NCCAkron and Christy Bolingroke receive a $500,000 grant from the Mellon Foundation
Christy Bolingbroke and NCCAkron Board; photo Julian Curet
Your name, organization, or business as you would like it to appear when we celebrate you!:
National Center for Choreography-Akron
Which Akron/Summit Cultural Plan priorities does this work help advance? Please select no more than two.:
#7: Connections, #6: Resources
Tell us what happened and why it matters. In 200 to 400 words, share an overview of the project, accomplishment, partnership, milestone, or impact you would like us to celebrate. What did you do? Who participated or benefited? What changed, became possible, or was learned? Please include any results, numbers, or memorable moments that help bring the story to life.:
The National Center for Choreography–Akron (NCCAkron) has received a $500,000 grant from the Mellon Foundation in honor of Executive/Artistic Director Christy Bolingbroke’s decade of visionary leadership. NCCAkron is currently celebrating its 10th anniversary as a connector, an incubator and research lab for artists, and a hyperagent for the national dance field.
Established in 2015 in Akron, OH, NCCAkron is one of only two national centers for choreography in the U.S. Nationally recognized for redefining support for dance artists and thought leaders, NCCAkron has worked with 800+ choreographers and arts leaders from 100 U.S. cities as they explore, experiment, and shape the future of the art form.
Christy Bolingbroke joined NCCAkron in the Fall of 2016 as the organization’s first and only employee. Over the past decade, the nonprofit has grown from one employee to a team of eight staff and contractors. NCCAkron has launched national research and development opportunities, including the Creative Administrative Research think tank, the Knight Choreography Prize, a book series with The University of Akron Press, multiple podcasts, events across the U.S., and more.
This support from the Mellon Foundation will ground NCCAkron’s work supporting dance artists and the dance field at large, while the organization continues to imagine its next decade.
Over the past decade, NCCAkron has invested nearly $3 million in dance artists, performing arts thought leaders, and arts workers. The organization has hosted 105 Research, Creative, Technical, and Dancing Lab residencies for artists across the U.S., in addition to 62 Creative Administrative Research Investigative Retreats. NCCAkron has facilitated activities and convenings in Akron and across the country, including Boston, MA; New York, NY; Pittsburgh, PA; Baltimore, MD; Akron, OH; Chicago, IL; Nashville and Memphis, TN; Houston, TX; Miami, FL; Albuquerque, NM; and Seattle, WA.
Website: nccakron.org
Where in Summit County did this work take place, or which communities did it serve?:
Across Summit County
