Image Credit: Curiosities of Wellness in Bodies of Grief and Joy, Courtesy of Helen Lee [ID: a forest in wintertime. In the image, a figure walks down a path.]

The post December 2024 Newsletter appeared first on Chicago DanceMakers Forum.

MEDIA CONTACT: Shawn Lent, Programs and Communications Director

Join Chicago Dancemakers Forum in celebrating the four 2025 Lab Artists:

cat mahari

Courtney Mackedanz

Jarius “ManOfGod” King

Keyierra Collins

More about these artists is below. High Resolution images and caption sheet are available here.

These local dancemakers—of Washington Park, Pilsen, North Lawndale, and Pullman, respectively—will each receive a grant of $25,000 along with a year of tailored support from January to December 2025. They were selected as Finalists of Chicago Dancemakers Forum’s Lab Artists Program for the distinctness of their dancemaking and artistic vision, their overall body of work, and the timing of their participation in this grant program in consideration of their artistic career trajectory.

Chicago Dancemakers Forum’s Lab Artists Program has been the most substantial source of support for individual dancemakers and choreographers working in the Chicagoland area with an open call process. The program, which launched in 2003, is designed to provide financial support that is significant enough to fund the creative process and to minimize some of life’s day-to-day stressors so that artists have the time and capacity to invest in their artistic practice with greater depth or scale. The $25K grant can be spent fully at the discretion of each Lab Artist, with funds covering living expenses, research activities, travel, fair pay for dancers and collaborators, and other expenses that support the artist while continuing their creative practice or making new dance work. The grant amount was increased in 2022 to help cover support services throughout the Lab Year, such as childcare, therapy, access services, specialized equipment, grant proposal writing, and mentorship/coaching. Lab Artists may also choose to invest, save, and/or donate a portion of their grant funds.

For over two decades in the Chicago region, the Lab Artists Program has provided time and funds in support of risk taking, creative research, and community building. Rather than an award, the Lab Artists Program is a laboratory for local artists making dance in a multitude of contexts; it is an incubator for their experimentation. Past Lab Artists are diverse in age, gender, race, local geography, and dance discipline, working in Tap, Bharatanatyam, Chicago Footwork, dance for the camera, Voguing, contemporary, modern dance, and more. Many of these artists have built national audiences and international recognition since receiving support from Chicago Dancemakers Forum and, collectively, represent the distinct power of dance made in Chicago.

There were 74 applicants to the 2025 Lab Artists Program, which was open to all eligible dancemakers and prioritized artists that we recognize have historically been underrepresented in the program – Indigenous, Immigrant, Trans and Non-Binary, Parent/Caregiver, and/or Disabled Artists. Data on the 74 applicants was previously shared via social media. Over a two-round selection process, 10 Finalists were selected by a panel comprised of six dance artists, scholars, and leaders: LaTasha Barnes, Dr Melissa Blanco Borelli, SK Kerastas, Christopher Knowlton, Ph.D., Petra Kuppers, and Rulan Tangen. This year, every finalist received $1,000.

We congratulate the following six Finalists for the 2025 Lab Artists Program:

Anniela Huidobro

Jamila Kekulah

Jemal “Ptop“ Delacruz

Luke Greeff

Paula Sousa

Silvita Diaz Brown

For over two decades, Chicago Dancemakers Forum has been providing resources, fostering community, and advocating for local dancemaking artists as individual human beings, no matter the business structure of their work. Expanding definitions and program eligibility have resulted in a greater number of dancemakers recognizing their fit for the program and changes were made to the review and selection process for the 2025 program that are described here. The four 2024 Lab Artists were randomly selected from the pool of 10 Finalists. Once the group of Finalists is selected through a competitive process, randomization helps reduce the impact of curatorial gatekeeping that can happen with short lists and eliminates the time and labor of a second round of application. 

Shawn Lent, Chicago Dancemakers Forum’s Programs and Communications Director, shares, “The Lab Artists Program fosters a sense of solidarity among our many local dance communities. It forges connections, collaborations, and friendships that extend far beyond each Lab year. Let us embrace the spirit of experimentation and exploration that lies at the heart of the Lab Artists Program, knowing that it is through daring that we continue to resist and expand the boundaries of dance and society.”

