HEALTH

Arts Health Care Coalition www.artshealthcarecoalition.org

Health Care for All Help Line 1-800-272-4232, 617-464-3559, www.hcfama.org

BDA's Health Insurance Program (offered with our association through Stage Source). Click here for a fact sheet.

Children’s Hospital Offers dance-injury treatment through its Sports Medicine Dept.

BDA highly recommends that you research all insurance coverage options. This is especially true under the new state law. Depending upon the coverage you want, your income, and age different plans may suit you the best. It is not possible to state which plan is the cheapest for everyone. Please compare all of the plans listed below.

If you are a member of BDA you may access the health association plan offered through Stage Source. Click Here for information. Note: This plan has a number of options. On the fact sheet there is a contact number for a broker who can determine the cost for you.

To find out about the new state law and to find out about state insurance coverage and plans go to Health Care For All.

 

CONNECT + COMMUNICATE

Boston Dance Alliance 
Boston Dance Alliance’s mission is to “support and promote the health and development of the Greater Boston dance community, seeking to improve our working environment, increase our visibility, promote understanding of dance as an art form, build audiences, and encourage dialogue and cooperation within the dance community.” We formed in 1985 in response to the need for more services and visibility for the Boston dance community. Our members receive bi-monthly newsletters, an annual directory of members, discounted tickets to member performances and services, marketing tools, website privileges, and access to our resource center at Boston Ballet.

Dance Action Network
Dance Action Network was started in April of 2001 for the purpose of bringing the Boston area dance community together to share information. It is a community network of choreographers, performers, teachers, media and cultural leaders and others interested in the well being of Dance in Boston. Members can post performance announcements, teaching and performing opportunities, political actions and other items of interest to those involved in dance in the greater Boston area. To subscribe to the listserve send a blank email to: dance-action-network-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. 

Boston Dance Audiences
Boston Dance Audiences is an email listing for Greater Boston area dance performances open to the general public. Join this listserv if you'd like to post or receive performance announcements. To subscribe to the listserve send a blank email to: bostondanceaudience-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Massachusetts Cultural Council's "Artist News"

Massachusetts Advocates for the Arts – MAASH is a broad-based, statewide organization that serves as a unified voice for the cultural community of Massachusetts. MAASH identifies significant issues of importance to the industry and works to influence legislation and public opinion.

 

GRANTS + SUPPORT

Associated Grantmakers of Massachusetts
AGM is a library of resources for fundraising; it’s an invaluable resource for the independent artist. It houses a database of both non-profit institutions and charitable givers, as well as files on Massachusetts-based foundations and corporate givers. It publishes the Massachusetts Grantmakers Directory and sponsors various skill building and informational seminars, including the Foundation Center’s Proposal Writing Workshops in Boston.

Massachusetts Cultural Council 
is the state arts funding program. The MCC mission is simply, “culture builds community.” It offers $16 million annually to programs in the arts, humanities and sciences. Some of its programs relevant to dance artists are:
Artist Grants Program – awards grants of $12,500 or $1,000 to choreographers with “proven track records of excellence”
Local Cultural Council Program – providing all Massachusetts cities and towns funds to distribute to community artists
Professional Development Program – providing up to $500 for professional development workshops, seminars and conferences.

The Foundation Center
[http://foundationcenter.org/] Established in 1956, and today supported by more than 600 foundations, the Foundation Center is the nation's leading authority on philanthropy, connecting nonprofits and the grantmakers supporting them to tools they can use and information they can trust. The Center maintains the most comprehensive database on U.S. grantmakers and their grants—a robust, accessible knowledge bank for the sector. We also operate research, education, and training programs designed to advance philanthropy at every level. More than 37,000 people visit our web site each day, and thousands more are served in our five regional library/learning centers and our national network of more than 275 Cooperating Collections.

United States Artists [http://www.unitedstatesartists.org/] USA was launched in the September 2005 with $20 million in seed funding provided by a coalition of leading foundations—Ford, Rockefeller, Prudential, and Rasmuson—in an act of unprecedented private investment in individual artists and the creative potential of America. Their initial investment enables our organization to pilot the USA Fellows program, awarding unrestricted $50,000 grants to fifty artists each year beginning in 2006.

New England Foundation for the Arts [http://www.nefa.org] NEFA administrates grant-making programs that support dance, performing arts, and public art projects in New England and beyond. To learn more about our grant programs, or to find out if you qualify for funding from NEFA, visit our grant programs overview page.

LEF Foundation [http://www.lef-foundation.org/] LEF is committed to providing support for provocative and innovative projects. LEF seeks to identify and promote creative ventures and to sponsor work that challenges its audience with new ways of perceiving the world.

