Dance Preservation Grants
- The National Endowment for the Arts provides federal funding in support of arts initiatives in the United States, including dance. There are five specific grants suitable for dance companies and dance-related projects: Grants for Arts Projects, Our Town, National Youth Arts and Humanities Program Awards, The Arts on Radio and Television, and Save America's Treasures. Save America's Treasure is one of the largest grant programs and is awarded for preservation work, including collections and documents. The grant is administered by the National Park Service in partnership with the NEA as well as the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities. In 2011, $14.3 million was awarded to successful applicants.
- Dance preservation initiatives also can take advantage of grants dedicated to library and archive services. The Institute of Museum and Library Services administers the National Leadership Grant to assist with projects that preserve cultural heritage, foster cross-institution collaboration and improve the available technology and digital resources. In 2010, a $48,435 National Leadership Grant was awarded to the Dance Heritage Coalition, Inc., in Washington D.C. The funding was granted for the coalition's digital preservation initiative "Artist/Librarian/Scholar Collaboration to Improve Access to America's Dance Heritage Materials."
- Professional organizations dedicated to dance artists can be a source for preservation funding. The Congress on Research in Dance is an international organization to promote dance and provide a point for artistic collaboration. CORD administers awards to encourage research and scholarly endeavors centered on dance. The Outstanding Publication Award recognizes excellence in information about the dance world that has been made accessible to the public. Mediums include journal articles, books, films, CDs, computer software and other suitable electronic products that transmit research information.
- Private foundations dedicated to the arts and humanities are another potential source of funding. The Pew Charitable Trusts support grants that can benefit dance preservation projects through the Pew Center for Arts and Heritage. The Dance Advance grant benefits dance projects in southeastern Pennsylvania. In 2011, $50,000 was awarded to Brenda Dixon Gottschild to conduct research on Philadelphia's Black dance heritage for publication. The Pew Charitable Trust also awarded a five-year grant to the UCLA National Dance/Media Project from 1996 through 2000. The project included preservation and documentation initiatives.
