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Dance/USA is pleased to provide opportunities made possible by the generous support of our program funders. Current initiatives and fellowship programs include the Dance/USA Fellowships to Artists, Dance/USA Institute for Leadership Training, Archiving and Preservation Fellowships, and the BIPOC Female Choreographers in Ballet Initiative. These special programs center voices and communities who have been historically under-resourced and, in alignment with Dance/USA’s core values, provide increased equity through re-distribution of resources and mentorships to strengthen connectivity across the dance field.
Dance/USA Fellowships to Artists (DFA) recipients expand the notion of dance in our country — what it looks like, where it happens, where it comes from, and the role it plays in communities. With funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, and designed through an artist-centered collaborative process, DFA began in 2019 to provide unrestricted funds to artists whose work is dedicated to social practice.
The Archiving and Preservation Fellowships program develops an engaged, passionate, and well-trained next generation of archivists in the dance field and advances models for community-based archiving assistance to regional dance communities. Aligned with Dance/USA’s core values of equity, inclusion, and diversity, this Fellowship is designed for master’s degree students in Library and Information Sciences who are committed to advancing a more equitable and inclusive archives field that reflects and supports the true diversity of voices, practices, and identities within dance communities. This program is made possible with support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
With the BIPOC Female Choreographers in Ballet Initiative, Dance/USA will address ongoing inequities in the dance ecosystem and amplify the creative voice and vision of BIPOC female choreographers. Building on past partnerships and initiatives, and in line with Dance/USA’s mission to champion an equitable and inclusive dance field, Dance/USA awarded grants to mid-size member ballet companies to support newly commissioned works by BIPOC female choreographers in the 2022-2023 season. This initiative was generously supported by the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation.
In 2011, Dance/USA piloted a national professional dance mentorship program, as proposed by the Dance/USA Emerging Leaders Task Force. In 2012, with generous lead support by the American Express Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Dance/USA Institute for Leadership Training (DILT) was founded to bolster the personal and professional development of the field’s emerging leaders through one-on-one mentoring relationships. This program will be back in late 2023/early 2024.
