NEW
On January 28, Bivins Gallery presented “21 to Watch,” the gallery’s inaugural exhibition in which established artists and emerging talent embraced the space, color, and light at the gallery’s new Crescent Avenue location. The 21 carefully selected artists compose an international and diverse group, and their works cohesively transcend cultural boundaries through conversation. Wine and hors d’oeuvres were served and guests mingled around the paintings, sculptures, and our dancers.
PHOTO BY REBECCA BUTLER
VIDEO BY REBECCA BUTLER
ALBERT DRAKE III AND JOSEPH THALKEN. PHOTO BY BRIAN GUILLIAUX
ALBERT DRAKE III IN MOVING CITIES. PHOTO BY JEVAN CHOWDHURY
On January 9, TACA (The Arts Community Alliance) gave out $1.3 million in grants to 49 arts organizations, and another $200,000 will be announced later in the year for the Donna Wilhelm Family New Works Fund and the Bowdon and Embrey Family Foundations Artist Residency Fund. The total of $1.5 million equals the record amount set in 2016. The 49 grants were selected from 61 applicants, the most applications in TACA’s 50 years.
Established in 1967, TACA champions artistic excellence in North Texas performing arts organizations and encourages innovation, collaboration, and engagement through financial support, stewardship, and resources. Since its inception, TACA has distributed more than $26 million to emerging and established performing arts organizations with budgets from $27,000 to $30 million. A committee of 50 dedicated TACA volunteers spent many hours over the last 12 months attending performances, as well as evaluating grant applications. The distribution decisions are based on three primary criteria: artistic excellence, administrative and fiscal responsibility, and community engagement.
Regina Taylor—the Dallas-born, award-winning playwright and actor—gave an inspiring speech about taking her mother to as many performances and museums as she could, often using free programs available. After the speech, Taylor emceed a discussion with the following artists:
Students from Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts performed scenes from Taylor’s play, Magnolia, and Turtle Creek Chorale’s a capella group, Camerata, performed.
Wolford McCue, TACA’s new Carlson president and executive director, said, “For the 10th consecutive year, TACA will distribute more than $1 million in grants to the performing arts community to help build a vibrant and culturally strong city. TACA’s grants will support about 3,000 performances and productions that more than one million people will attend.”
For more information about TACA, please call 214-520-3930 or visit taca-arts.org.
BWDP Receives $1,500 from Dallas Arts District Foundation for June 2017 Production
The Dallas Arts District Foundation recently announced that 14 local arts and cultural organizations are each receiving a portion of a $24,500 grant.
“There is something for everyone in 2017,” says Dallas Arts District Executive Director, Lily Weiss.
“One of the most important efforts of the Dallas Arts District is to award grants that enhance and enrich the cultural life of the City. I am most excited about the 2017 projects because they reflect not only a range of dance, music, theater, and visual arts but also cultivate new and inclusive artists, works and audiences in our neighborhood.”
The Dallas Arts District is the largest contiguous urban arts district in the nation, spanning 68 acres and 19 contiguous blocks. The Dallas Arts District Foundation is a nonprofit 501(c)3 neighborhood advocacy organization and is funded by grants, voluntary membership dues, sponsorships, and donations.
Since 1997, the Dallas Arts District Foundation Fund at Communities Foundation of Texas has awarded 424 grants to area arts organizations totaling $1,086,567. For more information, please call visit dallasartsdistrict.org.
Hey, Millennials! Are you ready for a fantastic theater experience that’s been tailor-made just for you? BWDP’s Project35 provides awesome evenings of entertainment (tickets and perks) for the totally affordable price of $35 per ticket. How does it work? Simple. Throughout our performance season, we’ll announce our thoughtfully crafted events. You buy your ticket, show up, and have an amazing time. We’ll even let you buy an extra $35 ticket for a friend, because amazing experiences are meant to be shared. Thanks for joining Project35. We're glad you're here.
The fine print: You must be 21 to 35 years of age to join Project35. Maximum of two $35 tickets available per group member. While supplies last.
JOIN PROJECT35
PHOTO BY BRIAN GUILLIAUX
Three-Time
Winner
The mission of Bruce Wood Dance is to present high-caliber, original, contemporary choreography that
harnesses the power of dance as a tool for entertainment, enrichment, and healing. Fortified by Bruce Wood®’s
aesthetic, BWD produces and maintains his repertoire, commissions new work by resident choreographers and
guest dance-makers, and contributes to the quality of life in Dallas Fort Worth, Texas, and across the nation.
Bruce Wood Dance Company is a 501(c)3 non-profit arts organization. We are grateful for the support of our sponsors.
Bruce Wood is a registered trademark.