Meet the 2025 Lab Artists

cat mahari

(she/her/blk)

cat mahari’s practice is built from a richly layered body history, stemming from an archive of research, physical training, and questioning with an intent to manifest an intellectual, material, and informal legacy of undisciplined Blk liberation. She is a 2025 Chicago Dancemakers Forum Lab Artist and 2023 Dance/USA Fellow. In 2021, she was named a City of Chicago Esteemed Artist Awardee and received a 3Arts Award. Additionally, cat is a recipient of a 2024 MCA-Chicago New Works Initiative Commission, 2023 MAP Fund microgrant, and 2022 Foundation for the Contemporary Arts Emergency funding for the triptych work blk ark: the impossible manifestation. Her work interdisciplinary installations, performances, sound art, and films engages national and international communities, including: the mixtape series violent/break: volumes I and II, sugar in the raw, and migration pressures and strategies. mahari aka culture free aka abstrakt blk aka mississippi is an active culture bearer of hip hop and house, student of diasporic and contemporary performances practices, and caregiver. She holds a BFA from UMKC-Conservatory and a MA in Performance, Practice, and Research from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama at the University of London.

Current Practice/Project: All Roads Lead to Rome is a 3-act sound score for sculpture and movement intrigued by the socio-infrastructural gravitation of empire, the mundane spectacle and immediacy of attention, thought, and action that lead people to where they are/are going now. 32 subwoofer sculptures are created made of southern yellow pine. Each sculpture corresponds to the original number of West African founders of Africatown, who are the survivors of the illegal enslavement vessel The Clotilda and US chattel enslavement. Piezo contact mics will be embedded into the sculptures, resonating with the vibrations that emanate from the sculptures, and the vibrations made by others that walk, run, and move around them. The sounds emitted by the contact mics are processed further via tape and synthesizer creating a modulated cyclic-interactive sound field.

“We”, as intentional and unintentional audience-participants of empire experience fragmentation, coalescing, and care without any particular ordering. I wonder… what happens when empire collapses, but the roads are still used? How is stake or claim fed into personal purpose and identity? How do our contemporary philosophies and humors of life reflect empirical past? What ways is the specter of empire suborned to the spectacle of the personal, the mundane, the everyday – the multi-polar?

Photo credits: Courtesy of the Artist. Headshot by Maria Hackman. Action photo by Ricardo E. Adame.

Courtney Mackedanz

(they/she)

Courtney Mackedanz lives and works in Chicago. They were a 2024 DanceWEB Scholar with mentor Isabel Lewis (Vienna), a finalist for the 2024 Artadia Award (Chicago), and a finalist for the 2024 Chicago Dancemakers Forum Lab Artists Program (Chicago). Recent solo exhibitions of their work include Skylab Gallery (Columbus) and Roman Susan Gallery (Chicago). Recent group exhibitions of their work include Rudimento Gallery (Quito) and ACRE Projects (Chicago). They have performed at The Arts Club, Links Hall, and High Concept Labs (Chicago) amongst others. They have attended residencies in pursuit of their research including Praxis R24 Held Experiments in Touch (Oslo), Monira Foundation Artist Residency (Chicago), and Landing 3.0 with mentor Miguel Gutierez (New York) amongst others. Mackedanz has performed in the work of Alexandra Pirici (Chicago Architecture Biennial), Otobong Nkanga (MCA Chicago), and Tino Seghal (MCA Chicago) amongst others. Mackedanz earned their BFA in Performance and Visual Critical Studies from the School of the Art Institute (Chicago) and when not in the studio, they love to be with other people, plants, near the water, and with their dog (Easy), and cat (Eclipse).

Current Practice/Project: Courtney Mackedanz is an experimental dancemaker working in embodied research, expanded choreography, and multimedia performance installation. Meandering gradually through cumulative iterations, Mackedanz’s current research has been gravitating toward an exploration of the pasture as a landscape, touch as a reciprocal condition, and complexity as a context of embodiment. Mackedanz’s recent projects have explored haptic methods of experiencing the body, states of nervous system attunement, and more than human or decentralized sensing strategies to examine how negotiations of power, proximity, intimacy, and interrelation might structure, steer, constrain, or catalyze potentials in movement.

Photo credits: Courtesy of the Artist. Artist Portrait by Elaine Suzanne Miller Movement Image by Courtney Mackedanz

Jarius “ManOfGod” King

(he/him)

Jarius “ManOfGod” King is a performing artist and Black Arts instructor primarily based out of his hometown of Chicago, but also Hong Kong. He began dancing in 2000 via the art of Breaking shortly after undergoing surgery for scoliosis. Since then, he has become versed in multiple disciplines of movement under the Street Dance umbrella.

His career highlights include: 

– 60+ competitive accomplishments (Breaking, House, Hip-Hop, Open Styles)

– Judging committee member and co-author for HKDSF’s coaching curriculum

– Co-director of “Breakin’ The Law” festival (2003-2014)

– University of Wisconsin-Madison “Forward Under 40” Award

– 2023 Dark Matter Resident Artist at Elastic Arts

– Judging committee member and co-author of HKDSF’s coaching curriculum for Breaking in the Olympics

– Awarded Ragdale Residency 2024

Current Practice/Project: I am a performing artist and Black Arts educator whose artistry is defined by living life in 3D; as a dad, DJ, and dancer. Through my multifaceted project, For The Record, I embark on an exploration of Afro-Sino relations, identities, and the pervasive influence of global anti-Blackness. This project is an amalgamation of art, documentation, and my personal encounters as a Black man navigating global anti-Blackness. 

Photos: Courtesy of Artist, Headshot by ColectivoMultipolar. Movement image by Ki Chan Yui, A.K.A. “BigKi.”

Keyierra Collins

(she/her)

Keyierra Collins is an Afro-interdisciplinary dancer, choreographer, and teaching artist based in Chicago but recognized internationally. In 2020 she was awarded the 3Arts/ Walder Foundation Awardee grant. She graduated from Columbia College Chicago in 2016 with a BA in Dance. She studied and apprenticed under the tutelage of educators and international performers, Onye Ozuzu (choreographer) & Dr. Raquel Monroe (writer). As a dance artist Collins has worked with artists like Chicago-based dancemaker and improvisationalist Aaliyah Christina as well as France-based Rwandan performance artist and vocalist Dorothee Munyaneza. She also has had the pleasure of working with many Chicago-based artists like Anna Martine Whitehead, Erin Kilmurray, and Jovan Landry, Sonita Surratt to name a few. Collins’ work lies at the intersection of exploring dance as healing and unpacking the collective and individual trauma experienced by people of the African Diaspora. Her process is kinesthetically driven and often inspired by conversations between peers and abstract reflections related to socio-political issues. Having toured and worked with artists in Haiti, Nigeria, and France, Collins is compelled to continue traveling to work with artists around the world and building spaces for her community. Alongside Brianna Alexis Heath, she co-founded Take Some Leave Some (TSLS): a multidisciplinary performance collective using sound, choreography, film, and installations to create experiences reflecting and celebrating Black women’s stories. TSLS creates experiences inside homes and neighborhood spaces on the Southside of Chicago to reference “home” as a kind of a communal safe space maintained by Black women’s resilient and unapologetic experiential knowledge.

Current Practice/Project: My dancemaking practice involves creating distinct worlds where dance and performance can thrive. Rooted in Afro-diasporic social and traditional dance practices, my movement is shaped by these cultural influences. Additionally, my experience and lineage as a Black woman deeply inform both my movement practice and the context of my work.

Photo credits: Courtesy of Artist. Images by Jovan Landry.

Meet the 2025 Lab Artists Program Finalists

Photo credit: Michelle Reid

Anniela Huidobro

Anniela Huidobro (she/her) is a Mexican dancer, choreographer and dance educator. Graduated from the Mazatlan Professional Dance School (EPDM), she has received the PECDA Morelos Grant three times (2015, 2018 and 2024), and the IBERESCENA Grant in 2021. With more than 10 years of professional dance experience, Anniela has performed at various festivals and projects across Latin America, including the Dança à Deriva Festival in Brazil, Teatro del Oráculo in Chile, Rambla Festival in Guatemala, Prisma Festival in Panama, Movimiento Continuo Festival and Detonos Festival in Colombia, as well as La Carpa Festival and Cuerpo al Descubierto Festival in Mexico. In the United States, she has performed her work at the Newport Dance Festival in Rhode Island (2023), the Delve Dance Showcase (2023), and in “Meditation On Being”, organized by the Chicago Danztheatre Ensemble (2024). This year she was invited to be a guest choreographer for the Boston Dance Theater company and to perform in the One Hour Project in Chicago.

