Grants for Dance Nonprofit Organizations

Entergy’s Open Grants Program focuses on improving communities as a whole. We look for giving opportunities in the areas of arts and culture, education and workforce development, poverty solutions and social services, healthy families, and community improvement.

Arts and Culture

The arts are expressions of ourselves – our heritage, feelings and ideas. To cultivate that, we support a diverse range of locally based visual arts, theater, dance and music institutions. Our long-term goal is to increase the access to contemporary art for a wider public, including children and the financially disadvantaged.

Community Improvement/EnrichmentEntergy supports community-based projects that focus community enrichment and improvement. A few examples include civic affairs, blighted housing improvements, and neighborhood safety. By giving to communities in this way, we actually help them become more self-sufficient.Healthy FamiliesChildren need a good start to grow into healthy, well-adjusted adults. With that in mind, we give to programs that have a direct impact on children educationally and emotionally. We’re also interested in family programs, like those that better prepare parents to balance the demands of work and home. The amount and nature of an organization’s request will determine which type of grant the organization would need to apply for.

The Lawrence Foundation is a private family foundation focused on making grants to support environmental, human services and other causes.

The Lawrence Foundation was established in mid-2000. We make both program and operating grants and do not have any geographical restrictions on our grants. Nonprofit organizations that qualify for public charity status under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code or other similar organizations are eligible for grants from The Lawrence Foundation.  

Grant Amount and Types

Grants typically range between $5,000 - $10,000. In some limited cases we may make larger grants, but that is typically after we have gotten to know your organization over a period of time. We also generally don’t make multi-year grants, although we may fund the same organization on a year by year basis over a period of years.

General operating or program/project grant requests within our areas of interests are accepted.

The Program's Objective

To support non-profit organizations that have a history of substantial commitment to contemporary American music but whose needs are not addressed by the Fund’s programs of support for performing organizations and recording projects.

Funding Provisions

Applicants may request either general operating support or support for special projects. Please note that project support will be given only for a project that begins in the current season. Thus, for the 2022 grant round, support will be given only to projects that begin between September 2022 and August 2023. Multi-year projects will be considered if they begin in the current season, but projects that have already begun generally will not be eligible for support. Projects relating to a broad spectrum of American music will be viewed more favorably than those relating to a single work or to a single composer.

Applicants should be aware that support in one year does not imply continuation of that support.

Special note for festival applicants and other applications with educational activities: If the primary focus of the organization or project is educational activities, workshops, professional training, or career development, the applicant should apply to the Supplemental Program. If the primary focus of the organization or project is public professional performance of music, the applicant should apply to the Performance Program.

Max and Victoria Dreyfus Foundation Grant

The Foundation will consider requests to support museums, cultural and performing arts programs; schools and hospitals; educational, skills-training and other programs for youth, seniors, and persons with disabilities; environmental and wildlife protection activities; and other community-based organizations and programs.

Note: Pre-approval is required to submit a proposal; hence the pre-proposal (preliminary round) deadline above.

Recording Program

The program’s objectives are to document and provide wider exposure for the music of contemporary American composers, to develop audiences for contemporary American music through record distribution and other retail markets, and to support the release and dissemination of recordings of previously unreleased contemporary American music and the reissuance of recordings that are no longer available. 

The Program’s Objectives

• To document and provide wider exposure for the music of contemporary American composers
• To develop audiences for contemporary American music through distribution of recorded performances in physical and online media
• To support the production of new recordings of contemporary American music and the reissuance of significant recordings that are no longer available

Funding

In general, grants will not exceed $20,000. Grants will generally not exceed 50% of the total project costs.

National Dance Project Production Grant

NDP Production Grants provide funding to artists/companies to create new dance works and touring subsidies to the U.S. organizations who bring that work to their communities. 

Cited as NDP’s “most important contribution to the field,” Production Grants provide funding to artists/companies to create a new dance work and provide touring subsidies to the organizations who bring that work to their communities. Production Grants are awarded to approximately 20 works annually through a highly competitive two-stage application process. Production Grants provide a package of support that includes:

• up to $45,000 towards the creation of a new work
• approximately $10,000 in general operating support
• up to $35,000 to support a U.S. tour of the work*

*Touring subsidies support up to 50% of artist fees, including travel costs, and are allocated by the artist/company to eligible organizations as a Presentation Grant.

How it Works

Choreographers and/or dance companies apply to receive intertwined support for the creation and U.S. touring of a new dance work, which will be developed and premiere within 1-2 years from the deadline and will tour following the premiere. Applicants should demonstrate that they are working with an organizational partner who is helping to support the new work's creation and/or touring in a significant way.

