Chicago Dancemakers Forum

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Chicago Dancemakers Forum (CDF) is a catalyst for innovation and a means to increase dynamic interaction among Chicago's dancemakers. Launched in 2003, CDF was created in response to an ongoing need to fund the research and development of new directions in dance. The program is designed to cultivate artistic exploration and growth by funding dance artists in their creative process. CDF also hosts workshops, work-in-progress feedback sessions, and critical forums and discussions for the broader Chicago dance community.

CDF is led by a consortium comprised of two independent dance artists, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Links Hall, and The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago.

The three principal CDF programs are the Lab Artists Program, Greenhouse Program, and Public Programs:

The Lab Artists Program awards grants of up to $15,000 and provides professional support to select leading dance artists in their research and development of new choreographic directions. These CDF awards are distinctive in that they emphasize exploration and artistic growth through the creative process.
The Greenhouse Program, mirrored on the success of the Lab Artist program, awards smaller grants and provides mentorship to a select group of emerging choreographers who show great promise.
The CDF Public Programs facilitate dynamic interactions among a broader dance community. CDF offers professional workshops, convenes public showings, and organizes critical forums and discussions. Much of this public activity is promoted under the umbrella of the CDF Salons series.

Our primary program, the Lab Artist program supports artistic exploration, research, and development that leads to production of a new work, culminating in public performances. The select choreographers are active in their field and developing a distinctive trajectory in their work. They possess the skills and experience to undertake a larger project of extended scale, and the capacity to benefit from an environment of artistic interchange.

To date, CDF has awarded $500,000 in grants, making a substantial impact on the Chicago dance community. The Artists supported by CDF are an aesthetically and culturally diverse group.

Bonnie Brooks chairs the Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago, where she is a tenured faculty member. She oversees the department's academic program and co-curates the Dance Center's contemporary dance presenting series with executive director Phil Reynolds. A native of Washington DC, she has held numerous administrative posts in the dance field, including executive directorships at Dance/USA (Washington, DC) and the Minnesota Dance Alliance (Twin Cities), and serving as managing director of the David Gordon/Pick Up Co in New York City. She began her work in arts administration at the National Endowment for the Arts. Prior to joining the faculty at Columbia College Chicago, she was a visiting assistant professor in the Department of World Arts & Cultures at the University of California, Los Angeles . She is working on a comprehensive history of the "arts wars" of the late 1980/s-early 1990's and occasionally tours as a resident lecturer with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. Brooks studied theater and English at Wheaton College (IL), and earned a master's degree, also in English, from George Mason University in Fairfax, VA.

Peter Carpenter is an independent choreographer whose physical theater performances have often intersected with political activism and critical theory. He has dedicated the majority of his career to tracking the complex ways in which identity has been shaped in subaltern communities by HIV/AIDS. His independent work has resulted in numerous repertory pieces and four evening-length works including Bareback Into the Sunset (2003), which, since its premiere performance at Highways Performance Space in Santa Monica, Calif., has been seen in excerpted and full-length versions at numerous conferences and performances in Los Angeles in Chicago. Since returning to Chicago in 2005, Peter has worked as a collaborator with The Seldoms and Lucky Plush Productions and has presented his work in numerous festivals and independently. Peter holds an MFA in dance from UCLA and is currently writing his dissertation for a PhD in Culture and Performance Studies. He is a full-time faculty member at the Dance Center of Columbia College, Chicago and a 2008 Artistic Associate of Links Hall. Peter has received numerous grants and commissions for the creation of new work, and was a CDF Lab Artist in 2008.

Margi Cole

Ginger Farley has been a dancer, teacher, dancemaker, and dance advocate in Chicago since1978. She danced with the Hubbard Street Dance Company from 1978-1988. Teaching credits include the Lou Conte Dance Studio, the Dance Center of Columbia College and The Chicago Academy for the Arts. From 1996-2001 she directed The 58 Group, an ensemble of musicians and dancers that explored the relationship of music and movement in live performance, with colleague Cameron Pfiffner. She has also choreographed for theater, most notably the Çourt Theatre production of "The Iphigenia Cycle" directed by JoAnn Akalaitis and her work has also been seen on broadcast television. In 2003 she was the recipient of the Chicago Dancemakers lab artist award. She now produces her work independently, is a member of the consortium that directs the Chicago Dancemakers Forum, serves on the Performance Programs committee at the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Board of Directors for Links Hall and participates actively in the community to support the performing arts and dance related initiatives.

Suzy Grant is the Program Manager for the Chicago Dancemakers Forum as well as a dance administrator, producer, and performer. She has a strong knowledge of the dance community, providing varying administrative and production support to numerous choreographers, companies, and arts organizations, including her work with Chicago Moving Company, Khecari, Mordine & Co. Dance Theater, and The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago. Suzy is co-producer of The Open Space Project, a showcase of emerging choreographers. As a dancer, Suzy has worked with many local choreographers and her solo work has been seen in Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, and throughout Chicago. Suzy hold a BA in dance from The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago.

