Dance Business Bootcamp: The 12-Month Reset

Your Art Deserves a Real Plan to Support It

Dance/USA’s Dance Business Bootcamp brings together seven practitioners for two days of working sessions on funding, budgeting, marketing, people management, and 12-month planning — built specifically for independent dance artists and organizations under $250K.
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Full-body shot of a Cambodian dancer against an aquamarine background.
Caption TK. Courtesy of Charya Burt.

Most dance artists didn’t set out to become operations managers.

But here you are, managing budgets, making business decisions, and trying to plan a year ahead while the current one is still in motion. There is extensive administrative work required to make dance happen, and most artists end up managing each part of it on their own. 

Wouldn’t it be helpful to spend some time with administrative professionals ready to guide you? To meet with a group of peers figuring out the same thing? 

In our Dance Business Bootcamp, dance artists will participate in two days of administrative coaching by practitioners with deep knowledge of the dance field. 

What You’ll Learn

In seven working sessions, you’ll learn how to:

  • fund smarter and diversify revenue;
  • budget and contract fairly;
  • lead and manage staff with confidence;
  • write about your work so it gets noticed;
  • make strategic decisions under constraint;
  • build a 12-month operating plan; and
  • design a community-rooted revenue ecosystem.

Who It’s For

Built for those with dance careers without a full team behind them:

  • Independent choreographers managing their own operations;
  • Small dance organization leaders wearing the artistic and administrative hats at the same time;
  • Dance companies with a team of five or fewer people; and
  • Operations with a budget under $250K

Join us for Dance Business Bootcamp:
The 12-Month Reset

Bootcamp Schedule

July 17-18, 2026
Session Times TBC

Registration Fees

Individual, Dance/USA Member: $197

Individual, Non-Member: $295

Team Rate (up to 5 people): $800

(Want to register a team? Add a Member or Non-Member ticket to your cart first, then add up to five additional team members at the discounted team rate.)

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Inside Dance Business Bootcamp: Session Topics

This year’s Dance Business Bootcamp includes sessions on
Fundraising and Finance, Marketing, People and Culture, and Business Planning

Fundraising and Finance

Led by Pi-Isis S. Ankhra, PSA

Map where your money comes from and build a plan to stop depending on one source.

The dance ecosystem is navigating one of the most disruptive funding environments in recent memory. This new generation of philanthropists gives differently — investing in relationships and narratives over institutions — and many small dance organizations don’t know how to reach them. For many artists, the next funding decision cannot wait.

  • You will read the current philanthropic landscape, identifying at least two significant funding shifts, and articulating one concrete implication for your own organization.
  • You will map your current revenue sources, identify areas of over-dependency, and name at least one next-generation or non-traditional donor segment relevant to your community.
  • You will draft a Starter Revenue Diversification Roadmap identifying at least three revenue streams and a tangible, immediately usable 90-day first action.
  • Guided work sprints, each with a specific output, a facilitated prompt, and a 2-minute paired share
  • Work on your own real organization — not a hypothetical scenarios
  • Get real-time coaching
  • Build, analyze, and refine a real funding strategy

A Starter Revenue Diversification Roadmap 

A single-page working document capturing: 

  1. A current funding snapshot with at least one identified dependency
  2. The next-generation or non-traditional donor segment and an initial cultivation touchpoint
  3. At least three diversified revenue streams
  4. A sequenced 90-day first action

Led by with Joanna Furnans, Chicago Dancemakers Forum

Build honest project budgets and fair collaborator contracts even when funding falls short.

Individual artists’ projects are almost always underfunded. But artists are rarely given the tools to address that underfunding while maintaining their commitment to fairness, care, and equity. We need to acknowledge that underfunding is a chronic issue AND offer resources to change the reality for artists and their collaborators.

  • You will learn how to use a project budget template that accurately reflects volunteer/donated labor and the true cost of your project.
  • You will understand options for contract language and negotiations with project collaborators who have varying fees and compensation needs. 
  • You will understand the greater impact of these practices on national advocacy efforts for increased funding for the arts
  • Work independently with provided templates from Chicago Dancemakers Forum
  • Ask individual questions about using the templates for your projects 
  • Engage in seminar-style discussions to learn from and respond to each other

Two templates—on budgeting and contracts—that you can modify and work with going forward in your career as an artist.

Led by Nneka Okeke, Black LGBTQ Migrant Project

Build financial sustainability from the relationships and community you already have.

As funding continues to contract, dance artists are increasingly expected to sustain their work within systems that were never designed to support them. Black, brown, and queer artists in particular face persistent barriers to accessing institutional funding, while being over-relied upon to produce culture, community, and care with limited resources. Many artists are left navigating financial instability despite having deeply engaged audiences and strong community presence.

