art forms. We recognize continued and evolving ideas of dance and movement-based forms of expression. However, this 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 or process. Works may be in an early stage of development at the time of application as well as in mid or later stages of development. New works cannot premier before October 1st, 2023. If the intended premiere is expected to be beyond March of 2025, we recommend potentially waiting to apply until the project is in a later stage of development, and could therefore be more clearly articulated through the application process. Applicants can only 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 a guest choreographer, please be in touch with that choreographer to ensure that they themselves will not be applying or that they have not given their permission to another company to apply. Applicants must work with a US organizational partner committed to supporting the development and/or presentation of the proposed new work, new project. We will go into further detail about what organizational partners look like and what they can 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 a nonprofit status confirmed in order to apply, but you will need to receive payments through a nonprofit or fiscal sponsor should your project advance to the finalist stage. We are not at this time able to make grant payments to individual artists or LLC entities. Applicants will be expected to fulfill the requirements and reports for grant recipients if awarded. Any outstanding grant reports can always be accessed through our portal at any time. Please double-check your account if you are not sure if you may have outstanding reports due to NEFA. Applicants who are not eligible, at this time, we are not able to accept applications that fall within the following categories, artists/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, that's 2022. 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. Schools, youth, or student companies and groups, 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 we do understand there is nuance within the definition of professional artists. Artists and companies who are planning to self-produce their NDP tour. As part of the overall package that each project will receive and each project is evaluated on, the reserved NDP tour subsidy of 35,000 per project will support up to 50% of the artist fee per touring engagement. These funds are paid to presenters on a reimbursement basis. Subsidy cannot be paid to the artist company receiving the NDP Production Grant. NDP defines a self-produced tour as engagements which are being mainly supported financially by the touring artist or company. The touring subsidy cannot be paid to the grantee receiving the Production Grant, and therefore engagements supported by touring subsidy must have some kind of artist fee associated with the engagement, which is to be paid to the artist or company by a separate entity. The kinds of organizations this encompasses are varied and does not strictly mean performing arts centers or dance presenters. Many kinds of 501c3 nonprofit organizations can receive touring subsidy as part of an NDP-supported tour. Artists with an overdue grantee report to NEFA. To regain eligibility, outstanding grantee reports must be submitted online to NEFA before the application deadline of March 1st, 2023. If you have an outstanding grantee report with any NEFA program, 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 before the application deadline of March 1st, 2023. We cannot make exceptions at this time. Any of your outstanding grant reports can always be viewed in your portal account. Please note, if you are a New England-based artist or company and are a grantee of another NEFA program, please contact an NDP team member to confirm your eligibility. And finally, artists and companies creating dance projects that are specifically made for camera or dance films. 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 landscape, we understand that this might be happening virtually. We are looking for the intention of live performance, whether or not that can realistically happen continues to change, and we understand the complexity and complication of this. All grant applications are evaluated based on the following criteria across both application rounds. Myself, Kristin, include, as well as Cheri and Indira have no role in determining the 20 artists and companies that will ultimately 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 are responsible for selecting the projects that will receive the NDP Production Grant and serve as a policy and accountability council for NDP's overall process. There are currently 12 individuals serving this role for 2023, and the information about who those individuals are will be made public on our website in the near future. Though we acknowledge that 12 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 prioritize 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 12 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 artists' practice. Support new dance projects within a range of cultural and aesthetic diversities that bolsters today's dance fields, reflect partnerships with organizations that are essential to the realization of the proposed new project. Applications must include at least one US-based partner. NEFA defines US as all 50 of the United States, this does include Hawaii, Alaska, and Washington DC, as well as Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, the US Virgin Islands, and American Samoa. Funding criteria continued, projects must demonstrate a commitment to an engagement process with or for communities and audiences because of the new dance project's relevance, originality and/or timeliness. And finally, develop a viable plan for touring/sharing supported project in multiple communities in the US and its territories. We also want to acknowledge the virtual space we have found ourselves in more and more and what that means for touring sustainability and NDP's touring subsidy. Artists are welcome to share their work internationally, and we encourage this, but keep in mind, we are not able to distribute NDP funds to international organizations even if it is a virtual engagement.

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, you must list on the application form and, but can and should include information about additional partners in the narrative section. The National Dance Project defines organizational partners as US 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 work. Organizational partners can be community-based, institutions of higher education, presenting, et cetera. The organizational partner is not required to present the finished work at any time, though 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, and the 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 name or lead partnership. We will go over this further when we get to the narrative question section.