Creation funds and general operating funds are paid directly to the artist or their fiscal sponsor to cover expenses related to making the new work during the creation period. Grant recipients are expected to complete a final report within 40 days of the project's premiere as designated in the contract.

In addition to creation and general operating funds, up to $35,000 is reserved for each project's U.S. tour during one of four associated NDP touring periods. The NDP touring period is the 18-month window in which a U.S. organization may receive NDP touring subsidy to present the NDP-funded work through the NDP Presentation Grant process. Artists choose one of four designated NDP touring periods based on when their work will premiere and be ready for touring.

 A Production Grant cycle includes the creation period and extends through the selected touring period.

NOTE: Before applying for a grant, please send an e-mail message or telephone to verify that grant funds are available for the current year.

Purpose

The Fordney Foundation is aa educational and charitable nonprofit foundation for dance formed in May, 2002 with a three-fold mission:

• Discover and train talented individuals with the ultimate goal of having them establish a professional career in dance or a dance-related profession.
• Develop an understanding of dance sport in the community, enhance youth awareness and participation, and encourage young talent in the United States.
• Award grant monies to those who pursue dance as a career and prize monies to amateur dancers 25 and under who dance competitively.

Goals and Objectives

• Help children and young adults to realize their dreams of artistically expressing themselves through ballroom dancing. The Fordney Foundation was established to promote ballroom dancing to individuals of all ethnic groups without regard to religion or creed that are 6 to 25 years of age who qualify as amateur dance students.
• Award grant monies to individuals who pursue dance as a career who are either dependents attending school 6 to 18 years of age or dependents 19 to 25 years of age who do not have the means to support their dancing.
• Award prize monies to amateur dancers ages 6 to 25 who dance competitively.

Dancestart Program

The DanceStart Program is part of the Fordney Foundation and helps families support their children’s learning and training of ballroom dancing at a competition level, however, under Internal Revenue Service guidelines for 501 (c) 3 nonprofit organizations, nonprofit funds may only be given to other nonprofit organizations in the applicant’s name.

Dancesports Benefits

Ballroom dancing is beautiful, graceful, elegant, and sophisticated. It requires top physical conditioning. It improves communication skills, social interaction, coordination, creativity, spatial ability, stamina and endurance, and positive psychological benefits by elevating self-esteem.

Financial Aspects of Dancesports

When watching amateur youth/junior dance competitions, you will become aware that competitors must dress in beautiful costumes, have impeccable grooming, and straight posture. Private and group dance lessons, coaching sessions, and practice sessions are required as the skill to dance as a unit becomes perfected. Transportation to and from the competitions, entry fees, hotel lodging, and meals may also be required. It takes a great deal of time and financial resources to become a top contender. By nurturing youth dance sport, the foundation can help educate the public in the United States about this activity as a sport.

The Program's Objective

To support performing and presenting organizations whose artistic excellence encourages and improves public knowledge and appreciation of serious contemporary American music.

Funds are available for General Operating Support for professional performing ensembles and presenting organizations with a history of substantial commitment to contemporary American music and with plans to continue that commitment. The program also provides Project Support for exceptionally important activities relating to contemporary American music proposed by professional performing ensembles and presenting organizations that do not normally feature contemporary American music in their programming.

Special note for dance applicants: The Fund’s primary focus for dance applicants is on the quality of the music and the performance, which must be by live musicians, not the choreography. However, the choreography must enhance the performance of contemporary American music.

Special note for festival applicants and other applications with educational activities: If the primary focus of the organization or project is public professional performance of music, the applicant should apply to the Performance Program. If the primary focus of the organization or project is educational activities, workshops, professional training, or career development, the applicant should apply to the Supplemental Program.

Support window: Support will be given only for activity that occurs in the current season. Thus, for the 2018 grant round, support will only be given to activity that occurs between September 1, 2018 and August 31, 2019. Multi-year projects will be considered if they begin in the current season, but projects that began in an earlier season generally will not be eligible for support.

Project Support applicants: An eligible project is a clearly defined endeavor that includes one or more performances of contemporary American music and, often, other activities related to the performance(s) that improve the public’s knowledge of such music. An aggregated list of contemporary American music activities spread intermittently over the course of a season would not be eligible for Project Support, but could be considered for general operating support if a multi-year history of substantial commitment to contemporary American music is demonstrated as an integral part of the season.

The Performance Program supports the electronic dissemination of live performances, whether as a simultaneous transmission or via a recording of a live performance, by means including broadcasting and streaming. Expenses such as recording and electronic distribution costs can be considered as eligible costs in a request for general operating or project support when included live performance. 

