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ARCOS Presents - Producing Creative Risk-Taking - Applications Open May 31 ARCOS Presents is a production mentorship and laboratory designed to prepare artists to be nimble, courageous, and willing to take creative risks by tackling difficult ideas in new ways. We aim to support Austin-based “emerging-into-self-producing” dance artist at any stage of their choreographic practice. Image behind text shows a dramatically lit dancer with shoulder-length brown hair and beige skin wearing tan underwear, facing away from us seated inside the wooden frame of a large oval mirror, their face in the reflection gazing intensely. Applicants should be interested in experimentation and making art that is resilient to the ongoing changes we will all continue to face. We invite dance artists thinking genre-expanding, unconventional, multidisciplinary, and risky directions. Image behind text shows a dancer with dark brown skin and a large black beard and afro, wearing a gray suit jacket over black shirt and pants and bracelet, standing with head pointed up, eyes closed, and arm extended. Lab program will produce two artists: one full-length piece already in development and one short-form work-in-progress. Image behind text shows a dancer with light brown skin and black hair wearing an orange shirt, pink sweatpants, and white sneakers, frozen in a shoulder stand with legs up in the air. They are in a pool of white light surrounded by blue light, with yellow string lights in the background. Awardees receive financial support including artist stipend, production budget, studio rehearsal space, technical inventory access, and performance venue rental. Additionally, mentorship provides awardees creative thought partnering, production and technical support, and audience and press outreach. Timeline: May 31 - Applications open, June 30 - Applications close, July–August - Creation period, September - Performance presentation Image divided into four sections: In one, text reads ARCOS Presents previous awardees. An image labeled “Anxious 20yr Olds (2017)” shows a dancer with light brown skin and long curly black hair wearing beige underwear facing away from us in a bathtub, watching two dancers with brown skin and curly dark hair wearing different shades of red standing close together facing each other. The wall and floor are white, with an exposed ceiling of wood and metal. An image labeled “Michael J. Love (2019)” shows a dancer with dark brown skin and large black beard and afro, wearing black tank top, slacks, and white tap shoes reaches toward a device on a metal stool. A microphone points at the ground and everything is bathed in blue light, with a close-up of dirt projected in the background. An image labeled “Angelica Monteiro (2023)” shows a dancer with brown skin and shoulder-length dark hair wearing a white shirt covered in black handwriting, orange sweatpants and white sneakers, arms and head raised and knee and foot touching the ground. Behind the lit up dancer is a house made from a large cardboard box and a dozen audience members sitting in the dark a short distance away. Questions: a@arcosdance.com - Application: arcosdance.com/arcos-presents

︎ ARCOS, Faith Davis, Uli García Vela, Sarah Annie Navarrete
ARCOS is committed to relational, rather than transactional, practices of sharing resources, knowledge, and care. ARCOS Presents is a production mentorship and laboratory designed to prepare artists to be nimble, courageous, and willing to take creative risks by tackling difficult ideas in new ways. We aim to support Austin-based “emerging-into-self-producing” dance artists at any stage of their choreographic practices.

Applicants should be interested in experimentation and making art that is resilient to the ongoing changes we will all continue to face. We invite dance artists thinking in hybrid, genre-expanding, unconventional, multidisciplinary, and creatively risky directions. The 2025 lab program will produce six artists total: one production of four short-form works and one double bill of longer ones.

Awardees receive financial support, including an artist stipend, production budget, studio rehearsal space, technical inventory access, and performance venue. Additionally, mentorship provides awardees creative thought-partnering, production and technical support, and community outreach guidance.

PROGRAM TIMELINE

May 30 - Application opens
June 30 - Application close
July / August- Development
September - Performance presentation