Kristin: The following slides will demonstrate how to submit an application to NEFA. A reminder that you can preview the narrative questions before starting an application anytime from the NDP Project Production Grant page. When you are ready to start an application, scroll down on that page and click on the APPLY NOW button. Please only click this APPLY NOW button once, as each time you click this button, it will bring you to a brand new blank form. This can be frustrating for you as well as us. If you have already saved a version of your application, to return to that application, please use the RESUME MY APPLICATION button. You can also find a return to my form button at any time on nefa.org at the bottom of any webpage, it is a blue link at the bottom of each page. The return to my grant application button will redirect you to the online portal and your dashboard where you can access any applications through NEFA, including submitted, completed, and applications of outstanding or submitted reports. This is the landing page for NEFA's portal. If you have not applied to NEFA for several years, you may have to create a new username and account as we switched database systems a few years ago. If you have previously applied, please pay attention for instructions in just a moment about accessing your account. If you are creating a new account, we recommend using the beginning of your email as your username or something that is similar and easy to remember. The portal will not accept the @ part of an email address. For example, my email address is kgregory@nefa.org, the system will not accept this as a username, but to make it easier for me to remember, I would simply use kgregory as my username. If you have an account but you don't remember your password, please click on the Forgot your password button. It is much easier and more efficient than requesting a new password through a staff member. We are able to look up your username if you have forgotten it, but I do recommend using the beginning of your email address, again, just in case. If you are still having trouble accessing your account and you have already used the Forgot your password button, or if you are having issues submitting your application and you require tech support once you have logged in, please contact tech@nefa.org, that's T-E-C-H@N-E-F-A.org. This email is heavily monitored and will often receive a much swifter and more helpful response than if you were to email the NDP staff. We do hope this new portal is more easy to navigate and more accessible, though we continue to address access issues. If you need an alternate format or application submission, please contact our accessibility coordinator, Jane Preston at jpreston@nefa.org, that's J-P-R-E-S-T-O-N@N-E-F-A.org. After you have logged into the portal, you'll be taken to a blank inquiry form immediately. We recommend entering at least your name and project title first and hitting save. This will ensure that you can view and return to the form at any time. Please save often, our system will not auto-save for you. And if you have not saved information that has been entered, there is nothing that we can do to get it back for you, this is frustrating for you and us. We recommend viewing the form and copying information over into a Word document and then working and editing from there. When you're finished, you can copy and paste everything back into the form when you're ready. If doing so, please pay attention to the character count, as once again, we cannot do anything to help you if you go over the allotted form character count, we cannot override this from the backend, and you will not be able to submit your application if you go over character count. Please note that characters do include special characters, spaces, and paragraph marks. Special formatting including bold and italic will not appear in the form, and bullets and numbering may look different in the form than they do in Word, and they may also take up extra characters, so just be aware of this. The form does allow diacritical marks. If you are returning to a previously saved form, when you log in, you will not see it immediately on the dashboard. You will need to navigate to the Inquiry section in blue on the left-hand side of the browser, and then you should see your already started application. You can also see previous applications in the Closed Items tab anytime you wish, and you are welcome to copy and paste from previous applications should you like to.

