Broken funding tools < perfect cats

Ellen Chenoweth

15 Dec 2024 — 4 min read

I'm meditating on time and tree rings and just how many things can change in 24 years after seeing the closing performance of this iteration of Team Sunshine Performance's Sincerity Project, which is #5 in the series. If you are outside of Philly, you may not know about this wildly ambitious experiment / commitment: the artists embarked on a 24 year project, the Sincerity Project, and make an installment of the piece roughly every two years.

Wrapped in each one is an invitation to write a letter to yourself, which Team Sunshine holds on to for you until the next performance, and then you can read and remember your own previous selves, just as the performers are sharing their past, present, and/or future selves in the show. The project brings up a lot for me, but one of the dominant feelings is always admiration for the sheer audacity of committing to doing this thing with these people, whatever else comes, for more than two decades. That commitment is wildly impressive to me, and I'm glad to witness it each time it comes around.

Let's Dance on Jan. 8

Paige Phillips has curated a stellar group of a dozen Philadelphia choreographers to come together for one night only in a celebration of David Bowie at the Icebox on January 8. Each choreographer is taking one song, except Germaine Ingram and Jungwoong Kim who will be collaborating. January is going to be cold and scary and this seems like the perfect celebratory gathering space to combat those currents.

Paige explained that she had been thinking about the event for a few years, ever since Philly Loves Bowie started and felt like a dance event would be a great addition. For assembling this powerhouse group of Philadelphia artists, Paige approached people whose work she admired, and was pleasantly surprised when nearly everyone accepted the invitation. "I wanted people to look at the line-up and be like, I have to be there. If not I'm going to feel like I'm missing out."

With each choreographer choosing one song and a wide repertoire to work from, it ended up working out naturally that everyone got to work with a song that they were drawn to with no overlaps. "It'll be the full range of his career," Paige promises. Tickets available here!

P.S. Do you need more Bowie content? More lists of books? I got you covered with this link to what is supposed to be Bowie's 100 favorite books over his prolific reading career. **Shout out to Angela Carter's Nights at the Circus on this list!

MAP Fund announces retirement

After 35 years of awarding grants to performing artists making new, contemporary work, the MAP Fund is announcing it is closing up shop after its two major funders (Doris Duke and Mellon) are no longer supporting the work.

The press release states that, "Our recent grant cycle received a record 2,378 requests for support, emphasizing artists’ need for flexible funding to create new work." From those 2378 applications, there were 93 grants awarded. 93 out of 2378, or less than 4%. But artists still applied because there are just so few opportunities to receive funding to create new work. It's such a bummer that the tool was so broken and inadequate and now even our broken tool is going away. To be replaced by.... anything? Nothing? We have got to find or forge or wrestle into existence some new tools.

Dallas Black Dance Theatre resolution

Last week Dallas Black Dance Theatre (DBDT) and the National Labor Relations Board came to a settlement agreement that will get the 10 wrongfully terminated dancers back pay, front pay, and compensation for damages, as well as a letter of apology for each dancer. The total comes to $560,000, and the Dallas Morning News breaks down the numbers:

In the settlement, Dallas Black Dance Theatre has agreed to pay each of the dancers about $3,000 to $13,000 in back pay. Instead of being reinstated at the company, all dancers opted for front pay ranging from about $6,000 to $62,000 per dancer. The settlement also requires the dance company to compensate dancers for former and future damages that may have been caused by their firing or actions taken against them by the dance company. That compensation ranges from about $300 to $4,000 for each dancer.

In addition to that financial hit, the Dallas City Council voted 11-4 last week to redirect city funding of $248,000 from DBDT to other arts and culture organizations in the city instead.

Despite that double whammy and the notes of apology that are required, there's something very off-putting about the company's official stance, which still seems to be that they have done nothing wrong. The company's website has 'introducing the next generation of DBDT' in all caps, any controversy relegated to a 'union relations' tab, where again, no accountability is taken.

In the meantime, the former DBDT dancers have changed their instagram handle to @dancersdeservebetter and have organized a two-night benefit concert with four world premieres to be held at the Latino Cultural Center in Dallas on December 18 and 19. Both performances are sold out.