Danspace Project Inc

DANSPACE PRJECT, INC. IS AN ORGANIZATION THAT PRESENTS DANCE WORKS AT ST. MARK'S CHURCH IN-THE-BOWERY AND AT OTHER VENUES IN NEW YORK CITY. FOUNDED BY ARTISTS IN 1974 AT THE HISTORIC LANDMARK OF ST. MARK'S CHURCH, DANSPACE PROJECT IS AN INTERNATIONAL LEADER IN THE COMISSIONING AND PRESENTATION OF CONTEMPORARY DANCE. THE MISSION OF THE DANSPACE PROJECT IS TO PRESENT NEW WORK IN DANCE, SUPPORT A DIVERSE RANGE OF CHOREOGRAPHERS IN DEVELOPING THEIR WORK, ENCOURAGE EXPERIMENTATION AND CONNECT ARTISTS TO AUDIENCES. FOR THE YEAR ENDED JUNE 30, 2021, DANSPACE PROJECT OFFERED BOTH DIGITAL AND LIVE PROGRAMMING, WITH MOST PROGRAMS ONLINE DUE TO THE PANDEMIC, SERVING 35 ARTISTS AND 3017 AUDIENCE MEMBERS.

PRESENTING IN FY21, DANSPACE PROJECT (DSP) CONNECTED ARTISTS WITH EACH OTHER AND AUDIENCES THROUGH DIGITAL AND LIVE PROGRAMMING. DUE TO THE PANDEMIC, MOST PROGRAMS WERE ONLINE AND ALL EVENTS WERE FREE OR OFFERED AT A SLIDING SCALE. DSP FULLY COMPENSATED ALL ARTISTS WHO HAD BEEN COMMISSIONED FOR LIVE PERFORMANCES THAT WERE CANCELLED: JUSTIN CABRILLOS, DEVYNN EMORY, ANDROS ZINS BROWNE & KENNIS HAWKINS, LILY GOLD, TENDAYI KUUMBA & GREG PURNELL, DEAN MOSS, IELE PALOUMPIS, LESLIE PARKER, AND SAMITA SINHA. ARTISTS WERE INVITED BUT NOT REQUIRED TO CONTRIBUTE IN DIGITAL FORMAT, RESULTING IN: TENDAYI KUUMBA & GREG PURNELL'S UFLYMOTHERSHIP'S VISUAL ALBUM, "THE MIXTAPE" (10/14/20); THE PREMIERE OF DEAN MOSS' FILM "UNTITLED (PERFECT HUMAN)," FOLLOWED BY A LIVE CONVERSATION BETWEEN MOSS AND YOUNG JEAN LEE (12/1/20) AND ANDROS ZINS-BROWNE'S THREE PART TEXT/AUDIO SERIES ON DSP'S ONLINE JOURNAL (MARCH 2021). DEVYNN EMORY PRESENTED THEIR MULTIFACETED WORK THAT INCLUDED A FILM, "DEADBIRD" (3/31/21), AND A PUBLIC GRIEF ALTAR AT PROSPECT PARK, "CAN ANYBODY HELP ME HOLD THIS BODY" (4/1-3/21), WHERE AUDIENCES LEFT OFFERINGS FOR LOST LOVED ONES. DSP PRESENTED 9 CONVERSATIONS WITHOUT WALLS (CWW) FEATURING: ISHMAEL HOUSTON-JONES AND CAROL MULLINS, JOAN JONAS & EIKO OTAKE, SAMITA SINHA & CECILIA VICUA, JASMINE HEARN & JO STEWART, BARBARA DILLEY, YVONNE RAINER, & WENDY PERRON, KYLE ABRAHAM & TAYLOR STANLEY, DEVYNN EMORY & ANGIE PITTMAN, JAAMIL OLAWALE KOSOKO & LARISSA VELEZ-JACKSON , AND ALICE SHEPPARD & IELE PALOUMPIS. DRAFTWORK CONTINUED WITH VIRTUAL PERFORMANCES OF WORKS-IN-PROGRESS-BY ATHENA KOKORONIS, J. BOUEY AND JORDAN DEMETRIUS LLOYD FOLLOWED BY CONVERSATIONS BETWEEN THE ARTISTS AND CURATOR ISHMAEL HOUSTON-JONES.

