Repertory Dance Theatre to Receive Funds from National Endowment for the Arts

Repertory Dance Theatre has been approved for a $15,000 Grants for Arts Projects award from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to support the "I AM" Project. This project is a collaborative initiative with Natosha Washington, a local choreographer, educator, and community leader that combines the company’s commitment to community-based programming with a focus on the intersection of learning, art-making, and connectivity. Repertory Dance Theatre's project is among 1,130 projects across the country, totaling more than $31 million, that were selected during this second round of Grants for Arts Projects fiscal year 2023 funding.
 
“The National Endowment for the Arts is pleased to support a wide range of projects, including Repertory Dance Theatre's 'I AM' project, demonstrating the many ways the arts enrich our lives and contribute to healthy and thriving communities,” said NEA Chair Maria Rosario Jackson, PhD. “These organizations play an important role in advancing the creative vitality of our nation and helping to ensure that all people can benefit from arts, culture, and design.”
 
RDT's Executive/Artistic Director Linda C. Smith said, "RDT continues to invest in powerful artistic voices from POC artists looking to build community through dance, choreography, and the arts. We are grateful for the support from the National Endowment for the Arts to support this exciting project for our 58th season." She continues, "During the upcoming season, RDT will focus on often-marginalized communities, and ways the company’s programs and services can best serve these populations with lasting impact."
 
Components of the I AM project include: 

• Lesson plans designed by Washington and her team of West High language arts and visual arts teachers will introduce the topics explored in “I Am”. These plans intend to encourage discussions among students and teachers about the values of finding one’s voice, the concepts of fairness and acceptance, and imagining what a healthy community might look like.
• A one-week residency at West High, informed by the new lesson plans, will feature sessions in movement, writing, and visual arts. Facilitated by RDT, the residency’s objective is to spark conversations with and between marginalized students, encouraging them to give voice to personal stories, and to consider and connect to differing viewpoints.
• A piece set on the West High Dance Company by RDT dancers will be presented in concert for the entire school as the residency finale.
• Natosha Washington’s evening-length work I AM will premiere as RDT’s season-opening concert, on October 5-7, 2023. Expanded from Washington’s 2018 work Say Their Names, part i, this new iteration will explore cultural identity, personal story-telling, and inspiration through the interplay of her choreography, her personal experience, new musical compositions, RDT dancers and guest performers from the Salt Lake community, such as Dee-Dee Darby Duffin and a local choir.

 
For more information on other projects included in the NEA grant announcement, visit arts.gov/news.