Resources | Research
In August 2009, the Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography (MANCC) convened Choreographic Research and Development / Advancing the National Dialogue. The conference brought together an array of dance artists, university dance departments, funders, presenters, service organizations, and representatives of artist residency programs to explore ways of facilitating research and development in the field of dance in the United States.
In preparation for the conference, the Alliance of Artists Communities conducted a brief survey of artist residency programs to determine how many currently support dance and how many are interested in expanding such support. The initial responses laid the groundwork for a larger project, begun in early 2010 in partnership with The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, to examine the landscape of artist residencies for dancemakers:
- how does the field of artist residencies currently support dance?
- how well are dancemakers aware of this support?
- what resources are needed for the field to better support dancemakers?
From February to August 2010, the Alliance of Artists Communities:
- studied nearly 400 artist residency programs to better understand the field’s current support for dancemakers
- conducted an extensive survey of residency programs – with approximately 200 respondents – to document their programs, facilities, and other resources available to dancemakers
- surveyed approximately 600 individual dancemakers to gauge their awareness and experience with dance residencies, and better understand what they most value about these opportunities
- interviewed key dancemakers and residency directors
- engaged funders, researchers, and others interested in dance
The resulting information has been analyzed and compiled into the Alliance's report, "Mind the Gap: Artist Residencies and Dance." Rather than the end product, the study is just one critical phase in this project, and we look forward to our ongoing work to support today’s dancemakers in their creative development.
OTHER RESEARCH
Bale, Theodore and David Sheingold. “MANCC FORUM: Advancing the National Dialogue.” Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography (2009).
www.mancc.org/forum/12.html
Dance/USA. Rough Waters Survey
www.danceusa.org/roughwaters
Gaquin, Deirdre. “Artists in the Workforce: 1990 to 2005.” National Endowment for the Arts, Research Report #48 (2008).
www.nea.gov/research/ArtistsInWorkforce.pdf
Jackson, Maria-Rosario. “Investing in Creativity: A Study of the Support Structure for U.S. Artists,” Urban Institute (2003).
www.urban.org/publications/411311.html
NYC Performing Arts Spaces. “We Make Do: More Time is Better, But Budget is King. A Report Assessing Dance Rehearsal Space Needs and Availability, Focused on Mid-Career, Single-Choreographer-led Companies” (2010).
www.mellon.org/grant_programs/programs/documents/ We-Make-Do-Nov-2010.pdf
Overview
Residencies
Resources
Case Studies
Interviews
Research
"Mind the Gap" Report
Links
Alliance homepage
"The good news is there is an abundance of residency opportunities around the world open to dance in general. The bad news is...there is a scarcity of residency programs with the capacity to fully support the specific needs of dance, particularly in the mid- and late stages of developing new work.” - Mind the Gap: Artist Residencies and Dance
The Alliance of Artists Communities' Dance Project is funded wholly by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation