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Filmmaker and Dance Artist Richard Daniels is one of 500 New York City-based artists to receive $5,000 through the City Artist Corps Grants program, presented by The New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA), with support from the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME) as well as Queens Theatre.
Richard Daniels is recognized for The Pandemic Dances, which will bring its first live public screening of his suite of five short dance films to the Edie Windsor SAGE Center Midtown in the Chelsea area of Manhattan in Fall 2021, details to be announced later.
The Pandemic Dances is a product of the times and limitations through which we’re living. Two films are complete and in circulation: A Dance for A – Pandemic Dance No. 1; and Zooming – Pandemic Dance No. 2. Three more films are in production. The series is made with at-hand elements: smart phones, portable lighting, computers, green screen, and shot entirely within the confines of one apartment. The two circulating films have already been accepted into 37 film festivals and won 20 awards.
SAGE is the country's largest and oldest organization dedicated to improving the lives of LGBT older adults. In partnering with their arts and culture programming, Pandemic Dances will be able to reach a broad cross-section of audience members who comprise the SAGE community. This will mark the first time any of these works have been screened in-person (as the aforementioned film festivals have all been held remotely during the pandemic), and the first time the works will be screened consecutively. The goal will be to bring together community members in a thoughtful meditation over the toll of loss, confinement, and a difficult era which is now hopefully past.
Over the course of three award cycles, more than 3,000 artists will receive $5,000 grants to engage the public with artist activities across New York City’s five boroughs this summer and fall. Artists can use the grant to create new work or phase of a work, or restage preexisting creative activities across any discipline.
Members of the public can participate in City Artist Corps Grants programming by following the hashtag #CityArtistCorps on social media.
City Artist Corps Grants was launched in June 2021 by NYFA and DCLA with support from the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME) as well as Queens Theatre. The program is funded by the $25 million New York City Artist Corps recovery initiative announced by Mayor de Blasio and DCLA earlier this year. The grants are intended to support NYC-based working artists who have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. It is strongly recommended that a portion of the grant be used to support artist fees, both for the applying artist and any other artist that are engaged to support the project.