We are proud to announce our appointment to the 2016–2018 Texas Commission on the Arts (TCA) Touring Roster. This distinction enables us to increase touring, exposure, and building audiences in Texas. We are grateful to the TCA for its support and we are honored to join TCA’s distinguished list of Texan artists from dance, music, theater, literature, storytelling, visual arts, and film/media.
Through the Arts Respond Performance Support Grant, TCA provides funding to presenters in Texas to assist with booking fees. This quarterly program provides support to Texas schools, libraries, and nonprofit organizations for hiring TCA Touring Roster artists for performance, residency, or workshop. Negotiations take place between the presenter and artist/company. The presenter then applies to TCA for funding to supplement the engagement.
Our company is looking forward to touring and is prepared to travel to theaters, colleges and universities, libraries, and schools across the state. “We are excited to present works by Founder Bruce Wood® and new works by BWDP resident choreographers—Albert Drake, Joy Atkins Bollinger, and Kimi Nikaidoh—along with nationally acclaimed choreographers Bryan Arias, Andy Noble, and Katarzyna Skarpetowska,” said Gayle Halperin.
We are grateful for the support of our many donors. Thank you to everyone who got up and gave on September 22!
Great news for our 2017 season. The Thalken/Drake Project has been selected as a recipient of a grant from the TACA Donna Wilhelm Family New Works Fund. The Fund endowed BWDP with an unprecedented $70,000—the largest single award since the Fund’s inception five years ago. The purpose of the Fund is to stimulate new works demonstrating artistic excellence and transformational relevance. The award goes toward the development and production of the new work, which premieres at the Dallas City Performance Hall on June 17+18, 2017.
The project brings together two exceptional artists to create a work about the refugee experience—delving into the struggles, hopes, fears, and dreams of displaced people. The collaborators are award-winning New York composer Joseph Thalken and BWDP Artistic Associate Albert Drake. The premiere features BWDP dancers with Thalken conducting his score to live music provided by Dallas Chamber Symphony. The evening promises to be a tour de force of dance and music.
“BWDP offers audiences joy, healing, and opportunities for fruitful introspection, while providing exciting, meaningful work for local artists,” says Artistic Director Kimi Nikaidoh, “We are grateful for the tremendous support of the New Works Fund and excited about the ways in which the gift helps us serve our community through thoughtful, high-caliber productions.”
Thalken adds, “Dallas has such a long and thriving history of dedication to the arts, and to have the opportunity to work so closely with this world-class dance company and the incredibly talented Albert Drake is a very exciting opportunity that I am looking forward to with all my heart and soul.”
“I’m excited about working with such an accomplished composer and combining our creative perspectives to shed light on the current refugee dilemma. Bruce Wood®’s past mentoring has inspired me to take on new challenges and find purpose in making art,” declares Drake.
The latest statistics from the United Nations Refugee Agency report that “65.3 million individuals were forcibly displaced worldwide as a result of persecution, conflict, generalized violence, or human rights violations.” Furthermore, a UNRA Global Trends report noted that “on average, 24 people were forced to flee each minute in 2015, four times more than a decade earlier, when six people fled every 60 seconds.”
Joseph Thalken is an acclaimed composer whose theater and concert works have been performed internationally. Among Thalken’s original scores are Harold And Maude, Was, And The Curtain Rises, and Borrowed Dust. Thalken has also written choral, vocal, and instrumental music. On Broadway, Thalken conducted Victor/Victoria with Julie Andrews and Liza Minnelli, and Gypsy, with Patty LuPone. As a pianist and music director, he has worked with Bernadette Peters, Kristin Chenoweth, Marin Mazzie, Jason Danieley, Brian Stokes Mitchell, and Michael Crawford. Previous honors include two Gilman & Gonzalez–Falla Foundation Musical Theater Commendations, the Constance Klinsky Award, Meet the Composer Award, a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, and support from the Shen Family Foundation. He has taught at Yale University and is a graduate of Northwestern University.
Albert Drake is a founding performer in the BWDP company and a celebrated up-and-coming choreographer. His first major work for the company, Whispers, premiered in June 2015. Drake went on to work with Thalken for BWDP’s holiday event, Mistletoe Magic, in December 2015. He has been with BWDP since its beginning and has performed in at least 20 of Bruce Wood®’s acclaimed works. As a freelance performer, Drake was featured in the 2016 Soluna: Rules of the Game, presented by Dallas Symphony and AT&T Performing Arts Center. Choreographer Jonah Bokaer oversees this multidisciplinary work that will appear next at the Brisbane Festival in Brisbane, Australia and then at Theatre National Populaire in Villeurbanne, France. Drake was born in Houston and has a BFA in Dance Performance from SMU Meadows School of the Arts.
PHOTO BY BRIAN GUILLIAUX
PHOTO BY REBECCA BUTLER
PHOTO BY LAURA MARIE DUNCAN
PHOTO BY SHAREN BRADFORD
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