This creates an urgent need to reframe how sustainability is defined and built within the dance ecosystem.

  • You will identify and map key relationships within your existing ecosystem as components of a relational revenue infrastructure
  • You will recognize and cultivate emerging community leaders who can support long-term sustainability and fundraising efforts
  • You will develop a personalized Community Revenue Map to track, activate, and grow multiple revenue streams
  • Name real people, enter real numbers, and map real relationships
  • Engage with one another while working side by side
  • Receive coaching in real-time based on your shared responses 

A completed Community Revenue Map — a personalized four-part working document that includes:

  • A relationship asset inventory naming the people, organizations, and platforms already in their ecosystem
  • A revenue stream map across five categories with estimated annual amounts
  • A community giving pathway tracing how someone moves from first encounter to sustained supporter in their specific community
  • An emerging leaders’ plan naming real people, the signals observed in them, and concrete cultivation commitments for the next 30 days. 

You will also leave with something a worksheet cannot provide: visibility into ecosystems beyond your own. You’ll name overlap such as shared funders, students, and champions. Naming those connections in real time can identify potential collaborators, co-producers, or shared resource pools. The map is personal, but it is built in community.

Marketing

Led by Amy Jacobus, Grounded Growth Marketing

Write about your work in language that gets you found, funded, and booked.

Dance artists are trained to communicate in movement, moments, metaphor, and feeling. While that training works beautifully in the studio, online, it can make their work invisible. When every artist bio is a word salad about “exploring the intersection of movement and [blank],” and every artist statement reaches for the transcendent, the words stop meaning anything. Google and ChatGPT don’t get it, eyes glaze over, and opportunities pass right by.

Compelling messaging attracts attention, secures funding, and draws audiences away from their couches. It’s a critical component of an artist’s success and a skill that can easily be explored and developed in one working session.

  • You will apply a three-part artist statement framework (what/how you create, your distinctive lens, the effect your work produces) to draft a stronger statement for marketing and applications 
  • You will populate an artist bio framework with at least three sections of reflection on your experience, motivations, and accomplishments
  • You will begin inhabiting a voice that is authentically yours and distinguish yourself in relation to your peers

The session will include active writing time as well as peer review conversations to develop and revise first drafts.

  • An artist statement, reviewed by a peer
  • A start to an artist bio that follows an “about story” framework 
  • Next steps action document for how to complete artist bio and employ language across digital platforms and more creative mediums

People and Culture

Led by Erin Lynn Williams, Consulting à la mode

Set up supervisory relationships that actually work before things go sideways.

Many of us are stressed out, period. The world is on fire, period. We want to be the best we can be for our organizations, but sometimes we can feel stuck in the middle of our collective values and the tension that our structures, outside compliance, and fundraising efforts dictate. We can all be good supervisors, but we need to be ready, willing and able. Practical tools can help demystify supervision and support people to feel more confident.

  • You will learn how to balance leadership and management principles in ways that support your confidence, and the confidence of those who report to you. 
  • You will learn practical tools to set-up your supervisory relationships with a foundation of trust that can weather missteps on either end
  • You will learn that you can be an intersectional and anti-oppressive supervisor within our current context, and within compliance structures that can be contradictory.
  • Respond to prompts (in chat or verbally) 
  • Respond to conceptual frameworks that are introduced and relate them to real-life situations that you’ve encountered
  • Engage in peer-to-peer exchange 

Specific visual frameworks designed to:

  • Help distinguish between leadership and management
  • Explain how trust is built
  • Provide practical tips on how to set up supervisory relationships 
  • Provide strategies to navigate inevitable complexities before they arise

Business Planning

 Led by Leeanne G-Bowley, Creative Estate

Take stock of what you actually have and build a concrete path forward from there.

Dance has never had the luxury of stability. Funding has always been precarious, and the artists who sustain careers in this field have always done so by adapting fast. What is different about this moment is not the difficulty—it is the speed and scale of the change.

It is no longer enough to be resourceful. Artists and small organizations need to be able to evaluate which paths forward are worth the investment, and build strategies flexible enough to absorb the next disruption without starting over.

