The Philadelphia Dance Company (PHILADANCO!) is excited and honored to announce the awarding of a 3.5 year grant from the Mellon Foundation to support staff expansion, new programming, the cataloging and preservation of archives, and the upgrade and renovation of the company’s University City headquarters and nearby residential apartments. The $850,000 grant, one of the largest investments in the 52-year-old dance company’s history, provides essential resources that will allow PHILADANCO! to invest in its staff to maintain its dance excellence and innovation, build out its educational and community programming, and preserve its legacy of artistic achievement and leadership that has been built over the last five decades.
PHILADANCO! Founder and Executive Artistic Advisor Joan Myers Brown states “The Mellon Foundation has been one of the most important partners of PHILADANCO! and Black dance companies in America, valuing the work we do to commission, perform, and preserve works by African American choreographers and other artists of color and to be an important incubator of emerging talent from all walks of life. We are honored that the Foundation has chosen to make this significant investment in PHILADANCO!’s artistic and educational future which includes preserving our history and enhancing the role we can plan in our various communities.”
Artistic Director Kim Bears Bailey adds, “This generous grant is an extraordinary vote of confidence in PHILADANCO!’s ability to carry forward the traditions, innovations, and particular definition of excellence Joan Myers Brown has placed at the center of the organization for over 50 years.”
“PHILADANCO! is one of Philadelphia’s most important cultural institutions,” says Board Chair Ivory Allison. “It means a great deal to everyone associated with the organization that the Mellon Foundation is making this amazing investment which is helping to launch PHILADANCO! successfully into its next half-century.”
PHILADANCO!’s professional and apprentice companies perform at venues across Philadelphia throughout the year and offers classes and workshops as well as its renowned Instruction & Training Programs at its studio headquarters on PHILADANCO! Way in University City/West Philadelphia. PHILADANCO! also presents performances and workshops throughout the year in locations across the US and in other countries.