Currently residing in Chicago, Anniela teaches dance classes and workshops at various schools and cultural centers throughout the area. She has also taught workshops to the University of Chicago dance community and serves as a teaching artist with Urban Gateways. Committed to strengthening her ties with the local arts community, Anniela collaborates with different artistssuch as Ayako Kato, Timothy Rey, Phillip Wood, Dani Oblitas, among others. 

Current Project/Practice: My work speaks to the affective relationships between human beings and with the earth through the exploration of different styles of dance and improvisation. I am a dance artist interested in creating environmental awareness, as well as reconnecting with our roots and ancestors.

Photo credit: Michelle Reid; Courtesy of Artist, with Isabelle Taylor.

Jamila Kekulah

Jamila Kekulah (they/them) is ever evolving in this space time continuum. As a movement creator and artist, Jamila creates performances rooted in spirt, exploring the inner landscapes of self, others and nature. They have been selected as the inaugural artist fellow at House Of The Lorde, a Co-MISSION artist in residence at Links Hall and a New Works artist with Synapse Arts. Jamila is also the creator of The Moving Soul, a holistic somatic movement practice that bridges the gap between soma, psyche and soul.

Current Project/Practice: I affirm the spiritual, make space for ritual and hold the practice of creating an impermanent sanctuary. My practice examines narratives, personal history, poetry, images and imagination.

Photo credit: Courtesy of Artist.

Jemal “Ptop “ Delacruz

Jemal “Ptop” Delacruz (he/him/big) is a Chicago Footwork artist from The Era Footwork Collective and also leader of Goon Squad Footwork battle clique and Founder of THE RING Footwork Battle League.

Current Project/Practice: Chicago Footworker and Mentor and Event Coordinator

Photo credit: Peter Serocki

Lucas Greeff

Lucas Greeff (ze/he/they) is a choreographer, circus artist, educator and dancer whose work focuses on expanding the scope of queer & neurodivergent performance, engaging inherent somatic energies, and challenging physical extremity through movement experiment. Luke’s past choreographic works include [Z]im, Missile Kid, Bo(ix)y(e) Division, Carnal Inferno, Spectrum, and Trapping Butterflies. Former dancer for St. Petersburg Ballet Company, Fletcher Dance Project, and Joel Hall Dancers; Luke’s ongoing artistic affiliations include Yes Ma’am Circus, Reminiscent Circus, Lucid Banter Project, Synapse Arts, Incite Dance Center, Aloft Circus Arts, Khecari, and Thwack Dance. Recipient of the 2023 Twisted Windows LGBTQIA+ Artist Award presented by the Chicago Circus & Performing Arts Festival, 2024 Resident Artist with the Ragdale Foundation, and 2024 Synapse Studio Series Artist; Luke has advocated for queer & neurodivergent experiences in the arts on various platforms, including APAP Arts.Work.Life., Medicus, and Queer DanceCon. Luke is the co-founder & director of Such Creatures, serves on the board for Yes Ma’am Circus as DEAI chair, and leads both ground & aerial movement practices tailored for queer and neurodivergent movers across Chicago. Visit @missile.kid and @such_creatures on Instagram to learn more.

Current Project/Practice: My movement practice is focused on unmasking Queer and neurodivergent narratives, taping into inherent energies, and exploring the extremity of movement through experiment & performance at the intersection of contemporary dance and circus mediums. My current project, “h_art[work]” is a collective musing on disenfranchised grief through the lens of experimental circus, contemporary dance, poetry & performance art in collaboration with Such Creatures artists Kait Dessoffy, Shoshana Levy, Raven See, Stacie Bogle, and Valeria Rosero.

