DISABILITY. DANCE. ARTISTRY. DANCE AND SOCIAL JUSTICE FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM
Made possible by the generous support of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs CreateNYC Disability Forward Fund and the Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation with additional support from the New York Community Trust, the purpose of the Disability. Dance. Artistry. Dance and Social Justice Fellowship Program is to recognize the critical role that disabled dance workers and arts practitioners play in social justice movements and to ensure that these workers are supported while continuing to place disability front and center as a positive artistic and generative force. Dance/NYC recognizes that, despite the multiple ways disabled communities have been impacted by COVID-19 and ongoing racial violence, disabled dance workers have remained active in serving their communities through online programming, community organizing efforts, and mutual aid, often without compensation or funding. The fellowship program provides a recognition of all activities completed between March 11, 2020 and June 30, 2020. Dance/NYC believes the dance ecology must itself be just, equitable, and inclusive to meaningfully contribute to social progress and envisions a dance ecology wherein power, funding, opportunities, conduct, and impacts are fair for all artists, cultural workers, and audiences. Dance/NYC's approach cuts across its public programs and all aspects of its operations.
In August 2020, Dance/NYC announced the following 26 recipients of funding:
- April Biggs
- Audre Wirtanen
- Branden Wallace
- Christine Krishna Washburn
- Dominic Bradley
- Donald Lee
- Elisabeth Motley
- iele paloumpis
- Jannell Alvanzo
- Jerron Herman
- Kayla Hamilton
- Kiah Amara
- Kiera Bono
- Mana Hashimoto
- Moira Williams
- Ogemdi Akunna Ude
- Sidiki S. Conde
- Sonya Rio-Glick
- Walei Sabry
- x
- Yo-Yo Lin
- Anonymous (5)
Grantees were awarded one-time grants of $1,000-$2,000 based on dance and social justice activities undertaken during the Fellowship period, March 11, 2020 through June 30, 2020. The 26 grantees were selected by a review panel and were among a pool of 30 metropolitan New York City area individual dance workers with disabilities who submitted applications in response to an open call. Key evaluation criteria included: need, defined as expenses incurred in the development and execution of eligible activities; a commitment to justice, equity, and inclusion, with consideration for the role historically underfunded groups including African, Latina/o/x, Asian, Arab, and Native American (ALAANA), LGBTQ+, women-identifying, gender nonconforming and/or nonbinary, and immigrant artists play within the applicant pool and wider dance field; and a diversity of participant roles and perspectives.
Related Resources:
Announcement of Disability. Dance. Artistry. Dance and Social Justice Fellowship Recipients (August 7, 2020)
Announcement of Disability. Dance. Artistry. Dance and Social Justice Fellowship Program (June 30, 2020)
Call for Proposals (June 30, 2020)
These and all products generated by Dance/NYC for the Disability. Dance. Artistry. Dance and Social Justice Fellowship Program are liscensed to the public subject to the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.