Funding Provisions

In general, grants range from $1,000 to $20,000. Grant amounts for larger organizations with a demonstrated extraordinary commitment to contemporary American music may exceed these amounts at the discretion of the panel. Please note that the awarding of a grant for general operating support in one year does not imply continuation of that support in subsequent years. Project support grants are for that project only, and no more than one grant will be awarded for a single project.

Please refer to FAQ for additional guidelines.

OUR TOWN: Grant Program Description

ProjectsWe encourage applications for artistically excellent projects that:

• Bring new attention to or elevate key community assets and issues, voices of residents, local history, or cultural infrastructure.
• Inject new or additional energy, resources, activity, people, or enthusiasm into a place, community issue, or local economy.
• Envision new possibilities for a community or place - a new future, a new way of overcoming a challenge, or approaching problem-solving.
• Connect communities, people, places, and economic opportunity via physical spaces or new relationships.

The National Endowment for the Arts plans to support a variety of projects across the country in urban, rural, and tribal communities of all sizes.

Project Types

Our Town projects must integrate arts, culture, and design activities into efforts that strengthen communities by advancing local economic, physical, and/or social outcomes. Projects may include activities such as:

Arts Engagement

Artist residency: A program designed to strategically connect artists with the opportunity to bring their creative skill sets to non-arts institutions, including residencies in government offices, businesses, or other institutions.

Arts festivals: Public events that gather people, often in public space or otherwise unexpected places, to showcase talent and exchange culture.

Community co-creation of art: The process of engaging stakeholders to participate or collaborate alongside artists/designers in conceiving, designing, or fabricating a work or works of art.

Performances: Presentations of a live art work (e.g., music, theater, dance, media).

Public art: A work of art that is conceived for a particular place or community, with the intention of being broadly accessible, and often involving community members in the process of developing, selecting, or executing the work.

Temporary public art: A work of art that is conceived for a particular place or community and meant for display over a finite period of time, with the intention of being broadly accessible and often involving community members in developing, selecting, or executing the work.

Cultural Planning

Cultural planning: The process of identifying and leveraging a community's cultural resources and decision-making (e.g., creating a cultural plan, or integrating plans and policies around arts and culture as part of a city master planning process).

Cultural district planning: The process of convening stakeholders to identify a specific geography with unique potential for community and/or economic development based on cultural assets (e.g., through designation, branding, policy, plans, or other means).

Creative asset mapping: The process of identifying the people, places, physical infrastructure, institutions, and customs that hold meaningful aesthetics, historical, and/or economic value that make a place unique.

Public art planning: The process of developing community-wide strategies and/or policies that guide and support commissioning, installing, and maintaining works of public art and/or temporary public art.

Design

Artist/designer-facilitated community planning: Artists/designers leading or partnering in the creative processes of visioning, and for solutions to community issues.

Design of artist space: Design processes to support the creation of dedicated spaces for artists to live and/or to produce, exhibit, or sell their work.

Design of cultural facilities: Design processes to support the creation of a dedicated building or space for creating and/or showcasing arts and culture.

Public space design: The process of designing elements of public infrastructure, or spaces where people congregate (e.g., parks, plazas, landscapes, neighborhoods, districts, infrastructure, and artist-produced elements of streetscapes).

Artist and Creative Industry Support

Creative business development: Programs or services that support entrepreneurs and businesses in the creative industries, or help cultivate strong infrastructure for establishing and developing creative businesses.

Professional artist development: Programs or services that support artists professionally, such as through skill development or accessing markets and capital.

Strengthening Communities

Through Our Town projects, the National Endowment for the Arts Endowment intends to achieve the following objective: Strengthening Communities: Provide opportunities for the arts to be integrated into the fabric of community life.

Our Town project outcomes may include:

Economic Change: Economic improvements of individuals, institutions, or the community including local business growth, job creation/labor force participation, professional development/training, prevention of displacement, in-migration, and tourism.

Physical Change: Physical improvements that occur to the built and natural environment including beautification and/or enhancement of physical environment, new construction, and redevelopment (including arts, culture, and public space).

Social Change: Improvements to social relationships, civic engagement and community empowerment, and/or amplifying community identity including civic engagement, collective efficacy, social capital, social cohesion, and community attachment.

Systems Change: Improvements to community capacity to sustain the integration of arts, culture, and design into strategies for advancing local economic, physical, and/or social outcomes including, for example: establishment of new and lasting cross-sector partnerships; shifts in institutional structure, practices or policies; replication or scaling of innovative project models; establishment of training programs; or dissemination of informational resources to support the creative placemaking field.