Photo credit: William Frederking

Paula Sousa

Paula Sousa (she/her) is a Brazilian dance artist based in Chicago, working as a choreographer, performer, and video maker. She holds a Major in Dance degree from the Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance (SEAD) in Austria and a technical degree from the Bolshoi School in Brazil. Paula has collaborated extensively with artists across Europe, South America, and the USA. Formerly an artist with Balé do Teatro Guaíra (2017-2022), Projeto Mov_oLA|Alex Soares (2013-2017), Plataforma Shop Sui|Fernando Martins (2017), and Arsenalle della Danza|La Biennale di Venezia (2012), Paula has been a member of Hedwig Dances since January 2023, where she has collaborated with Natasha Adorlee, Mike Tyus, Jenna Pollack, Rigo Saura, Noelle Keyser, Anna Sapozhnikov, and Jan Bartoszek. She is also the assistant Rehearsal Director for Hedwig Dances. In Chicago, Paula has also collaborated with Jessi Stegall for the performance “Figments (A)” at the Arrive Festival 2023, with Chih-Jou Cheng for the project “Arriving at Dawn”, and with Jenna Pollack for the Chicago Cultural Center Residency 2024. As a choreographer, Paula has created pieces for both stage and video, including videoclips and independent works. Her latest creations are “Under My Thumbs” – Hedwig Dances which premiered in April 2024, “Nós” – Dance in the Parks 2024 and “ANA”- Ruth Page Ballet Training Company, October 2024. Additionally, she holds a degree in Public Policy and Administration and works in cultural production.

Current Project/Practice: My work is rooted in contemporary and improvisational techniques. My fascination lies in the intricacies of movement and its ability to connect individuals across various layers of experience. Both as a performer and a choreographer, I am drawn to collaborations that value individual artistic voices within the collective. I am constantly in pursuit of poetic beauty that transcends individual choices, resonates with the collective experience, and explores contemporary themes relevant to society and specific groups of people.

Photo credit: William Frederking

Silvita Diaz Brown

Silvita Diaz Brown (she/her) is a Mexican/American choreographer, dancer, yogi, teacher and artistic director of Sildance/AcroDanza. Based in Chicago since 2008, she holds a BFA in Dance from Universidad de las Américas Puebla, Mexico and an MFA in Theatre/Movement from York University, Canada. For the last 17 years her interdisciplinary work has been presented at venues and festivals in Cuba, Spain, India, Mexico, Canada, and within the USA. Working with collaborators, she blends elements of contemporary dance, ballet, yoga, acroyoga, circus and physical theater with sound, text, costumes and video to excavate, embrace and reconcile her heritage, history and cultures. Currents of mysticism and magic realism run through all of her work to expose and alchemize conflicting truths.

Current Project/Practice: Ellas Y Yo Mexicanas is inspired by uncompromising painter Frida Kahlo and feminist writer/phylosofer Sor Juana Inés de La Cruz, two historic Mexican women who broke away from colonialist and marianismo expectations and power dynamics. In this work, they will joined by a contemporary Mexican/American woman, “Silvita.” Conceived as a triptych dance piece, Ellas Y Yo depicts Mexican women artists driven to create while working within, against, and through the restrictive pressures and expectations of women in the 17th, 20th, and 21st centuries. Through intertwined solos, duets, trios, quartets and quintets of Juanas, Fridas and Silvitas; the work seeks a link that connects them all.

Photo credit: William Frederking

The post Something to Celebrate: Announcing the 2025 Lab Artists and Program Finalists appeared first on Chicago DanceMakers Forum.

Image Credits: Greenroom Reunion 2024, pc Matt Marion

The post November 2024 Newsletter appeared first on Chicago DanceMakers Forum.

Image Credits:

2024 Lab Artist Helen Lee } Kate Laughlin and Tuli Bera at Ragdale. Photo by Amanda Maraist [ID: One dancer in foreground in blue top and grey pants leans on a wall. One dancer in the background, lower to the ground in a patterned red and orange blouse. Placed inside a house with green walls, patterned wallpaper, rug, windows, a chair.]

The post October 2024 Newsletter appeared first on Chicago DanceMakers Forum.

Image Credits:

Lab Artists Program cohorts 2024, 2023, 2022, 2020, 2019,, 2018  [ID: A grid of six images, each with a cohort of 4-6 dancemakers.]

The post August 2024 Newsletter appeared first on Chicago DanceMakers Forum.

by Isabel Goetze (Programming Intern) 

Having the expertise needed to be an artist today is challenging. As applications and audiences are increasingly online, additional video and sound editing skills are often required. I personally have spent hours compiling and editing my work to make it more professional for digital platforms, often only completing tasks through relentless trial and error. Here, I hope to share the ways I found for including audio description and captioning. These two features are some of the best practices for videos in grant program submissions, such as for Chicago Dancemakers Forum’s Lab Artists Program. Artists can increase access to their video narratives and work samples using audio description and captioning, important methods of supporting Deaf or blind audiences, or panelists with visual and auditory disabilities. Navigating the technical process for audio description and captioning can be confusing for those who are newer to these technologies. This blog post can serve as an introductory resource for creating accessible application videos and work samples.

