2025 CASH Dance Guidelines

The CA$H Dance grant may be used for a project, to support your artistic process generally, or to support you as an artist/organization. This is often referred to as general operating support.

The grant is $5,000 for dance artists/partnerships/collectives and $5,000 for dance organizations to support your creative activity.

Creative activity may include, but is not limited to, research, administrative and/or artistic development, exploring ideas that might lead to performance, or steps taken to develop and present a performance, community-centered event, or educational activity.

We recognize that a creative activity may not always culminate in a public event or presentation. We’re interested in learning about your work/activities, what you’re curious about, and what you’re investigating in your practice.

Eligibility

CA$H Dance accepts applications from dance artists, partnerships or collectives of two or more dance artists, and dance organizations residing and making work in the Bay Area*. Applicants do not need to have a fiscal sponsor or nonprofit status.

*The Bay Area includes Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, and Sonoma Counties.
Applicants residing in Santa Cruz or Monterey Counties are not eligible.

Applicants may only submit one proposal per application round. If an artist is in a partnership/collective or if the artist leads an applicant organization, they are not eligible to apply individually.

DANCE ARTISTS

• Must be at least 21 years old on or before the application deadline.
• Must be able to document at least one work that was presented publicly in the Bay Area. This presentation must be separate from works performed as part of a college, university, or postsecondary program. Artists who lead or present culturally specific dance in public settings are eligible.
• Must have a project budget under $75,000.
• Note:

– An application may be submitted by an individual artist working by themself; with a teacher, mentor, or consultant; or with collaborators who are participating in the individual’s artistic vision.
– If you direct a dance organization, only submit an artist application if your work in the grant period is taking place outside the organization’s structure.
– Artists should apply as an organization if they are fiscally sponsored or if they have nonprofit status.

DANCE PARTNERSHIPS and COLLECTIVES

• Each individual named as a partner or member of the collective must meet the individual artist eligibility requirements.
• Partnerships/collectives must be able to document at least one work that was presented publicly by the partnership/collective in the Bay Area. This presentation must be separate from works performed as part of a college, university, or postsecondary program.
• If applying as a partnership/collective, each partner/collective member must share administrative/artistic responsibility for the proposed activity.
• Must have a project budget under $75,000.
• Note:

– The panel will review partnership/collective applications as part of the artist category.
– Partnerships/Collectives should apply as an organization if they are fiscally sponsored or if they have nonprofit status.

DANCE ORGANIZATIONS

• Must be able to document at least a two-year history in the Bay Area, with a minimum of two works that were presented publicly in separate years in the Bay Area. Organizations that lead or present culturally specific dance in public settings are eligible.
• Must have an annual operating and project budget under $75,000.

 

In general, Dancers’ Group considers applicants to be Organizations in the following situations:

• Your work is taking place under the umbrella of a dance organization (company). If you are an individual artist working with an organization for a specific project, the organization must meet the eligibility requirements and we recommend that the application be under the organization’s name.
• You are the Director or Lead Artist/Choreographer (or otherwise hold a similar role) for a fiscally sponsored project, dance school or business, 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, etc. from which you are drawing artistic, administrative, financial, or in-kind support for the proposed project.
• You are fiscally sponsored by a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. While an artist might focus on solo work, having fiscal sponsorship often provides access to more financial and administrative resources. This might include, but is not limited to, the ability to receive tax-deductible donations; additional support when submitting grant applications; assistance with processing payments to collaborators; etc.
• Your name appears in the name of the project/company/school that would receive the funds from a CA$H Dance grant. For example: Wayne and Friends; Wayne Hazzard Makes Movement.

You are not eligible to apply if:

• You are a full-time student—at the time of application and/or during the grant period.
• The proposed activity is connected to a college/university/postsecondary program, or your collaborators are students currently enrolled in a college/university/postsecondary program.
• The proposed activity is part of a project, program, or organization/institution with a budget that exceeds $75,000.
• You were a CA$H awardee in either/both of the two most recent cycles (Spring 2023, Spring 2024). Awardees are not permitted to apply in either category without first sitting out two cycles.

Members of Dancers’ Group’s staff are not eligible to apply.

Note: Dancers’ Group may move an applicant to a different category during the review process if it is believed that this new category more closely aligns with how the applicant is working.

If you have questions about the eligibility requirements or which category you should apply to, contact us.

Application Steps 

1. Register to apply by Wed, Mar 12, 2025 (registration is closed)

Collecting eligibility information helps Dancers’ Group to understand who is interested in applying and allows staff adequate time to review eligibility, given the volume of applicants. If you were not able to register to apply by Mar 12th, you will not be able to apply. Only those who registered by the deadline can submit a proposal by the Wed, Mar 26 application deadline.

2. Dancers’ Group staff will contact you within 2-3 days if there are any questions. Once your eligibility is confirmed, staff will email you a link to the application.

3. Complete and submit the application by Wed, Mar 26, 2025 (closed to applications)

How decisions will be made in 2025

Dancers’ Group staff members will review applications to assess materials for completion, reassign categories (as needed), and remove any ineligible applications. Dancers’ Group later convenes a panel of Bay Area artists and administrators to make the grant decisions.

The panel will review applications based on the following criteria: 

• The strength of the artistic potential and/or history
  as demonstrated in the Narrative, Artistic History, Work Sample
• The artist or dance organization is able to describe what they are interested in doing during the five-month grant period and any outcomes planned for the following months (e.g. completion of a dance film, a series of community gatherings or performances). Note: This grant does not require an artist or dance organization to create something new. Each applicant will describe what they are interested in investigating, working on, or doing during the grant period.
  as demonstrated in the Narrative
• Supporting a range of artists and dance organizations that represent the many diversities of the San Francisco Bay Area dance community (race, ethnicity, genre, age, gender, orientation, ability, experience, location).
• The panel will be able to consider awards to first-time CA$H grantees as a priority.

Grant Period

July 1 – Dec 15, 2025

Notification of Awards

By June 11, 2025

Reporting

Awardees agree to provide three updates in a Google doc from July through December 2025 (what you’ve been doing, what you’re curious about, what you’re investigating in your practice, etc.) along with completing a survey at the end of the grant period. No final report will be due.

If you need support or have questions, our staff can find a time to meet with you virtually to discuss. Email cash@dancersgroup.org.

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To learn about theatre applications, visit Theatre Bay Area.