Applications are now closed for the 2024–2025 Season.

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PROGRAM OVERVIEW

Considered Boston’s most comprehensive dance-focused residency, the Boston Dancemakers Residency is designed to support new work from conception to performance. Produced through a partnership between Boston Center for the Arts (BCA) and Boston Dance Alliance (BDA), this intensive Dancemakers Residency offers incubation elements for research, experimentation, artistic risk-taking, and growth within the dance industry in a customized manner for the artist’s practice. Two choreographers selected for this opportunity will receive support for research, development, rehearsal, production support, marketing and mentorship.

 

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Resources for each Dancemakers Resident:

 

Artist Stipends

$2000 Dancemaker 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

Totaling $12,400

 

Space

350 Hours of Rehearsal Space within a 10 month period of September 2024 through June 2025.

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 share 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 and BDA.

*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. 

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 were due on Monday, May 27, 2024 by 11pm, and are now closed.

Watch the virtual info session here

Andrea Blesso, Director of Dance & Interdisciplinary Arts, Boston Center for the Arts (andrea@bostonarts.org) is available to answer questions and provide additional information about the residency.

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Current Residents

• Cassie Wang (2023–2024)
• Nailah Randall-Bellinger (2023–2024)

Past Residents

• Laila J. Franklin (2023–2024)
• Simon Montalvo (2023–2024)
• Fernadina Chan (2022–2023)
• Jessi Stegall (2022–2023)
• Kimberleigh A. Holman (2021-2022)
• Laura Sánchez (2021-2022)
• Jenna Pollack (2020-2021)
• Victoria Awkward (2020-2021)

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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 bostonarts.org.

 

ABOUT BOSTON DANCE ALLIANCE 

Boston Dance Alliance (BDA) builds capacity for dance by identifying and creating shared resources, information and productive partnerships to help dance flourish across the Boston metropolitan area. BDA is an independent service organization that supports and partners with dancers, choreographers, teachers, presenters, allied arts and cultural professionals, arts journalists and scholars, wellness and health providers and dance enthusiasts across an array of dance genres. BDA strives to build dance audiences, to increase cultural equity and access to dance for diverse communities, and to promote the physical and financial well-being of dancers. www.bostondancealliance.org

 

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