What is captioning, and how can I caption my videos?
In videos with speaking and important auditory elements, captioning serves as a real-time written record of the language and sound used in a video. Open Captioning provides accessibility and can also provide clarity for those newer to the English language or whatever language is used in the video. Captions/Subtitles should be easily read and accurately transcribed. There are a few ways to go about this:

1) Rev.com – paid captioning service. A quick and professional way to get accurate captioning for your video, with the option of burned-in captions and/or a separate .srt file. They also provide you with a transcript of your video. You can edit the captions as needed.

2)Veed.io and CapCut– AI generated captioning. Free and instant captioning. Unfortunately, it is not perfect. There is a need for your human brain to fix errors and adjust settings.

3) Social Media– Instagram reels are integrated with an automatic captioning feature. After recording your video, proceed to the next step and click on stickers. After that locate the captioning feature in the menu. Finalize editing your video and you are finished!

4) YouTube or Vimeo – Both offer options for adding subtitles. Downloading your file with those subtitles can be tricky depending on your account settings.

For further details, please reference Tina Childress and their resource “How to Caption Your Videos.”

In addition to captioning, a transcript of all speech in the video can provide information about the content at-a-glance. There are numerous Video-to-Text Convertor services and applications available to do this for you, but with shorter files you can do this manually by listening to the video and transcribing into a typed document. If your video has a script, you automatically have a transcript! The 2025 Lab Artists Program application offers a box where you can paste the transcript.

How does audio description work, and how can I include descriptions?
Audio description provides information about the visual content of dance work for Blind audiences or individuals/panelists with low vision. Audio description can offer details regarding location in space, facial expressions, and dance movements, while avoiding technical dance jargon. Audio description should leave the interpretation of the piece up to the audience. Here is an example of audio description for dance.

1) Professional: Hire a professional audio descriptor. Chicago Dancemakers Forum can provide recommendations; email us at info@chicagodancemakers.org. Online services like Amber Script can provide a quick and professional way to include audio descriptions. In either case, you will want to work with them to make sure that dancers are not being misgendered in the audio description.

2) DIY: Write a script for the description of the dance and provide a voiceover for the video (record yourself or a friend). You can borrow microphones for free through the Chicago Tool Library if you are needing equipment. Then, using video editing software (iMovie, Canva, Vimeo, Camtasia, Final Cut Pro, Premiere Pro, etc.), overlay the voice-over while maintaining the ability to hear the original music or audio.

For the 2025 Lab Artists Program, in addition to uploading each work sample (without audio description) directly to Submittable, applicants may also provide a URL for a version of each work sample with audio description. To have these URLs, the files need to be uploaded to an online platform such as Vimeo, YouTube, social media, or a website. Giving panelists the option to experience the work samples in different ways is recommended. 

Header Image Description: A generic picture laptop, mug, and cactus plant on a desk

The post Tips for Captioning and Audio Description appeared first on Chicago DanceMakers Forum.

Image Credits:

Brittany Bradley, pc Brittany Bradley [ID: A black woman standing against a warm tan backdrop with warm lighting. She is wearing a black headwrap with a teal, grey and navy blue windbreaker on.]

The post July 2024 Newsletter appeared first on Chicago DanceMakers Forum.

by Shawn Lent (Programs and Communications Director) and Joanna Furnans (Executive Director)

Chicago Dancemakers Forum remains committed to practice-based research and experimentation for the artists we support and for ourselves as an organization. As a result, we are continuously evaluating our practices and seek direct feedback from our community. As we approach the open call for the 2025 Lab Artists Program, we’ve been reflecting on and refining the design of the application, the panel evaluation process, and the description of the program overall. In April of this year, we held focus groups to gather feedback from artists to determine if we will continue with our current methodologies and/or make additional changes to the selection process or evaluation criteria moving forward. 