  • You will take stock of your current position and identify what has changed in the landscape that requires a new approach.
  • You will build a fundraising strategy and evaluate the opportunity cost of different paths (competitive grants vs. individual supporters vs. partnerships vs. earned revenue)
  • You will practice strategic decision-making in a constrained environment, deciding where to invest limited time and energy.
  • Begin a self-assessment
  • Map your assets and reframe how you see your starting position
  • Make real decisions about where to invest time and who to approach for support
  • Surface your blind spots by testing strategies against a partner’s questions

A completed strategic navigation workbook designed as a living document that you will continue to develop and revisit as conditions change. It contains four sections:

  1. A current position assessment
  2. An asset map of existing strengths, relationships, resources, and reputation
  3. A resource strategy evaluating funding and support options 
  4. A 90-day path forward with a specific next step identified for the first week

Led by Kristopher W. McDowell, Rhizome Arts

Turn your artistic vision into a structured, resourced 12-month plan.

For many independent artists and small-budget organizations, planning is reactive, often shaped by opportunities (such as touring invitations or presenter timelines) rather than a clearly defined, internally driven strategy.

There is a growing need for artists and organizations to clarify their own priorities and operating logic in a way that allows them to engage presenters, partners, and funders from a position of alignment and agency.

  • You will define a clear 12-month priority (project, season, or program) with articulated goals, audience, and intended impact
  • You will build a structured 12-month plan aligning programming, people, and revenue 
  • You will produce a usable working document that can support decision-making, fundraising, and stakeholder alignment going forward
  • Respond to focused prompts (e.g., define a core priority, map key activities, align revenue) and apply them directly to your own project or organization
  • Draft your plan using a provided template, making decisions in real time 
  • Engage in small-group discussions to test ideas, receive feedback, and refine your work 

A completed draft of a 12-Month Plan (Operating Plan) for a specific project, season, or program. It will include: 

  • Core Priority: clearly defined project/season focus, goals, and intended impact
  • Programming Timeline: key activities and milestones mapped across 12 months
  • People & Capacity: roles, collaborators, and resource needs required to execute the work
  • Revenue Alignment: 2–3 identified income pathways (earned, contributed, partnerships) tied directly to planned activities
  • Success Markers: defined indicators of progress and outcomes
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Meet the Facilitators

This year’s Dance Business Bootcamp brings together seven professionals with deep experience in the operational realities of running a dance organization. Each facilitator leads one working session and brings their own framework, tools, and direct experience to the room.

Pi-Isis S. Ankhra

PSA

Match the Money: Fund Smarter, Cultivate Donors, and Diversify Revenue for Your Dance Organization

Leeanne G-Bowley

Creative Estate

Make It Happen Against All Odds: Navigate the Moment, Optimize Your Assets, The Show Will Go On

Joanna Furnans

Chicago Dancemakers Forum

When You Don’t Have the Cash: Project Budgets & Contracts for Individual Artists

Amy Jacobus

Grounded Growth Marketing

Found in Translation: Writing About Your Work Without Pinning It Down

Kristopher W. McDowell

Rhizome Arts

Stop Guessing Your Next Season: Build Your 12-Month Plan (In One Working Session)

Nneka Okeke

Black LGBTQ Migrant Project

Rooted Rhythms: Designing Culturally Grounded Revenue Ecosystems for Dance Artists and Communities

Erin Lynn Williams

Consulting à la mode

The Dance of Leading AND Managing Staff: Tips to Support Breakthroughs not Breakdowns

Frequently Asked Questions

What if I can’t attend live?

All sessions are recorded. Registered participants will have access to full playback so you can revisit the content and complete any work you missed.

What do I need to bring?

Come prepared with basic information about your organization: your current budget, your program calendar, and any existing planning documents you have.

Is this bootcamp right for me if I’m just getting started?

If you have been operating for at least a year and are ready to build a real plan around what you are already doing, this is a strong fit.

Can I attend with a colleague or team member?

Yes! The team rate (up to 5 people) is designed for small organizations who want to build the plan together. Working through the sessions as a team often produces a stronger, more usable plan.

Is this a Dance/USA members-only event?

No. The bootcamp is open to all. Dance/USA members receive a discounted individual registration rate of $195.

Being a dance artist today means running a small business—whether or not you call it that. If you:

  • Make long-term business decisions according to project-based grant funds
  • Think about touring, hiring, or commissions one project at a time, with no zoomed out sense of the year or season of your art-making
  • Say yes to opportunities that conflict with one another or your vision overall
  • Are the only person who knows how everything works
  • Do work you could delegate but can't articulate it clearly enough to hand it off
  • Feel more like a manager than an artist, and you aren't sure when that happened
  • Are embarrassed that your company or organization looks less professional than your work actually is
  • Constantly fall behind on tasks partners and funders are waiting on

If you’ve been running on instinct and adrenaline, and wondering if it will ever get easier—Dance Business Bootcamp is for you.

From $195 for Individuals to $800 for Team Enrollment

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