Here are the latest promotions, appointments, and departures, as well as notable awards and accomplishments, from September 2024. Plus, a newly available funding opportunity for dance artists.
Comings & Goings
Vershawn Sanders-Ward has been named president of Black Arts & Culture Alliance of Chicago.
Emily Shooltz has been named the next artistic director of off-Broadway’s Signature Theatre, succeeding Paige Evans on November 1.
Former Joffrey Ballet director of development Bradley W. Renner has been named the next executive director of Orlando Ballet, beginning October 14.
Branislav Henselmann has been named the next executive director of San Francisco Ballet, beginning in November.
At Boca Tuya, Lindsay Clipner has been named executive director and producer, and Rachel Secrest company manager.
Karen Shepherd stepped down as interim managing director of The Washington Ballet at the end of September.
Houston Ballet executive director James Nelson will retire in 2026.
Jeanie Scott has been named the next chief executive of Scotland’s Dance Base, succeeding Jim Hollington on November 15.
Sean Aaron Carmon has joined Dance Kaleidoscope as rehearsal director.
At Pacific Northwest Ballet, Luther DeMyer has been promoted to soloist.
National Ballet of Canada principal Jurgita Dronina will depart the company at the end of the 2024–25 season.
Awards & Honors
Justin Vivian Bond and Shamel Pitts are among the 2024 MacArthur Fellows, each of whom receives an $800,000 unrestricted grant.
Ralph Lemon and Shavon Norris are among the recipients of the 2024 Pew Fellowships in the Arts, which each include $85,000 unrestricted grants. Creative Project Grants were awarded to BalletX (for Jennifer Archibald’s Maslow’s Peak), Nichole Canuso Dance Company (Lunar Retreat), and The Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education (for Silvana Cardell’s site-specific TERRA: Bodies & Territories).
Imania Fatima Detry and Robby Lee Williams are among the recipients of this year’s 3Arts Awards, which include a $30,000 unrestricted grant.
Inaugural recipients of Doris Duke Foundation’s Performing Arts Technologies Lab grant include Alaska Native Heritage Center (Yuraq Project), Ballet Hispánico Instituto Coreográfico and Cornell Tech’s \ Art initiative (Innovación Fellowship in Dance & Emergent Technology), ChromaDiverse, Inc. (Unlocking History: Enhancing CD SmartCapture), grisha coleman (The Movement Undercommons: Technology as Resistance | Future Archives), jaamil olawale kosoko/kosoko performance studio (Mapping the Ephemeral Passage: Methods for Archiving Performance), Kinetic Light (Advancing Innovation in Performing Arts Access Technologies), Momentum Stage, Inc. with Nicole Perry, Pedram Nimreezi, and Ed Talavera (Totentanz: Creative Performance Protection), and VisionIntoArt (Sensorium AI: Disability, Technology, and Voice).
At the Creative Arts Emmys, Karla Puno Garcia won Outstanding Choreography for Variety or Reality Programming for her work on the 76th Annual Tony Awards and Nina McNeely won Outstanding Choreography for Scripted Programming for “The Idol.”
Charm La’Donna won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Choreography for Dua Lipa’s “Houdini” video.
Jan Bartoszek received the 2024 Legacy Award from See Chicago Dance.
Christopher Gerty received the National Ballet of Canada’s 2024 Dancers First Award, which includes a $5,000 prize.
New Funding Opportunity
Illinois Arts Council is accepting applications for its Creative Accelerator Fund, which will provide $10,000 grants to Illinois-based independent artists. Application deadline is November 20. More information here.
