NPN received more applications than we could fund.   Many of the applications were very strong- if you did not get funded in this round, we strongly encourage you to apply again in the summer.  Summer application deadlines will take place in July of 2010.

Follow the links below for a description of the projects: 

• Winter 2010 Creation Fund Awards

• Winter 2010 Community Fund Awards

• Winter 2010 Mentorship and Leadership Awards

When we did our first NPN residency, in 1989 at Dancer’s Collective in Atlanta, I was thrilled to finally be a part of a performing network that I had known about for years.  I hoped that more tours would follow, but I had no idea how many great NPN experiences were coming our way.

We did extensive residencies in the many NPN sites that followed:  Helena, MT, Cincinnati, OH, Burlington, VT, Austin, TX, Tampa, FL, Washington, DC, Lewiston, ME, to name a few, and performing, teaching, doing community workshops with teachers, teens at risk, dancers and actors, dialogues with immigration lawyers, lec/dems, shared rehearsals with local artists, whatever the presenter dreamed up with us. We traveled all over the United States, but that was only the beginning.

We were invited to perform at our very first annual meeting, in Durham, which resulted in an invitation from La Red/Performing Americas to tour in Brazil for three weeks, through the International Touring Residency program.  Brazil!  That delicious tour reignited my love of Latin America, a love that had developed years before while living in Venezuela as a Peace Corps volunteer and traveling throughout the continent.  A few years later, Performing Americas invited us to go back to Brazil (oh yeah), this time to work with G2, a modern dance company in Curitiba with whom we had shared rehearsal showings on our previous trip. Together we created a new work over a month in 2007, as part of a
Creative Exchange program designed to deepen relationships between
artists and presenters in the Western Hemisphere.

The Annual Meeting also offers In the Works, an opportunity for artists and presenters to pitch their newest projects.  In a wild 2 or 3 minutes, you throw out reams of information about your work, ending with requests for commissioners, funding, touring.  I have stood there many times talking as fast as an auctioneer about my new work and have received all of the above and more. NPN’s Creation Fund grants have been crucial to the development of our works, and have often been our first grants, paving the way for others.

Over the years NPN has commissioned my riskiest, most difficult work, work that terrified funders. NPN Partners have presented the work. NPN has put our most outrageous photos on the cover of their annual report, photos I was told not to send to most presenters. NPN presenters and artists have become friends and sounding boards to me. NPN has listened to me and given me the love and support that a family gives its members, no matter how strange they are. I thought I was joining a touring network, but what I was really joining was a big, inclusive, noisy, smart, innovative, sassy, art-loving family.

photo credits:  

Midwest:  March 27 at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago
West:  April 14 at MACLA in San Jose
South:  May 15 at Ashé Cultural Arts Center in New Orleans
VAN:  May 20 at Asian-Arts Initiative in Philadelphia
Northeast:  May 21 at Asian-Arts Initiative in Philadelphia

More information will be posted when it becomes available.

NEW ORLEANS, LA (January 21, 2010)—The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has awarded the National Performance Network (NPN) $100,000 to pilot the NPN Forth Fund. The Forth Fund will build upon the NPN Creation Fund, a subsidy program that provides performing artists creating new work for touring with $10,000 of unrestricted support. By contributing an additional $15,000 towards the crucial production phase of development, the Forth Fund will enhance and deepen finished NPN Creation Fund work. Funds will be disbursed directly to Creation Fund recipients and commissioners, and will provide access to critical managerial, artistic and technical resources necessary to produce a new work for touring.

“Too much work is put before an audience without being observed with the perspective of a viewer in the audience. Moving from a studio into a theater, one must have time to adjust to the new setting and respond to its needs,” says Wally Cardona, NPN Creation Fund artist. The Forth Fund will develop excellent new work by allowing resources and time for works to fully realize their potential.

The goals of the Forth Fund are to provide expanded resources to artists and to strengthen the relationship between commissioning organizations and the artists they present, providing independent artists with organizational resources, such as space, time and expertise.

During its pilot phase, NPN will invite six Creation Fund recipients to apply for support based on a variety of factors such as the stage of development, artistic discipline, geographic location, and cultural diversity in order to test and evaluate a broad range of projects. NPN will make six awards of $15,000 ($10,000 NPN Subsidy and $5,000 cash or in-kind match from the commissioning partner) to each project.

“Creative development support is central to improving the overall quality of work being produced in the US,” says MK Wegmann, NPN President and CEO. “The Forth Fund will enable artists to produce their best work, extend the life of new work, and provide communities and audiences with a richer cultural experience. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation recognizes that a deeper investment in the creative process can contribute to a strengthened support system for artists.”