Roell Schmidt, Director of Links Hall, has been working in film, theater and arts administration since 1994. In addition to her organizational leadership experience, Ms. Schmidt has an impressive background as a producer in film and theater, with talents ranging from the administrative to the creative. Ms. Schmidt has directed the development, marketing, and/or artistic administration departments at Lookingglass Theatre Company and The Chicago Chamber Musicians, and worked in production at the Athenaeum Theatre and on independent films throughout Chicago. She is a playwright and multi-media producer, has received three CAAP grants and was awarded a Ragdale Artist Residency in 2008. As the Director of Marketing for The Chicago Chamber Musicians, Roell played an important role in Audience Development and spearheaded innovative use of new electronic media. She acted as Director of Artistic Administration and Director of Development at Lookinglass Theatre Company during a period of rapid growth for the company. Roell led ground-breaking programming, increased audience attendance and was at the forefront of the Capital Campaign responsible for Lookingglass Theatre Company's move to Water Tower Water Works.

Peter Taub directs the performing arts programs at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) in Chicago. He has over twenty years experience in curating, arts management, and artist-centered activities with a broad emphasis on cross-disciplinary performance, dance, and music, He has developed artists-in-residence projects, touring projects, and commissions of new works with a wide range of artists including Meg Stuart/Damaged Goods, The Builders Association, Reggie Wilson/ Fist & Heel Performance Group, Emio Greco|PC, Roger Guenveur Smith, William Kentridge/ Handspring Puppet Company, and Ernest Khabeer Dawkins, among others. Prior to joining the MCA, he directed Randolph Street Gallery, an innovative artist-run forum for socially engaged artists in all media. He has participated in policy committees and boards for a range of Chicago-based cultural organizations.

encourages artistic innovation and public engagement by maintaining a facility and providing flexible programming for the research, development and presentation of new work in the performing arts.

is an innovative and compelling center of contemporary art where the public can directly experience the work and ideas of living artists, and understand the historical, social and cultural context of the art of our time. As a leading multi-disciplinary organization, MCA presents and supports artists developing dance, theater, music and interdisciplinary performance. Its Artists Up Close programs foster exchanges between audiences and artists.

The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago's mission is to provide a comprehensive education for the dancer-artist, offering academic training leading to either a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance. The Dance Center also serves the community as Chicago's leading presenter of contemporary dance.

A Thank You

The Chicago Dancemakers Forum is supported by the Alphawood Foundation, the Weasel Fund, The MacArthur Fund for Arts and Culture at The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, the Arts Work Fund for Organizational Development, the Chicago Seminar on Dance and Performance, the Chauncey and Marion D. McCormick Family Foundation, the Ann Barzel/Patrick Henry Arts Fund, and a number of generous individuals.

Past programmatic support has been provided by the Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation and HMS Media. The Chicago Community Trust was the seed funder for CDF from 2003-2006.

CSDP HISTORY

The Chicago Seminar on Dance and Performance (CSDP) came together in spring 2003, when Susan Manning, a nationally- and internationally-recognized dance scholar on the faculty at Northwestern University, met Elizabeth Liebman, an art historian and long-time patron of contemporary dance in Chicago. The two shared an interest in promoting public conversation on dance as a way of building audiences and building bridges between making, viewing, and thinking about performance and civic culture.

CSDP did not start with a set of preconceived strategies for pursuing its mission. Rather, Manning and Liebman looked to partners in the community to join their cause and to suggest ideas. One basic principle was to work between existing institutions to develop the public sphere for dance. For its first two years, CSDP organized its own events; for the next four years, CSDP ran a small grants program to fund events organized by area companies and presenters.

For more information on CSDP's history, click here.

PARTNERSHIP WITH CDF

In joining forces with the Chicago Dancemakers Forum, CSDP embarks on a third phase. Reflecting the CDF emphasis on process and creative research, CSDP will co-sponsor the CDF/Silverspace Salon Series in 2009-10, enabling a broader agenda and ongoing documentation of the series. In fall 2009 the Salon Series will focus on questions of recycling ideas and idioms as a key strategy in contemporary performance.

Elizabeth Liebman received her Ph.D. in Art History from the University of Chicago, and she is currently on the faculty at Northwestern University. Her research focuses on the visual representation of movement, an interest informed by her long-time commitment to dance and her fascination with mind-body relations. Her research also reflects her earlier career as an illustrator for the life sciences at museums from Paris to Perth.

Susan Manning has pursued her research in dance studies, an emergent (inter)discipline within the humanities, by working through the more established fields of drama, theatre, and performance Studies. As a Professor of English, Theatre and Performance Studies at Northwestern University, she has authored two monographs: Ecstasy and the Demon (1993; 2nd ed. 2006) traces the shift from modernist bodies to fascist bodies in the works of Mary Wigman, Germany's leading dancer between the two world wars. Modern Dance, Negro Dance: Race in Motion (2004) explores changing relations between modern dancers and African-American concert dancers in New York City from the Red Decade of the 1930s to the Red Scare of the 1950s. She recently curated an exhibition at the Centre national de la danse in Paris on the history of African-American theatre dance, titled Danses noires/blanche Amérique. Manning is a 2006 recipient of a Studs Terkel Award from the Illinois Humanities Council for her outreach to the local dance and arts community.