USArtists International Awards Over $293,000 to
28 Ensembles and Solo Artists
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Image: Sarah Hennies performing “Falsetto” at the 2023 Archipel Festival, Geneva, Switzerland. Credit: Courtesy of the Archipel Festival.
Baltimore – July 6, 2023 – The third round of the 2023 USArtists International (USAI) program will provide over $293,000 to support 28 ensembles and solo performers at 35 festivals around the globe. Grantees will travel to five continents and are a mix of emerging and established artists showcasing a diversity of styles within their artforms. USAI has awarded over $10 million to performing artists from across the U.S. since its inception in 2006.
USAI supports performances by American artists at important cultural festivals and arts marketplaces around the globe. Committed to the presence of U.S.-based artists on world stages, the program provides grants to ensembles and individual performers in dance, music, and theater invited to perform at significant international festivals. USAI encourages and promotes the vibrant diversity of American artists and creative expression in the performing arts by expanding opportunity and exposure to international audiences, encouraging international cultural exchange, and enhancing creative and professional development of U.S. artists by providing connections with presenters, curators, and artists around the world.
USAI is a program of Mid Atlantic Arts in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), Mellon Foundation, and the Trust for Mutual Understanding. It is the only program of its kind in the United States.
The 2024 USAI program will have two application deadlines: September 29, 2023 and March 27, 2024. Please visit our website for more information on the program timeline and guidelines.
Round Three grantees include:
79rs Gang, LA
Nancy Jazz Pulsations, France
Akropolis Reed Quintet, MI
PAN Festival, Netherlands
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, NY
Edinburgh International Festival, United Kingdom
BAKUDI SCREAM, CA
Gaudeamus Festival, Netherlands
BANDALOOP, CA
Greenwich+Docklands International Festival, United Kingdom
Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company, NY
Dance Festival of Joinville, Brazil
Boston Symphony Orchestra, MA
BBC Proms, United Kingdom
Salzburg Festival, Austria
DANCING EARTH CREATIONS, CA
Instituto de Estudios Superiores en Artes Escénicas De Oaxaca, Mexico
Nautilus Dance Chamber, Mexico
Ekmeles, NY
Musica, France
Ultima, Norway
International Contemporary Ensemble, NY
MaerzMusik, Germany
Ishmael Houston-Jones + Keith Hennessy, CA
ImPulsTanz, Austria
Jake Blount, RI
Gate to Southwell Festival, United Kingdom
Jordan Bak, NC
Lichfield Festival, United Kingdom
Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Germany
Limón Dance Company, NY
International Contemporary Dance Festival Lila López, Mexico
International Contemporary Dance Festival of Mexico City, ICDFMX, Mexico
Linda May Han Oh: The Glass Hours, MA
Northsea Jazz Festival, Netherlands
Los Angeles Master Chorale, CA
Salzburg Festival, Austria
Martha Graham Dance Company, NY
International Theater Festival of Vitoria Gasteiz, Spain
Logroño Theater Festival, Spain
Pamyua, AK
Auckland Arts Festival, New Zealand
PinkNoise Ensemble, NY
Mexico Center for Music and Sonic Arts, Mexico
Ragamala Dance Company, MN
India Dance Festival, Netherlands
Raymond Pinto, CT
Lagos Biennial, Nigeria
Repertorio Español, NY
International Theatre Festival of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Sean Dorsey Dance, CA
Proud Performing Arts, Sweden
So Percussion, NY
Dialogue of Bodies, Burkina Faso
In/Out Dance Festival, Burkina Faso
Somi, NY
Ghent Jazz Festival, Belgium
North Sea Jazz Festival, Netherlands
Umbria Jazz Festival, Italy
South Chicago Dance Theatre, IL
Los Andes Cultural Center, Colombia
The Crossing, PA
Baltic Sea Festival, Sweden
Wilfried G Souly – Souly Dance Arts, OH
Connection, Benin
Dialogue of Bodies, Burkina Faso
In/Out Dance Festival, Burkina Faso
In addition to interaction with international audiences and expanding their touring experience, USAI artists frequently report new opportunities for collaborations growing out of their participation in the program. Kizuna Dance, based in Brooklyn, NY, travelled to Let’s Dance International Frontiers Festival in the U.K. in spring 2023 with support from USAI and had this to say about the experience, “The Let’s Dance International Frontiers Festival brought together Black artists from across the diaspora under one roof for a week and a half. Being a part of the festival meant that I was introduced to (and had my choreographic work seen by) artists from around the world. I had discussions with choreographers and festival directors from Norway, Rwanda, the UK and from the United States about teaching for their communities in the future. Soweto Kinch, the UK-based jazz artist with whom I performed a solo with, discussed working together again in a more in-depth way in the future. Antoine Hunter, a California-based deaf and disabled choreographer and dancer with whom we shared a bill for the Black Digital Dance Revolution performance, was excited that I could speak with him using American Sign Language, and discussed bringing me to San Francisco in the future.”
USAI grantees are selected through a panel process. Mid Atlantic Arts convened four videoconference panels to review round three applications on May 22-25, 2023. The panels consisted of experienced artists and arts professionals. For a complete list of panelists, please click here.
About Mid Atlantic Arts
Mid Atlantic Arts supports artists, presenters, and organizations through unique programming, grant support, partnerships, and information sharing. Created in 1979, Mid Atlantic Arts is aligned with the region’s state arts councils and the National Endowment for the Arts. We combine state and federal funding with private support from corporations, foundations, and individuals to nurture diverse artistic expression while connecting people to meaningful arts experiences within our region and beyond. To learn more about Mid Atlantic Arts visit www.midatlanticarts.org.
About the National Endowment for the Arts
Established by Congress in 1965, the National Endowment for the Arts is an independent federal agency that is the largest funder of the arts and arts education in communities nationwide and a catalyst of public and private support for the arts. By advancing equitable opportunities for arts participation and practice, the NEA fosters and sustains an environment in which the arts benefit everyone in the United States. Learn more at www.arts.gov.
About The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation is the nation’s largest supporter of the arts and humanities. Since 1969, the Foundation has been guided by its core belief that the humanities and arts are essential to human understanding. The Foundation believes that the arts and humanities are where we express our complex humanity, and that everyone deserves the beauty, transcendence, and freedom that can be found there. Through our grants, we seek to build just communities enriched by meaning and empowered by critical thinking, where ideas and imagination can thrive. Learn more at mellon.org.
About the Trust for Mutual Understanding
The Trust for Mutual Understanding awards grants to American nonprofit organizations to support direct exchange in the arts and the environment between professionals from the United States and TMU’s geographic region: the Baltic States; Central Asia; Central, East, Southeast Europe; Mongolia; and Russia. www.tmuny.org
Contact:
Karen Newell
Director, External Affairs
Mid Atlantic Arts
karen@midatlanticarts.org
410.539.6656 x104