Applications are now open for the 2025–2026 Season! Apply by Monday June 2, 2025 at 11pm.

 

PROGRAM OVERVIEW

Considered Boston’s most comprehensive dance-focused residency, the Boston Dancemakers Residency is designed to support new work from conception to performance. Two choreographers selected for this opportunity will receive incubation elements for research, experimentation, production and marketing support, business practices, artistic risk-taking, and growth within the dance industry in a customized manner for the artist’s practice.

 

ARTIST STIPENDS

$3000 Dancemakers stipend

$1500 Collaborator stipend—costume designer, dramaturg, set designer, and other artist(s) to enhance the growth of the proposed project.

$6500 Dancer stipends—hourly at current minimum wage

$2400 Honorarium for retreat—divided among ensemble members

Totalling $13,400

 

SPACE

350 Hours of Rehearsal Space within a 10 month period of September 2025 through June 2026.

3 Day Rehearsal Retreat at a regional retreat center within 200 miles of Boston.

2 weeks of Virtual Showing of the performance through BCA platforms after the in-person showcase.

1 Week of Performance Space to showcase work created.

1 year of 50% Discount on all BCA space rentals after residency completion.

5 years of Alumni Discount on all BCA space rentals after residency completion.

 

DOCUMENTATION

Photographic documentation of the work in progress at midpoint of the residency and of the culmination performance.

Video documentation of the culmination performance to be used for the virtual showing and industry outreach.

 

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES

Such as artistic mentorship, industry advocacy, grant writing support, organizational coaching, and outreach, administrative, production, and marketing facilitation by Andrea Blesso, Director of Dance & Interdisciplinary Arts and other staff members at BCA, Boston Dance Alliance, and resident alumni.

Grant Value is over $30,000

 

ELIGIBILITY

• The residency must be used to develop new work and rehearsal time must be dedicated to the proposed project.
• Lead artists must be residents of the Boston metropolitan area (within route 495).
• Ensemble/company must include a minimum of three local dancers, not including the choreographer.
• Choreographers must have created original work for a minimum of four years.
• We seek dancemakers who are actively working at their craft at the present time.
• Since the focus of this residency is evening-length ensemble work, preference will go to those who have developed long format work (40+ minutes) or made two dance films (10+ minutes) within the past three years. Interested applicants who do not meet this criteria or have had barriers preventing them from meeting criteria should reach out to us ahead of applying to inquire about eligibility.
• This program is open to a range of dance genres and movement-based artists. Artists of color, artists with disabilities, artists whose original work is based on culturally specific dance forms, and those working in alternative formats are encouraged to apply.
• Once awarded a Boston Dancemakers Residency, choreographers must wait at least three full years after their residency season before reapplying for the program.
• Students enrolled in either undergraduate or graduate programs in any field at the time of application are not eligible.

 

CRITERIA

Applications will be evaluated by guest panelists on the following criteria:

• Proposed concept of work to be developed during the residency.
• Potential impact on the development of the dancemaker’s career and risk taken in the creative process.
• Clarity of work shown in application materials and overall capacity to bring a concept from idea to presentation.

 

HOW TO APPLY 

Applications are due on Monday, June 2, 2025 by 11pm.

Applicants will be notified of their acceptance by August 2025.

Incomplete applications will not be considered.

Please apply through this online form.

 

Andrea Blesso Director of Dance & Interdisciplinary Arts at BCA, is available to answer questions and provide additional information about the residency. Please email her at andrea@bostonarts.org.

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ABOUT BOSTON CENTER FOR THE ARTS

Boston Center for the Arts (BCA) supports working artists to create, perform, and exhibit new works; develops new audiences; and connects the arts to community, and has for over five decades engaged the creative community for public good. While the organization’s physical residence is in the historic South End, BCA touches every part of Boston’s cultural ecosystem. A leading force in the city’s cultural community, BCA has supported thousands of individual artists, small organizations, and performing arts companies, who add depth and dimension to the Boston arts ethos. Through residencies and programming, BCA serves as an epicenter for an expanding cohort of artists working across all disciplines, and has catalyzed careers by providing fertile ground for experimentation and artistic risk-taking. To learn more about Boston Center for the Arts, visit www.bostonarts.org.

The Boston Dancemakers Residency was created through a partnership between Boston Center for the Arts and Boston Dance Alliance (BDA), a combination of their individual residency programs that comprised a year-long, comprehensive incubator program for dancemakers to make new work in the City of Boston. Like the choreographic process itself, the partnership has continued to evolve with BDA emphasizing the development of crucial business practices to fund and sustain the creative livelihoods of rising dancemakers, through direct service and its growing Fiscal Sponsorship Program, which in 2024 disbursed $443,000 to dozens of dance organizations.

 

This special opportunity is made possible in part by the Aliad Fund at The Boston Foundation, Liberty Mutual Foundation, Massachusetts Cultural Council, and National Endowment for the Arts.