About the National Performance Network (NPN)
The National Performance Network (NPN) is a group of diverse cultural organizers, including artists, working to create meaningful partnerships and to provide leadership that enables the practice and public experience of the arts in the United States. NPN annually leverages nearly $3,000,000 in financial support for the creation and touring of contemporary performance work. NPN is supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts (a federal agency), the Ford Foundation, the MetLife Foundation, the Nathan Cummings Foundation, Lambent Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

About The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation builds, strengthens and sustains institutions and their core capacities; develops thoughtful, long-term collaborations with grant recipients; and invests sufficient funds for an extended period to accomplish the purpose at hand and achieve meaningful results. Mellon grants in six core program areas: Higher Education and Scholarship, Scholarly Communications, Research in Information Technology, Museums and Art Conservation, Performing Arts, and Conservation and the Environment. For more information, visit www.mellon.org.

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Download this press release (pdf)

"What a great bunch of people to be around. It was JUST AMAZING!!!"
These days, with the insane number of communication choices we have, how often do we actually connect with each other, face-to-face and in real time? The NPN Annual Meeting is one of those rare moments, and the success of the meeting in Knoxville raised the bar for future gatherings. Of special note was the buzz around NPN’s 25th Anniversary. With special events and feature articles scheduled for the coming year, NPN kicked off the celebration with a fashion statement: a rainbow set of bracelets featuring the seven disciplines supported by NPN, augmented by a special silver 25th Anniversary bracelet. (Sets of 8 are available for $5 + shipping from the NPN office.)

"I had such an amazing time and felt so totally nurtured as an artist."
The Knoxville AM played host to a total of 300 artists (visual and performing), presenters, co-commissioners, funders and and field-related friends from national, local and international arenas. Nearly 95 artists attended, a record number, in equal complement to the number of NPN and VAN Partners, encouraging deeper conversations among peers. This year’s meeting featured the Visual Artists Network’s first full integration into the content of the Meeting. To celebrate, VAN commissioned provocative hotel room installations, commandeering the hotel’s 3rd floor. The five juried artists were given (nearly) free reign in transforming the rooms, which were available for viewing throughout the weekend. <IMAGES> [The rooms were safely returned to their previous condition at the end of the Meeting.]

"The meeting has empowered me to exceed expectations at my organization."
Forums for dialogue and shared learning experiences abounded, including nine Idea Forums that addressed topics culled from NPN’s constituencies over the months prior to the Meeting:
o    Artists Pioneering Hybrid Careers
o    Giving Voice to Community: 2 NPN Community Fund Case Studies
o    Everything You Wanted to Know About International Tax
o    Women of Calypso and the New Performing Americas Program Creation Fund
o    Sharing Process with Audiences
o    Creative Ways to Commission During Tough Times
o    Measuring Transformation: Evaluating Arts and Social Impact Projects
o    The Enterprising Artist:  Rethinking Professional Arts Education for a New Global Cultural Workforce
o    Fundraising Challenges, Opportunities and Strategies During a Recession

"I loved the energy! I think the fact that we had more sessions as an overall group made the atmosphere more congenial or something."
Opportunities for sharing work (past, present and future) took place during “In the Works” sessions, the “Media Showcase,” the Visual Artists Salon, and in ArtBursts—short performances throughout the plenary sessions which kept audiences on their toes and artists’ work in the forefront. Artists were invited to a half-day professional development workshop, focusing on entering, building and exiting community, facilitated by Urban Bush Women.

"The time together away from workspace is essential whether in seminars or in bars."
"It inspires me and holds me together for the whole year."
Both scheduled and informal invitations to explore Knoxville, meet local residents and see artwork in the community kept attendees awake and alert well into the night. “Live & On Stage” showcases were presented for two nights at the historic Bijou Theatre, just around the corner from the hotel. AC Entertainment, manager of the Bijou and the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival, lent a promotions team to NPN for the showcases, ensuring that Knoxville audiences came in force. The 3-1/2 day conference reached its crescendo on Sunday evening at the Knoxville Museum of Art, when Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, Urban Bush Women’s Founder and Artistic Director, presented an inspirational keynote that brought NPN and UBW full circle over the course of both organizations’ first 25 years in the field. Knoxville’s Streamliners rocked the house with their 17-piece swing band and wild dancing ensued, as colleagues bade farewell until the Annual Meeting in Dallas in early December 2010.

It’s that time of year again.  The NPN office will be closed for Mardi Gras on Tuesday, February 16, 2010.  Limited staff will be working on Monday, February 15 and Wednesday, February 17.

Regular office hours resume on Thursday, February 18.