With support from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the James Irvine Foundation, Dance/USA awarded the following nine organizations funding from Engaging Dance Audiences (EDA), a $2.1 million pilot program that enables Dance/USA to analyze current dance-going activities, and its members to explore and research methods of engaging audiences for dance, learn from peers, and share the learning nationally. To learn more about the results of these projects, and consider adapting them within your organization, see both the Profiles of the Grantee Projects and the content from the Learning Exchanges that took place during Round Two about these projects.

American Dance Festival, Durham, NC
$162,568 ($126,111 project support plus $36,457 core operating support)
In consortium with: Memory for Movement Laboratory, Duke University
To provide pre-performance sessions for ADF audiences that improve their perception and memory of dance, measure the results, and augment existing research about the mental processes of audiences.
Visit American Dance Festival website

The Cowles Center for Dance & the Performing Arts, Minneapolis, MN
$162,568 ($126,111 project support plus $36,457 core operating support)
In consortium with: ARENA Dances; Black Label Movement; James Sewell Ballet; Minnesota Dance Theatre; Ragamala Dance; Stuart Pimsler Dance & Theater; Zenon Dance Company; Zorongo Flamenco
To support a collaborative audience engagement project designed to transform existing audiences that are currently tied to single companies into advocates of the dance community as a whole, through methods that include shared evenings, lectures, discounted ticket packages, and audience dialogues.
Visit The Cowles Center for Dance & the Performing Arts website

Misnomer Dance Theater, Brooklyn, NY
$162,568 ($126,111 project support plus $36,457 core operating support)
To help artists/companies adopt and utilize the web-based Audience Engagement Platform (AEP), which is designed to facilitate two-way interactions between dance audiences and artists. Funding will be used for beta-testing and training materials.
Visit Misnomer Dance Theater website

Oberlin Dance Collective, San Francisco, CA
$162,568  ($126,111 project support plus $36,457 core operating support)
To develop “I speak dance,” curriculum for Bay Area colleges and schools by incorporating podcasts, guest teaching by ODC artists, the creation of dance by students, and a visit to ODC’s space.
Visit ODC website

On the Boards, Seattle, WA
$130,277 ($101,111 project support plus $29,165 core operating support)
To launch OtBTV, an online programming series of full-length, high-definition contemporary dance, made available on a pay-per-view basis, using funds to significantly expand the dance content available.
Visit On the Boards website

STREB, Brooklyn, NY
$162,568 ($126,111 project support plus $36,457 core operating support)
To support SLAM REMOTE, a new presentation model that employs interactive technology to connect remote audiences to live performance and engagement activities.
Visit STREB website

Trey McIntyre Project, Boise, ID
$117,360 ($91,111 project support plus $26,249 core operating support)
To support TMP’s audience engagement initiative, embedding its at-home methods into its touring program in 2010 and 2011, and including a range of performance formats, events, social networking, and multi-media promotion.
Visit Trey McIntyre Project website

Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN
$162,568 ($126,111 project support plus $36,457 core operating support)
To employ and test online and on-site engagement strategies to draw younger tech-savvy and new audiences during its 2009-10 and 2010-11 dance seasons.
Visit Walker Art Center website

Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA
$77,706 ($60,411 project support plus $17,295 core operating support)
To develop Dance Savvy, a dance engagement program designed to demystify contemporary dance for the Center’s visual arts patrons and incorporating kinetic pedagogy in performances and other events.
Visit Yerba Buena Center for the Arts website