Spring 2019 Travel Grant Recipients

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Social practice artists Jose Abad (San Francisco, CA) and Joy Mariama Smith (The Hague, Netherlands) will convene for two weeks in Stolzenhagen, Germany to discuss the use of pedagogical techniques in improvisatory theatre, dance, and somatic education as a liberatory practice. The knowledge gained during this exchange will support the development of Abad's future project "QT Labs," a performance-based retreat for QTPOC.

Wendy Jehlen of ANIKAYA (Somerville, MA) will travel to West Africa to begin to develop a new ensemble work, We Are All Here Right Now, with Compagnie Multicorps (Cotonou, Benin). The collaborating artists will create a preliminary set of improvisational scores incorporating movement, sound, and text, and will test these scores with local performers.

Bandelion (Oakland, CA) will hold a four-day retreat with Andrea Ariel (Austin, TX) to engage in an immersive exploration of the technique of Soundpainting, focusing on the applications of this form for inclusive dance and ensemble creation. The collaboration will culminate in a public lecture demonstration and performance that includes audience participation.

DNAWORKS (Fort Worth, TX) will visit Mondo Bizarro (New Orleans, LA) to learn about their management of the shared space Catapult, as DNAWORKS works to recuperate and transform a former KKK meeting hall in Fort Worth, TX into an International Center for Arts and Healing. The companies will discuss and explore models for space management and development, including Mondo Bizarro’s cooperative space management practices.

The Eva Steinmetz Project (Philadelphia, PA) will take their project SHUTTLEFISH to New Hampshire for a week-long development residency in partnership with the Apple Hill String Quartet (Nelson, NH). The companies will collaborate to expand and refine SHUTTLEFISH, focusing specifically on its use of classical music and the relationships between sound, movement, and narrative.

Faultline Ensemble (New Haven, CT) and Open Flame Theatre (Minneapolis, MN) will develop interventions to reduce the risk of sexual violence and harassment in small theaters. Inspired by the #metoo and Not In Our House movements, they will pioneer the application of occupational health research on workplace sexual violence to the field of ensemble creation, and harness current national attention to create culture change across the ensemble theater community.

Forklift Danceworks (Austin, TX) will bring Marty Pottenger (Portland, ME) to Austin for an artistic exchange around the opening weekend of Forklift's Givens Swims. Bringing many years of experience collaborating with government employees, Pottenger's activities may include conducting workshops around performance material with participating city staff and facilitating post-performance feedback and discussion with community members.

Open Waters (South Portland, ME), Darren Ranco (Orono, ME), and Cory Tamler (Brooklyn, NY) will collaborate to organize a canoe trip as part of the In Kinship Archives & Performance Fellowship that is led by Penobscot Nation Guides. Through this experiential research intensive, the cross-cultural and cross-discipline group will center Wabanaki story and knowledge as they experiment with embodied research and performance approaches to understand stories and histories of the Penobscot River and watershed.

Good Trouble Makers (Los Angeles, CA) and Rebecca French (Houston, TX) will share their knowledge of and approach to queer dance making, values, practices, and teaching through public workshops, and will experiment with ways to collaborate.

Rising Youth Theatre (Phoenix, AZ), Safos Dance Theatre (Tuscon, AZ), Border Arts Corridor (Douglas, AZ), Komos Teatro (Sacatepéquez, Guatemala), and independent artist Gabriela Muñoz (Phoenix, AZ) will explore building a site-specific multidisciplinary performance that would take place at both the U.S./México border and the Guatemala/México border, and would be co-created by youth and adults through a community-engaged process. The grant will fund an initial research trip for all partners to spend time in each border region, building relationships with each other.

The peer panelists for the Spring 2019 NET/TEN Travel Grants included: Hope Chavez, Programs Manager, A.R.T./New York (New York, NY); Amanda Delheimer, Artistic Director, 2nd Story (Chicago, IL); and Daniel Jáquez, Theatre Director (San Diego, CA).