PLATFORM SERIESPLATFORM 2021: THE DREAM OF THE AUDIENCE (5/15/21-6/18/21), CURATED BY JUDY HUSSIE-TAYLOR, WAS A DIGITAL SERIES FEATURING ACCLAIMED ARTISTS AND PAST PLATFORM CURATORS, EACH WITH LONGSTANDING RELATIONSHIPS TO DSP: ISHMAEL HOUSTON-JONES, OKWUI OKPOKWASILI, EIKO OTAKE WITH JOAN JONAS, AND REGGIE WILSON. EACH ARTIST RECEIVED RESIDENCY TIME, A VIDEOGRAPHY AND EDITING BUDGET, AND CREATED A NEW FILM THAT PREMIERED ONLINE. PLATFORM 2021 INCLUDED TWO CONVERSATIONS IN WHICH LYDIA BELL & KRISTIN JUAREZ DISCUSSED DSP'S PLATFORM ARCHIVES.

PUBLICATIONS & DIGITAL ENGAGEMENT PROGRAMSDSP CONTINUED PUBLISHING ITS ONLINE JOURNAL WITH ISSUE #11, "TREMBLING ARCHIVE, AND ISSUE #12, "THE DREAM OF THE AUDIENCE." ISSUE #11 FEATURED MEDITATIONS, ESSAYS, POEMS, AND RECORDINGS OF CWWS. ISSUE #12 INCLUDED ARCHIVAL MATERIAL FROM PLATFORM 2021 ARTISTS AND AN ESSAY ABOUT THE LAST DECADE OF DSP PLATFORMS BY MAURA NGUYEN DONOHUE. DSP ALSO RELEASED FREE DOWNLOADABLE PUBLICATIONS IN FY21, INCLUDING PLATFORM 2020: UTTERANCES FROM THE CHORUS CATALOGUE VOL. II AND OTHER PAST PLATFORM CATALOGUES ASSOCIATED WITH PLATFORM 2021 ARTISTS. DSP HOSTED A VIRTUAL VOCALIZATION AND EMBODIMENT SERIES LED BY SAMITA SINHA (7 SESSIONS) WITH GUESTS CESAR ALVAREZ, OKWUI OKPOKWASILI, JULIA ULEHLA, EIKO OTAKE, AND ASH FURE.

DANSPACE PROJECT (DSP) PARTNERS WITH PEER ORGANIZATIONS AND ARTISTS REGULARLY, COMPRISING THE REMAINDER OF OUR PROGRAM SERVICES. DSP COMPENSATED 6 ARTIST RESEARCH FELLOWS AUGUST-NOVEMBER 2020 TO WORK WITH THE CURATORIAL TEAM TO ADVISE ON DSP'S DIGITAL PROGRAMS, FOCUSING ON EQUITY AND ACCESSIBILITY. THE FELLOWS WERE: JAAMIL KOSOKO, LARISSA VELEZ-JACKSON, IELE PALOUMPIS, DEVYNN EMORY, ANGIE PITTMAN, AND ALICE SHEPPARD. THIS PROCESS ALLOWED DSP TO HEAR DIRECTLY FROM ARTISTS DURING THE SHUTDOWN, GATHERING INPUT ABOUT THE NEEDS OF THE FIELD. LASTLY, DSP RAISED FUNDS IN 2000 TO SET UP AFFORDABLE OFFICE SPACE FOR INDEPENDENT CHOREOGRAPHERS, AND CONTINUES TO OFFER THIS SPACE AT A SUBSIDIZED RATE.