Audience Architects announces grant recipients for the 2013-2014 MetLife New Stages for Dance Initiative

Awards Provide Support for 10 Projects by Chicago Area Dance Companies and Artists

CHICAGO, IL — Audience Architects (AA), a non-profit, dance service organization in Chicago, announced the 2013-2014 grant recipients for the MetLife New Stages for Dance initiative (NSD). A total of $37,500 will be re-granted to 10 projects by Chicago dance companies and artists and will provide affordable access to quality venues. This grant is a continuation of the program that occurred in Chicago, Philadelphia and San Francisco in 2011-2012. Audience Architects is excited to once again be a national partner on this program with Dance/USA, with lead support by the MetLife Foundation.

“New Stages for Dance helps Chicago dance artists and companies secure new access to larger venues and enables many to expand their home seasons. By partnering with these venues, the grantees have the opportunity to reach new audiences, while enjoying the valuable byproduct of enhanced production values. Grantees also receive in-kind marketing services from the venues and Audience Architects, thereby reducing the risk of self-producing,” notes Audience Architects Executive Director Heather Hartley. “The benefits from this program are supported by survey data from NSD 2011-2012 grantees, and we are so grateful for the support from Dance/USA and pleased that the MetLife Foundation recognizes the immense benefits of NSD.”

For 2013-2014, Audience Architects received a record number of applications, which were considered by a five-member panel of dance community leaders from Chicago and Milwaukee, Wisc. The panel awarded 10 projects with grant support in the range of $1,700 to $6,000. Awards were based on a variety of criteria including artistic merit, the quality of the applicant’s audience development and marketing plan and proportionate percentages of the venue rental costs.

Eligible projects for 2013-2014 grantees fell into one of three categories:

Funded projects for 2013-2014 will take place at the following venues in the Chicago area between June 2013 and October 2014:

• The Athenaeum Theatre; 2936 N. Southport Ave., Chicago
• Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University; Katten Landau Studio, 425 S. Wabash Ave., 4^th Floor, Chicago
• The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago; 1306 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago
• Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts at the University of Chicago; 915 E. 60^th Street, Chicago
• Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago/MCA Stage; 220 E. Chicago Ave., Chicago
• North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie; 9501 Skokie Blvd, Skokie
• The Ruth Page Center for the Arts, 1016 North Dearborn St., Chicago
• Stage 773; 1225 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago

The 2013-2014 NSD grantees are as follows:

• Aerial Dance Chicago with Elements Contemporary Ballet ($6,000, July 2014)
• Audible Odyssey ($1,820, Fall 2014)
• Chicago Moving Company with Guest Artists ($1,960, April 2014)
• Ginger Krebs ($4,000, February 2014)
• Hedwig Dances ($5,400, June 2013)
• Khecari with The Humans ($4,400, Spring 2014)
• RE|Dance Group ($1,720, July 2014)
• Red Clay Dance ($4,200, October 2013)
• Same Planet Different World with Peter Carpenter Performance Project ($4,000, October 2013)
• The Seldoms ($4,000, October 2014).

An audience survey was designed to measure the impact of NSD’s 2011-2012 grants programs on audiences at funded dance performances in all three cities that received MetLife funding. Dance/USA tabulated the results from nearly 4,000 surveys. Highlights from the surveys tabulated in Chicago in 2011-2012 include:

• 59% of audience members said they were seeing the artists/companies for the first time.
• 47% of audience members were attending a performance in a venue that was new to them.

New Stages for Dance II is administered by Dance/USA in partnership with Audience Architects. Leadership Support for the New Stages for Dance II Initiative is provided by MetLife Foundation.