Here’s a brief recap of changes to the Lab Artists Program application process over the years:

• 2003-2016: During the first years of the program, only nominated artists could apply. Eventually, it was switched to an open call process. Each year, a group of approximately 15 Finalists had about two months to complete a second application. Four Lab Artists were selected by each year’s panelists. The grant amount stayed level at $15,000. 
• 2017-2020: During these years, there were two application rounds beginning with the open call, but Finalists had less time (about one month) to complete and submit the second application. Six Lab Artists were selected each year. For the 2020 program, the grant amount was increased to $20,000.
• 2021: Beginning of COVID (Digital Dance Grants and COVID BIPOC Relief Grants)
• 2022 & 2023: We transitioned to a single round application with four Lab Artists selected by a randomization process from a group of 10 Finalists, all of whom were paid modest stipends. We also implemented an applicant prioritization system based on personal identification factors. The grant size was increased to $25,000.

April 2024: Chicago Dancemakers Forum held three paid focus groups of approximately five dancemakers each. The participating fifteen artists included a mix of past Finalists, previous applicants, selected/drawn Lab Artists, and local dancemakers who have never applied. The focus groups were facilitated by Kevin Iega Jeff, 2009 Lab Artist, Consortium representative and program mentor, former executive & artistic director of Deeply Rooted Dance Theater, and long-time Chicago dance community member. Measures were put in place to keep the process anonymous in the transcriptions shared with staff and the Program Evaluation Committee of the Board (Adia Sykes and Darrell Jones). 

The aim of the focus groups was for Chicago Dancemakers Forum to hear from artists during the (re)designing of the program’s application and selection process. The intention was to air different perspectives and opinions, rather than to come to a consensus. The information gathered from the focus groups was considered along with feedback received from, and conversations we’ve had with applicants to the program.

As an outcome to this process as well as feedback received from other artists, we’ve decided to continue the practice of randomized selection. Once a group of Finalists are selected through the competitive process, randomization helps reduce the impact of curatorial gatekeeping that can happen with short lists. We are also able to spotlight a greater number of artists (10 rather than just 4) and communicate broadly their equivalent strengths. A random draw also reduced labor on behalf of Finalists needing to complete a lengthy second round application. 

In addition to keeping the randomization process, Chicago Dancemakers Forum will be making the following changes to the application and selection process for the 2025 Lab Artists Program, which opens for applications on July 1, 2024:

• Video and  Written Narrative: The application for the 2025 Lab Artists Program will require both video and written narrative elements.
  • This change is meant to provide applicants the opportunity to speak directly to the panelists using two different modes.
  • Having practice in both oral and written presentations can be useful to artists. Creating a video narrative may support dancemakers in verbally describing their practice with more clarity and effectiveness, and having a written project proposal can be useful when applying to other grant and residency programs.
  • Having a video narrative offers applicants and panelists a more “human” aspect of the process.
  • This change makes both modes of presentation (written and spoken) equally important.
• More Panelists: Chicago Dancemakers Forum makes every effort to engage with panelists who identify with the program prioritization categories, who collectively cover an understanding of a large range of dance forms and practices, and who align with the organization’s values. Scoring panelists change each year. For the 2025 Lab Artists Program, Chicago Dancemakers Forum will engage six paid panelists; an increase from 3-4 paid panelists in recent years. Three of the panelists will be local/regional, including at least one prior Lab Artist, and three will bring a national or international perspective. Panelists will each be assigned a group of applications of which they are especially qualified to review. Each application will be reviewed by at least two panelists. 
  • This change increases the number of voices involved in the selection process and expands the panel’s collective range of expertise.
  • With panelists each reviewing fewer applications, they will be spending more time with the process and be supported to provide applicants with deeper feedback via the Submittable platform. The intention of this change is to provide the applying dancemakers with more thorough consideration and deeper feedback. 
• Panelists’ Orientation: In addition to Chicago Dancemakers Forum providing panelists with a thorough guide (which we have done since 2019) and an orientation at the top of their group discussion, panelists will now have an orientation meeting prior to their review/scoring of the applications.
  • Chicago Dancemakers Forum wishes to support panelists more fully earlier in the process, before they begin their review. This orientation will explain our selection criteria more fully and answer any questions / misconceptions that panelists might have about the selection process, the Lab Artists Program, and/or the Chicago dance ecosystem. 
• Adding an Internal Second Round: To determine the 18-25 applicants that will be considered for Finalists, we will be adding an internal second round review. Panelists will each be assigned a certain number of applications to review, and then move forward three of the top scoring applications from their group. A representative of Chicago Dancemakers Forum (Board, staff, or Consortium) will also select one application per group. Applicants are not required to complete a second round application. 
• Focused Panel Discussion: When the panel gathers to discuss the applications, they will only discuss 18-25 from which they will choose the 10 Finalists. All panelists will review and discuss all 18-25 applications in this second round.
  • With this change, panelists will have the opportunity to get to know the applying artists on a deeper level and to have a more robust conversation in making their selection of the Finalists.
  • As the number of dancemakers applying to the program increases, it has become increasingly difficult for panelists to spend the adequate time for each application (sometimes reviewing as many as 80 applications). It has become necessary for the panelists to each review and discuss a smaller number of applications.
• Increase Finalists’ Honorarium: For the 2025 program, each Finalist will receive a $1,000 honorarium (up from $375 for 2023 and $500 for 2024, $0 in all previous years), in addition to the option of public visibility. For the four artists drawn as the 2025 Lab Artists, this amount will be folded into their $25,000 grant.
  • Increasing artists’ stipend support is a goal of all Chicago Dancemakers Forum’s programs. 
  • Visibility & Promotion for more than four local dancemakers.
• Timing of the Random Draw: Like in the past two years of the program, the four 2025 Lab Artists will be drawn from 10 Finalists. For 2025, this draw will take place on the same day as the selection of Finalists. This means that applying artists will be notified of their status as Lab Artists or Finalists at the same time. 
  • We clearly heard from artists the need to shorten or eliminate the wait-time for Finalists.
• Revising Program Description, Application, and Selection Criteria:  Chicago Dancemakers Forum will be working to revise program language for more clarity and alignment. The weighted percentage per selection criteria will not be changed.
  • Artists have told us that they find the program description unclear and/or unaligned with the application and selection criteria.
  • Focus group participants had varied opinions and perspectives on the importance of each criterion.

