Department of Dance Wins NEA Grant

The Department of Dance has been awarded a 2020-2021 National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) “Art Works” grant. The $10,000 grant will support the project “Indian Dance and American Communities: Expanding Forms and Audiences.” Dr. Kaustavi Sarkar, assistant professor of dance, is the principal investigator.

With the grant, the dance department will commission two dance works—a group work for students and a solo for Sarkar—and to further community connections through residencies by Dr. Ananya Chatterjea, choreographer of Ananya Dance Theatre (ADT). The project will include two five-day residencies at UNC Charlotte in the upcoming academic year, community and university-based student performances, a performance of the commissioned solo, masterclasses, scholarly symposia, and public discussions.

“Art Works grants support artistically excellent projects that celebrate our creativity and cultural heritage, invite mutual respect for differing beliefs and values, and enrich humanity,” reads the announcement from the NEA.

The 2020-2021 Arts Works Grant is the third NEA grant that the dance department has received in the past decade: The department received a 2010-2011 American Masterpieces grant to restage Martha Graham’s Primitive Mysteries (1931) on UNC Charlotte students and a 2015-2016 Art Works grant to support a residency with the Paul Taylor 2 Company to reconstruct a lost Taylor work, Tracer. Associate Professor of Dance Kim Jones was the principal investigator on both grants.

In the 2020 fiscal year, the NEA will give 1,187 grants totaling $27.3 million to artists and institutions across the United States.

“The National Endowment for the Arts is proud to support grants throughout the entire country that connect people through shared experiences and artistic expression,” said Arts Endowment Chairman Mary Anne Carter in a recent announcement. “These projects provide access to the arts for people of all abilities and backgrounds in both urban centers and rural communities.”