LEF also values the relationship between art and its context. LEF is particularly interested in projects that demonstrate an awareness of the relationship between the work and its site. It is also interested in projects representing a convergence of disciplines, that are interdisciplinary or collaborative in format.

As a small, independent arts funder, LEF acts both responsively and proactively to the field, applying resources in as nimble and effective a manner as possible.

To encourage an atmosphere of creative possibility, LEF often endorses projects at the early stage of their development. LEF seeks opportunities where its funding will impact the success of the proposed activity by providing seed money, working in collaboration with other funding sources to leverage additional support.

LEF Foundation operates within two regional areas: California and New England. Please refer to the specific guidelines for the region from which you are applying.

For projects occuring outside these two regions, please contact the main office in California.

Creative Capital [http://www.creative-capital.org/] Creative Capital, a New York City-based nonprofit organization, acts as a catalyst for the development of adventurous and imaginative ideas by supporting artists who pursue innovation in form and/or content in the performing and visual arts, film and video, and in emerging fields. We are committed to working in partnership with the artists whom we fund, providing advisory services and professional development assistance along with multi-faceted financial aid and promotional support throughout the life of each Creative Capital project.

 

PRODUCE

Boston Alliance of Theater Artisans
This Directory is a listing of Boston Area Theatrical free-lancers which BATA posts free of charge and does not endorse or guarantee any persons listed here. It contains only technicians with e-mail addresses. Theater technicians in the Boston, MA area can add their names to the list by Email Listing or Update to jsbuck1@verizon.net
http://mysite.verizon.net/jsbuck1/betalist.htm

Arts/Boston  ArtsBoston's mission is to promote the arts in Greater Boston. We do this by:

* Improving the ability of performing arts organizations to build organizational capacity, market performances and grow audiences.
* Providing innovation discount ticketing programs that nurture an engaged and diverse arts audience
* Serving as a collective voice for the arts.

New England Theatre 411 - New England Theater 411 is a site for you - the actor, technician, director AND audience member! With information provided by local community, equity and non-equity theaters, this site is your one stop place for information about upcoming productions, audition calls, special announcements, and other happenings in the New England theater scene.

 

PERFORM / PRESENT

Boston College/Boston Dance Alliance’s Dance Community Archive Project 
A new BDA initiative is the Dance Community Archive Project. Its mission is to “serve as a repository for the preservation of materials pertaining to the development and history of dance in Boston.” Its first project was to survey the community for personal histories and materials relating to Boston’s dance history. This was completed in late spring 2001, and future developments may include collecting oral histories and preservation efforts.

Coolidge Corner Theatre/Dance on Screen Festival  Dance and film festival

Contact Improv Boston - http://www.geocities.com/ContactImprovBoston/

VSAartsMassachusetts – promotes arts access to people with disabilities; offers artist residencies in schools.

Dance Complex's Shared Choreographers Concert Series - Held three times each year, this program provides an opportunity for new and developing artists to have their work produced in concert with their peers. Mentors provide guidance and feedback for the choreographers, dancers and producers from the first showing of an idea through, and beyond, the performances. It is also a vehicle for learning all aspects of producing, publicizing, designing, budgeting and documenting a concert; two dancers share these production responsibilities, under the guidance of the program mentor. These concerts are an extension of the learning process. Outside an academic program, artists often lack the supportive feedback and nurturing that is so crucial to their growth. A discussion with the audience follows each concert, providing an educational enrichment for all involved and a proven way of building an informed and committed following.

Green Street Studio's Emerging Artist Program - Green Street Studios is pleased to announce the return of the Emerging Artist Program. This project was originally developed in 2002 with funding from the LEF foundation, and is currently sponsored in part by Classic Copy and Printing. This project has been created with the purpose of providing infrastructure for young choreographers to create new work and to educate young choreographers in the process of self-producing.

World Music / CRASHarts - [local presenting organization] "Ten's the Limit" What makes contemporary dance so exciting? Join us and see for yourself at this sixth annual showcase of works in progress. Eight Greater Boston–based choreographers (to be announced) will each perform for a maximum of ten minutes.

 

RESEARCH / ARCHIVE

Dance Video Section, Boston Public Library – dance video collection
Green Street Studio Video Project – provides 4 extra hours after performance for professional video done by Green Street’s videographer

Dance Resource Center – joint project of BDA and Boston Ballet, making available videos, books and publications for in-house viewing

 

SUPPLY

Teddy Shoes – a family owned business that began in 1957. They have become well known for their vast selection of dancing shoes and supplies

Boston offers many resources to the working dance artist, ranging from community and advocacy groups to fundraising centers to film series to excellent health care.

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