The National Center For Choreography - Akron Announces Thought Partners For Research Cohort

The National Center for Choreography - Akron has announced Thought Partners for the new cohort of its Creative Administration Research (CAR) program.

Thought Partners are paired with choreographers in the dance field to investigate administrative practices that support the artist's creative practices. Thought Partners include Conrhonda Baker (Atlanta, GA) working with Kara Jenelle Wade (Atlanta, GA), Hope Mohr (San Francisco, CA) working with taylor knight & anna thompson of slowdanger (Pittsburgh, PA), and Marýa Wethers (Brooklyn, NY) working with Marina Magalhães (Santa Cruz, CA).

The CAR program launched in 2020 with lead support from the Mellon Foundation, and with $1 million in renewed funding granted in 2023, has initiated a fifth cohort for a total of 22 Artist Teams from across the U.S. These teams include the choreographer, Thought Partner, and NCCAkron staff members. Each Artist Team engages in an artist-dedicated Investigative Retreat, with time and space to identify administrative experimentations that support creative practices. Rather than reinforce the one-size-fits-all approach, Creative Administration Research invites Artist Teams to imagine multiple ways forward. The paired Thought Partner provides additional accountability and a sounding board between Investigative Retreats.

Thought Partners include arts administrators, artists, funders, presenters, and those working outside the dance field. NCCAkron identified potential Thought Partners from participants in the CAR Work-In-Process Series discussions, which has brought together 80+ thinkers and leaders across the arts sector to reflect and imagine a twenty-first-century dance ecosystem. Choreographers chose their Thought Partner from an NCCAkron curated selection of possible pairings.

"The CAR program is so special because it supports artists who are otherwise focused on making their artistic work and trying to run their arts business that it can be really difficult to prioritize this type of "thinking work" about new ways to organize how they do what they do," shared Thought Partner Marýa Wethers. "The CAR program invites artists into an ongoing and flexible process that allows them to focus on that "thinking work" along with financial support and a Thought Partner."

The fifth cohort of choreographers begins their Creative Administration Research in Spring 2024. For a list of all program participants, alumni, and Thought Partners, click here.

"I'm looking forward to exploring the interweaving of artmaking and arts administration into a unified creative practice with taylor and anna of slowdanger," shared choreographer Hope Mohr. "Our shared passions for collaborative, interdisciplinary performance will provide rich territory for dialogue and research. It's an honor to be a part of NCCAkron's leadership work creating spaces for essential, long-term exchanges among artists."

In fall 2024, NCCAkron will host another open application period for the sixth cohort of choreographers. The new artist teams will be onboarding in early spring 2025. All active Artists and Thought Partners will join NCCAkron for the third National Summit Convening in the summer of 2026. In addition to growing the program through admin experiments, NCCAkron continues to seek opportunities to share program learnings with the wider performing arts field. A book on creative administration edited by Tonya Lockyer (Suquamish, WA) and a collaboration between NCCAkron and the University of Akron Press is expected later this year.

Photo credits (L to R): Conrhonda Baker (photo by Decisive Moment), Hope Mohr (photo courtesy of the artist), and Marýa Wethers (photo Scott Shaw).