Six Dance Artists Receive $80,000 Each in 2015 Doris Duke Impact Awards
The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (DDCF) announced today the second group of individuals to receive Doris Duke Impact Awards. The award is part of the larger Doris Duke Performing Artist Awards, launched in late 2011 as a special 10-year initiative of the foundation to empower, invest in and celebrate artists by offering flexible, multi-year funding in response to financial challenges that are specific to the performing arts. Each recipient of a Doris Duke Impact Award is receiving $80,000, totaling in $1.6 million to 20 new grantees. Since April 2014, the foundation has awarded a total of $3.2 million in Impact Awards to 40 artists in the fields of jazz, dance and theatre.
Ben Cameron, program director for the arts at the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, said, "The Doris Duke Impact Awards are based on nominations submitted by artists, identifying others (often less widely known) that will have enormous impact on the jazz, dance or theatre fields in the future. This year’s group is a thrilling one: we are honored to support them and look forward, not only to how they will use their funds, but to the ways they will shape and change the performing arts in the future."
In 2015, six of the total of 20 Doris Duke Impact Award recipients are dance artists and are:
To see the full list of artists, read their bios and access samples of their work, visit the Doris Duke Performing Artist Awards Web site.
The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (DDCF) announced today the second group of individuals to receive Doris Duke Impact Awards. The award is part of the larger Doris Duke Performing Artist Awards, launched in late 2011 as a special 10-year initiative of the foundation to empower, invest in and celebrate artists by offering flexible, multi-year funding in response to financial challenges that are specific to the performing arts. Each recipient of a Doris Duke Impact Award is receiving $80,000, totaling in $1.6 million to 20 new grantees. Since April 2014, the foundation has awarded a total of $3.2 million in Impact Awards to 40 artists in the fields of jazz, dance and theatre.
Ben Cameron, program director for the arts at the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, said, "The Doris Duke Impact Awards are based on nominations submitted by artists, identifying others (often less widely known) that will have enormous impact on the jazz, dance or theatre fields in the future. This year’s group is a thrilling one: we are honored to support them and look forward, not only to how they will use their funds, but to the ways they will shape and change the performing arts in the future."
In 2015, six of the total of 20 Doris Duke Impact Award recipients are dance artists and are:
- Michelle Ellsworth (Dance)Beth Gill (Dance)
- Ishmael Houston-Jones (Dance)
- Heather Kravas (Dance)
- Dianne McIntyre (Dance)
- Susan Rethorst (Dance)
To see the full list of artists, read their bios and access samples of their work, visit the Doris Duke Performing Artist Awards Web site.
Michelle Ellsworth, a recipient in the dance category who is notable for her often daring and humorously offbeat works, such as her recent, critically acclaimed piece, Preparation for the Obsolescence of the Y Chromosome, said, "Because of the nature and flexibility of this award, I just know that it will ultimately subsidize my very worst ideas—and when I say worst ideas, I mean my best ideas, the hard sells that no one else would fund. I’ll be able to use these resources to make the pieces that are central to my process and that I’ve been funding for decades out of my food budget, that require my family to eat lentils 20 days of the month. I’ll also be able to do things to create a more sustainable practice, such as paying off a debt and building some savings for when I retire from the university but am still creating work."
About the Doris Duke Impact Awards
The Doris Duke Impact Award is one of two awards in the Doris Duke Performing Artist Awards program. The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation is granting these awards as part of a larger $50 million, 10-year commitment beyond its already existing funding for the performing arts. By the end of the 10 years, the foundation will have offered a total of at least 200 artists greatly expanded freedom to create, through an initiative that makes available the largest allocation of unrestricted cash grants ever given to individuals in contemporary dance, jazz, and theatre.
Each recipient of a Doris Duke Impact Award is awarded $80,000—including an unrestricted, multi-year cash grant of $60,000, plus as much as $10,000 more in targeted support for audience development and as much as $10,000 more for personal reserves or creative exploration during what are usually retirement years for most Americans. Artists will be able to access their awards over a period of two to three years under a schedule set by each recipient. Creative Capital, DDCF’s primary partner in the Doris Duke Performing Artist Awards, will also offer the awardees the opportunity to participate in professional development activities, financial and legal counseling, and regional gatherings—all designed to help them personalize and maximize the use of their grants. The Doris Duke Impact Awards uniquely incentivize retirement savings and offer multi-year support that allows grantees to determine their own schedule for receiving the funds rather than mandating a uniform annual amount.
“The flexibility of both the award funding and Creative Capital’s advisory services makes it possible for us to tailor a support structure to each artist that wins this award,” said Ruby Lerner, founding president and executive director at Creative Capital. “This is so important, because an artist can have impact on the field at any career stage, whether they are emerging or in a later career stage, so their needs can vary widely.”
