CREATIVE ADMINISTRATION RESEARCH
The Creative Administration Research (CAR) program is intentionally designed to build a bridge between 20th century working knowledge and the 21st century dance ecosystem. The CAR program supports U.S. dance artists and challenges the field to think beyond the boundaries of known, traditional models and “best practices.” Since 2020, the program has initiated six cohorts for a total of 22 Artist Teams from across the U.S.
CAR Artists and Thought Partners participate in intensive virtual Investigative Retreats designed to reflect on their body of work, examine chronic challenges across their operations, and imagine multiple ways forward. NCCAkron believes there isn’t one way of making dances, so there should not be one way of doing arts administration either.
I established the Creative Administration Research program at NCCAkron because it became clear if we were to be a hub for research and development in dance, we should also interrogate the landscape where dance lives — and ideate further about what the dance field needs to unlearn or do differently to thrive. There are so many brilliant arts workers doing this work.
- Christy Bolingbroke, Founding Executive/Artistic Director
of the National Center for Choreography-Akron
CURRENT ARTIST TEAMS
Artist | Thought Partner
Amy O'Neal (Los Angeles, CA / Seattle, WA) | Tonya Lockyer (Suquamish, WA)
Deneane Richburg (Saint Paul, MN) | Vu Le (Seattle, WA)
Jasmine Hearn (Houston, TX) | Conrhonda Baker (Atlanta, GA)
Kara Jenelle “KJ” (Los Angeles, CA) | Elena Muslar (Los Angeles, CA)
Marina Magalhães (Santa Cruz, CA) | Marýa Wethers (Brooklyn, NY)
slowdanger (Pittsburgh, PA) | Hope Mohr (San Francisco, CA)
ALUMNI ARTIST TEAMS
Artist | Thought Partner
Abby Zbikowski (Columbus, OH / New York, NY) | Francine Sheffield (Richmond, VA)
Banning Bouldin (Nashville, TN) | John Michael Schert (Boise, ID)
Bebe Miller (Columbus, OH) | Antuan Byers (New York, NY)
Brandon "Chief Manny" Calhoun and Jamal "Litebulb" Oliver (Chicago, IL) | Rika Iino and Chisa Yamaguchi (Oakland, CA)
Brian Brooks (New York, NY) | Huong Hoang (New York, NY)
Dominic Moore-Dunson (Akron, OH) | Antuan Byers (New York, NY)
Edgar L. Page (Byron Center, MI) | Helanius J. Wilkins (Boulder, CO)
Iquail Shaheed (Philadelphia, PA) | Conrhonda Baker (Elberton, GA)
Jaamil Olawale Kosoko (New York, NY) | Ellen Chenoweth (Philadelphia, PA)
Makini (jumatatu m. poe) (Durham, NC) | Reuben Roqueñi (Portland, OR)
Kate Wallich (Seattle, WA) | Indira Goodwine-Josias (Boston, MA)
Marjani Forté-Saunders (Pasadena, CA and New York, NY) | Michele Byrd-McPhee (Jersey City, NJ)
Pioneer Winter (Miami, FL) | Dixon|Dahlia Li (New York, NY)
Raja Feather Kelly (Brooklyn, NY) | Byron Au Yong (Palm Springs, CA / Seattle, WA)
Rashaun Mitchell and Silas Riener (New York, NY) | Tonya Lockyer (Suquamish, WA)
Ronald K. Brown (Brooklyn, NY) | Sandra Burton (Williamstown, MA)
Rosie Herrera (Miami, FL) | Aaron Mattocks (Acra, NY)
Takahiro Yamamoto (Portland, OR / Boston, MA) | Byron Au Yong (Palm Springs, CA / Seattle, WA)
Umi IMAN Siferllah-Griffin (Atlanta, GA) | Conrhonda Baker (Atlanta, GA)
Artists On Creative Administration:
A Workbook from the National Center for Choreography
Artists On Creative Administration, edited by artist/cultural strategist Tonya Lockyer (Suquamish, WA), emerged from NCCAkron’s acclaimed Creative Administration Research program. The book features essays from and interviews with 30 artists and advocates from the dance and the performing arts worlds, sharing first-hand stories of creative administration in action through case studies, interviews, life tools, and experiments.
Photo by Cherylynn Tsushima.
CAR SUMMIT CONVENINGS
In 2022 and 2023, all active Artist Teams gathered in Akron, OH for Summit Convenings to exchange experiences and working knowledge accumulated to date.
Look back at the 2022 CAR Summit Convening and the 2023 CAR Summit Convening.
CAR Artists, Thought Partners, and NCCAkron team members at the 2023 Summit Convening. Photo by Shane Wynn.
FOLLOW CAR IN THE MEDIA
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