We would like to thank the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation for their $85,000 grant through its Fund for National Projects to support our partnership with the International Association of Blacks in Dance.
National Arts Strategies (NAS) and the International Association of Blacks in Dance (IABD) have co-developed a series of educational and leadership development experiences to strengthen the field of dance, specifically focused on Black Dance – The Learning Magnet.
The Learning Magnet brings NAS, the top provider of educational services to the arts sector together with IABD, the backbone supporting Black Dance organizations across the nation. Together, NAS and IABD will provide the tools, ideas and networks that dance organizations need today in order to plan for sustainability and health in the future.
Through action-oriented learning, amplifying stories and connecting participants to peers from across the nation to learn and exchange ideas, The Learning Magnet will strengthen the management and leadership skills of next generation leaders, foster inter-generational dialogue, gain traction on important field-wide issues, increase the level of diversity in field-wide conversations and establish stronger networks and communities of practice amongst Learning Magnet participants.
In discussing goals for the Learning Magnet, chairperson/executive director Denise Saunders Thompson said, “It is critical that the dance field, specifically, and the performing arts field as a whole, acknowledge that culturally specific artists and arts organizations have challenges, circumstances, contexts, needs, histories, etc. that require a distinct and unique sense of camaraderie, community, leadership, networking, solidarity and support that will assist and assess their successful participation within their immediate environments and the larger cultural landscape.” NAS agrees and is committed to working with IABD towards this reality.
We look forward to implementing The Learning Magnet together through November 2017 and are grateful to the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation for supporting this important work.
About The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation
The mission of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation is to improve the quality of people’s lives through grants supporting the performing arts, environmental conservation, medical research and child well-being, and through preservation of the cultural and environmental legacy of Doris Duke’s properties. The Arts Program of DDCF focuses its support on contemporary dance, jazz and theater artists, and the organizations that nurture, present and produce them. For more information, please visit www.ddcf.org.
About the International Association of Blacks in Dance
The International Association of Blacks in Dance preserves and promotes dance by people of African ancestry or origin, and assists and increases opportunities for artists in advocacy, audience development, education, funding, networking, performance, philosophical dialogue, and touring. For more information, please visit www.iabdassociation.org
