Wesleyan University's Center for the Arts Receives National Endowment for the Arts Grant to Support 2015-2016 Breaking Ground Dance Series
Wesleyan University’s Center for the Arts
Receives National Endowment for the Arts Grant
to Support 2015–2016 Breaking Ground Dance Series
Grant part of NEA announcement of 919 grants and $26.6 million in funding nationwide
Middletown, Conn.—National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Chairman Jane Chu has announced that Wesleyan University’s Center for the Arts is one of the 919 nonprofit organizations nationwide to receive an NEA Art Works grant. The Center for the Arts is recommended for a $20,000 grant to support the 2015–2016 Breaking Ground Dance Series.
Wesleyan University's Center for the Arts is the only dance presenter in Connecticut to receive support from the National Endowment for the Arts Dance Program, as well as from Dance/USA, the national service organization for professional dance.
The Breaking Ground Dance Series at the Center for the Arts, now in its 15th season at Wesleyan University, features cutting-edge choreography, world-renowned companies, and companies pushing the boundaries of the art form. Upcoming performances this season include the return of Montréal’s Compagnie Marie Chouinard on February 6 & 7, 2015; and Tari Aceh! Music and Dance from Northern Sumatra on February 27, 2015. Compagnie Marie Chouinard will be performing the New England premiere of "Gymnopédies," created around the theme of the duet set to music by French composer and pianist Érik Satie; and the Connecticut premiere of "Henri Michaux: Mouvements," featuring texts and visually arresting projected India-ink drawings from the book "Mouvements" by Belgian-born poet, writer, and painter Henri Michaux, and electroacoustic music by Canadian composer Louis Dufort. The Connecticut premiere of "Tari Aceh! (Dance Aceh!)" will feature nine female performers from Aceh, Indonesia on their first-ever tour of the United States. Their dances, inherited from their ancestors, are stunning in their synchronicity and include rhythmic body percussion and the singing of both Islamic liturgical and folk texts, accompanied by percussion. The dancers are between the ages of 14 and 24, and study at Syiah Kuala University, located in Banda Aceh, the capital of the Aceh province on the western Indonesian island of Sumatra. Past companies from the U.S. and abroad that have been featured on the Breaking Ground Dance Series include Bebe Miller Company, Ronald K. Brown/EVIDENCE, Chunky Move, Kyle Abraham/Abraham.In.Motion, and Margaret Jenkins Dance Company.
NEA Chairman Jane Chu said, "I'm pleased to be able to share the news of our support through Art Works including the award to Wesleyan University's Center for the Arts. The arts foster value, connection, creativity, and innovation for the American people, and these recommended grants demonstrate those attributes and affirm that the arts are part of our everyday lives."
"Support from the National Endowment for the Arts has been central to our ability to fulfill our mission to become a vibrant center for dance in the State and to bring contemporary dance to audiences who might not otherwise be able to access it," said Pamela Tatge, Director of the Center for the Arts at Wesleyan University. "We are grateful for the vote of confidence that this grant implies."
Art Works grants support the creation of art, public engagement with art, lifelong learning in the arts, and enhancement of the livability of communities through the arts. The NEA received 1,474 eligible applications under the Art Works category, requesting more than $75 million in funding. Of those applications, 919 are recommended for grants for a total of $26.6 million.
For a complete listing of projects recommended for Art Works grant support, please visit the NEA website at arts.gov. Follow the conversation about this and other NEA-funded projects on Twitter at #NEAFall2014.
About the National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts was established by Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. To date, the NEA has awarded more than $5 billion to support artistic excellence, creativity, and innovation for the benefit of individuals and communities. The NEA extends its work through partnerships with state arts agencies, local leaders, other federal agencies, and the philanthropic sector. For more information, please visit the NEA at www.arts.gov.