EXAMPLE OF WHAT THIS PROCESS MIGHT LOOK LIKE 

(Note: The numbers in the following example will change based on the number of applications we actually receive.)

Open Call

1. (Let’s say) 75 local dancemakers apply to the program by the deadline.

Round One

1. The six panelists are each assigned 25 of the 75 applications to review, providing thorough feedback and scores. Each application is reviewed and scored by two panelists.
2. Based on those scores and notes, each of the six panelists selects three of the applications from their group of 25 to move forward to the second round. This equals 18 applications.
3. In addition, Chicago Dancemakers Forum (staff, board, or consortium members) moves forward one additional application per group.  Let’s say, through this process, an additional six applications are moved forward.

Round Two

1. Now 24 applications are under consideration and all six panelists review all of these applications.
2. Panelists then gather to discuss each of the round two applications. At the end of this conversation, the panelists come to consensus on 10 Finalists.

Random Draw

1. At the same meeting, after the 10 finalists have been determined, the four 2025 Lab Artists are selected by computerized, anonymized, random draw. 

Results

1. Chicago Dancemakers staff notifies the four 2025 Lab Artists and six Lab Artists Finalists.
2. All of the 10 Finalists including the six who were not selected as 2025 Lab Artists receive $1,000 and have the option of public promotion/visibility through Chicago Dancemakers Forum. (This payment becomes the first payment of the $25K grant to the four 2025 Lab Artists). 
3. The 65 applicants who were not selected as Finalists are notified by the end of September, and applicants are each offered a 30 minute call to review the feedback from panelists.
4. If, by chance, a 2025 Lab Artist needs to decline their participation for any reason, an alternate will be randomly selected from the remaining Finalists using the same random draw method.

The post Changes to the Lab Artists Program Application and Selection Process appeared first on Chicago DanceMakers Forum.

Image Credits: Darling Squire (2019 Lab Artist), Keyierra Collins (Squad Captain and 2019 Greenhouse Artist) and other PRAISE MOTHER SQUAD members in a work-in-progress showing for PRAISE MOTHER by Aaliyah Christina (2024 Lab Artist); pc Kristie Kahns

The post June 2024 Newsletter appeared first on Chicago DanceMakers Forum.

InLight  (Jonathan St. Clair), pc Marcus Salinas [ID: A solo dance outdoors in a low position on the concrete. There is a yellow metal zig zag behind him.]

The post May 2024 Newsletter appeared first on Chicago DanceMakers Forum.