Flourish has become a favorite word. You can use flourish to describe style, a mindset, prosperity, and accomplishment. Depending on how you think of flourishing, paradoxical thoughts might get mixed in. For example, if I’m worried can I still flourish? Yes. What if I’ve been diagnosed with a terminal medical condition do I stop flourishing? No. Can I flourish without a ton of funds? Yes.
Over the summer months, and with a practical flourish, Dancers’ Group has been able to increase the grant award in our CA$H regranting program from $3,000 to $3,500. Our ambition is to find additional funding partners that can help us increase grant funds for creative projects—projects might include making a new dance or performing previous works again. If you’re not familiar with the CA$H grant program, now in its 20th year, visit our website to learn how these grants provide direct support for an expanding range of creativity activity.
We know from past experience and previous CA$H awardees that when applicants have been able to plan well and allot significant time to discuss and review their proposal materials—with a variety of people—those proposals tend to do well. The hard fact is that even top-ranked projects might not be funded (we call these applications finalists) due to the fact that there are more finalist applications than available funds. To encourage dialogue about the program and address applicant questions, Dancers’ Group staff will be available to meet and go over the CA$H application process the week of September 8-13. Our doors will be open to drop in, call, or email with your questions. Or if time is tight, consider reaching out to make an appointment to talk further. The fall deadline to apply to CA$H is Wednesday, October 2.
I’m delighted to formally introduce two new Dancers’ Group staff. And if you’ve already been greeted, spoke by phone, or received an email from them then here’s a tad more information on what these artist-administrators will bring. As the new Community Resource Manager Katie Taylor will support an ever-expanding artistic community. Katie is a dancer and teacher and is on faculty at Danspace in Oakland where she manages their Adult Division program. We’re eager to capitalize on Katie’s experience in bringing resources to communities in an equitable and accessible manner. Our second addition to the office, as Artist Resource Manager, is Zoe Donnellycolt. Zoe is a performance artist based in Oakland and she has shown work at SAFEhouse Arts, The Foundry Nights and Salta. Zoe will be the point person for regranting programs like CA$H and will support the fundraising activities of our fiscally sponsored artists and companies. And we are fortunate to continue to work with all-around superwoman Andréa Spearman.
Many imagine arts administration as something tedious. I don’t. I don’t differentiate my past work as a dancer and choreographer to my current administrative process. The process for me is the same: I dream of what I am interested in bringing forth; I get messy and make things that go through multiple refinements (phrases – grant proposals); I discard ideas (movement – programs); I rearrange sections; I discover something new; I have doubts about the material; and often I wake up with an idea that I can’t wait to share with my co-workers (dancers – collaborators).
We flourish in the light of potential.
This article appeared in the September 2019 issue of In Dance.