Indira: This is Indira speaking. As mentioned earlier, the selection of NDP grantees is the sole responsibility of the 12 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. We recognize that many things still remain in flux as it relates to creating, touring or sharing your work. Thus, as you complete your NDP proposal, we encourage you to answer all questions to the best of your knowledge. We invite you to lean on the NDP team as a resource as you prepare to submit your preliminary application. Now we will share the inquiry narrative questions that you will need to answer as part of the 2023 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 advisors why this project is important now. This narrative question aligns with the criteria that states, "Support the creation and development and US touring or sharing virtual or in person of new dance projects that demonstrate excellence in artists' practice." Question two, please share the full timeline for the proposed new dance project. This should include creation and development period, projected premiere date or window, and desired touring or sharing timeframes. This question is an opportunity for you to share with the advisors in a more concise and linear way how the project comes together, you can think of it as a quick guide to outlining your project's key activities from ideation, creative process and residencies, premiere, and touring or sharing. Please note, we understand that some applicants have been working on their project prior to applying to NDP. You should feel empowered to still include that information as it relates to the project timeline. This narrative question aligns with the criteria that states, "Support the creation and 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 is a very important question. It offers space for you to define success on your own terms and uplift your values as it relates to your project. This response will ground the advisors in how they assess and evaluate your application by centering your definition of success and desired impact for the project as opposed to their own. Ideally, how you answer this question should be in alignment with the ways in which you will choose to engage with community, establish partnerships, and explore creative methodologies as part of the project. This narrative question aligns with the criteria that states, "Support new dance projects within a range of cultural and aesthetic diversities that bolsters today's dance field." Question four, what communities and audiences is the proposed new dance project intended for, and how do you plan to connect with them? Here, 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 presentation aspect of the project and should include other ideas for deepening and/or building connections with the audiences and communities that you have identified. It is 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 also important to furthering the advisor's understanding. This narrative question aligns with the criteria that states, "Demonstrate a commitment to an engagement process with and for communities and audiences because of the new dance project's relevance, originality, and/or timeliness." Question five, how will accessibility be addressed in the proposed new dance project? Please be explicit in naming the communities that your project desires to be more accessible to or for. We encourage you to review our EDIA statement again as you prepare a response for this question. This is a new question. As NEFA deepens its EDIA work, we felt it was important to uplift accessibility as part of this application in a more intentional way. The advisors are interested in understanding more about your plans to address accessibility, specifically, as it relates to your proposed new dance project. This will show up differently for all applicants based on the nature of their work, communities and audiences they wish to engage with, and desired impact. We encourage you to consider how you have already responded to previous questions. In addition, we recognize that the work of accessibility is not that of artists' 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 your project. This narrative question aligns with the criteria that states, "Demonstrate a commitment to an engagement process with and for communities and audiences because of the new dance project's 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? You can also find information on our website about organizational partnerships, and we encourage you to read that before responding. We want to emphasize that for this question, the advisors are assessing and evaluating what the organizational partners are doing for you and the project, not the other way around. It is important that what is shared in this response supports a clear understanding of alignment between your goals for the project and the organizational partner's involvement. This question also provides space for the advisors to begin to understand more about your partnership network and lean into how that will support the creation and development of your proposed new dance project as well as potential future touring or sharing opportunities. This narrative question aligns with the 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 criteria that states, "Support the creation and 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? Again, we encourage you to reference our EDIA statement as you prepare a response. As part of NDP, we value how artists are choosing to advance, enhance, or subvert various forms of dance. We 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 believe that representation is important, and creating space for challenging and rich dialogue is essential to manifesting the change we seek in the world. We recognize that the contributions of diverse artistic collaborators, including the dancers is important. However, 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 criteria that states, "Support new dance projects within a range of cultural and aesthetic diversities that bolsters today's dance field." And finally, but certainly not least, question nine, how do you imagine the proposed new dance project being toured and/or shared? How will your previous touring or sharing experiences inform these ideas? This is a new question for the preliminary stage application. In the past, it was only part of the final stage application of the NDP process. Given this grant is a creation and touring funding opportunity, we felt it was important for the advisors to begin to understand how applicants are imagining their project to be toured or shared. While we understand that tour planning takes time, the desire to tour or share your project should already exist. There should not be an expectation that if or because you receive NDP funding that touring will automatically manifest. This narrative question aligns with the criteria that states, "Develop a viable plan for touring or sharing the supported new dance 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 current system will not auto-save your information, and there is no way for us to retrieve it for you.

Cheri: This is Cheri speaking. This application requires you to offer 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. Also, the audio, all video work samples should utilize original audio if available. Types of work samples, 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 of 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 for 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. 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 or hard-to-see images or audio that is not clear. To upload video work samples to the video-sharing sites, please use Vimeo or Google Drive. 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. For password-protected links, please provide the password, and do not change the permissions for videos before May 1st, 2023. 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 or artists who are creating the work. If you do not submit 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. A note about the Production Grant finalist process. All applicants who apply on March 1st will be notified of their application status in early May. The second stage full proposal application is by invitation only and is selected from the pool of applications from March 1st. For those applications not selected, we do offer an opportunity for feedback each fall regardless of your status. Information on how to receive application feedback will be shared in your notification email. Up to 40 applicants from the March 1st deadline are invited to the finalist round to submit full proposals due on June 12th, 2023. Applicants who are invited to submit proposals on June 12th will be paired with one of the 12 NDP advisors. Advisors will work with finalists on the development of the full proposal. These advisors can let applicants know any questions that came up about your application during the panel meeting and will provide panel feedback to you. They can review your budget, narrative answers, help you select work samples, et cetera. Advisors provide advice during the full proposal process and present the final proposal during the July panel meeting. Other notes about the advisoring process. It is good to make sure that you understand the advisors are presenting the application, this doesn't necessarily mean advocating. It is important to get your application materials to your advisor well in advance of the June 12th deadline so that they have time to read, review, and provide feedback ahead of the deadline. Please remember, you have one advisor, but they may be working with three to four applicants. The full application timeline. We encourage you to start your application as early as possible. During the application process, NDP staff do try to make ourselves as available as possible to answer questions and support with technical difficulties. However, please keep in mind that there are only three of us, and last year, we had 180 eligible applications. Please reach out to us 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, March 1st, 2023. However, you do have until 11:59 PM Eastern Standard Time to submit your application. If you are interested in learning about the National Dance Project, NEFA's current strategic plan, or about our new grant system, the NDP panel review process, or if you would like to read about the most recent NDP Production Grant recipients, you can find all of these resources on nefa.org.

Indira: This concludes our 2023 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 March 1st, 2023. All of our contact information can be found on NEFA's website at www.N-E-F-A.O-R-G. We thank you for joining us and watching, and look forward to receiving your application soon.