The Doris Duke Impact Awards are intentionally designed to support artists who are not eligible for the Doris Duke Artist Award, the other award in the larger program, either because the artists lack the necessary number of qualifying national awards, grants and prizes to become eligible for the Doris Duke Artist Award or because their artistic voices are still coming into focus. Within those parameters, Doris Duke Artists have the opportunity to nominate artists who inspire them to be considered for a Doris Duke Impact Award. A separate, anonymous panel of peers then selects the recipients based on evidence of exceptional creativity, self-challenge and the potential to make significant contributions to the fields of jazz, contemporary dance and theatre in the future. These grants are not tied to any specific project but are made as investments in the artists’ personal and professional development and future work.
The Doris Duke Artist Awards and the Doris Duke Impact Awards will be announced between 2012 and 2016, and 2014 and 2018, respectively. More information about the Doris Duke Performing Artist Awards is available at www.ddpaa.org.
About the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation
The mission of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation is to improve the quality of people’s lives through grants supporting the performing arts, environmental conservation, medical research and child well-being, and through preservation of the cultural and environmental legacy of Doris Duke’s properties. The Arts Program of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation focuses its support on contemporary dance, jazz and theatre artists, and the organizations that nurture, present and produce them. For more information, please visit www.ddcf.org.
About Creative Capital
Creative Capital supports innovative and adventurous artists across the country through funding, counsel and career development services. Its pioneering approach, inspired by venture-capital principles, helps artists working in all creative disciplines realize their visions and build sustainable practices. Since 1999, Creative Capital has committed $35 million in financial and advisory support to 465 projects representing 579 artists, and its Professional Development Program has reached more than 10,000 artists in more than 500 communities through workshops and webinars. For more information, visit www.creative-capital.org.
About the Doris Duke Impact Awards
The Doris Duke Impact Award is one of two awards in the Doris Duke Performing Artist Awards program. The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation is granting these awards as part of a larger $50 million, 10-year commitment beyond its already existing funding for the performing arts. By the end of the 10 years, the foundation will have offered a total of at least 200 artists greatly expanded freedom to create, through an initiative that makes available the largest allocation of unrestricted cash grants ever given to individuals in contemporary dance, jazz, and theatre.
Each recipient of a Doris Duke Impact Award is awarded $80,000—including an unrestricted, multi-year cash grant of $60,000, plus as much as $10,000 more in targeted support for audience development and as much as $10,000 more for personal reserves or creative exploration during what are usually retirement years for most Americans. Artists will be able to access their awards over a period of two to three years under a schedule set by each recipient. Creative Capital, DDCF’s primary partner in the Doris Duke Performing Artist Awards, will also offer the awardees the opportunity to participate in professional development activities, financial and legal counseling, and regional gatherings—all designed to help them personalize and maximize the use of their grants. The Doris Duke Impact Awards uniquely incentivize retirement savings and offer multi-year support that allows grantees to determine their own schedule for receiving the funds rather than mandating a uniform annual amount.
“The flexibility of both the award funding and Creative Capital’s advisory services makes it possible for us to tailor a support structure to each artist that wins this award,” said Ruby Lerner, founding president and executive director at Creative Capital. “This is so important, because an artist can have impact on the field at any career stage, whether they are emerging or in a later career stage, so their needs can vary widely.”
The Doris Duke Impact Awards are intentionally designed to support artists who are not eligible for the Doris Duke Artist Award, the other award in the larger program, either because the artists lack the necessary number of qualifying national awards, grants and prizes to become eligible for the Doris Duke Artist Award or because their artistic voices are still coming into focus. Within those parameters, Doris Duke Artists have the opportunity to nominate artists who inspire them to be considered for a Doris Duke Impact Award. A separate, anonymous panel of peers then selects the recipients based on evidence of exceptional creativity, self-challenge and the potential to make significant contributions to the fields of jazz, contemporary dance and theatre in the future. These grants are not tied to any specific project but are made as investments in the artists’ personal and professional development and future work.
The Doris Duke Artist Awards and the Doris Duke Impact Awards will be announced between 2012 and 2016, and 2014 and 2018, respectively. More information about the Doris Duke Performing Artist Awards is available at www.ddpaa.org.
About the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation
The mission of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation is to improve the quality of people’s lives through grants supporting the performing arts, environmental conservation, medical research and child well-being, and through preservation of the cultural and environmental legacy of Doris Duke’s properties. The Arts Program of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation focuses its support on contemporary dance, jazz and theatre artists, and the organizations that nurture, present and produce them. For more information, please visit www.ddcf.org.
About Creative Capital
Creative Capital supports innovative and adventurous artists across the country through funding, counsel and career development services. Its pioneering approach, inspired by venture-capital principles, helps artists working in all creative disciplines realize their visions and build sustainable practices. Since 1999, Creative Capital has committed $35 million in financial and advisory support to 465 projects representing 579 artists, and its Professional Development Program has reached more than 10,000 artists in more than 500 communities through workshops and webinars. For more information, visit www.creative-capital.org.
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