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ARTIST SUPPORT

ARCOS offers support and mentorship to independent dance artists in Austin throughout the process of supporting their practices and projects, providing logistical and creative guidance. Current artist support programs include the DADA microgrant and ARCOS Presents production mentorship.


Text reads: What do we need art to do now? ARCOS Presents is a production mentorship and laboratory designed for dance artists to rehearse being nimble, courageous, and willing to take creative risks by tackling difficult ideas in new ways. Image caption reads: Ciceley Fullylove (2024). Photo by Sarah Annie Navarrete. Image behind text shows four dancers with light and dark brown skin and black and colorful hair wearing sneakers, matching patterned pants, club dancing clothes and colorful makeup. They are all looking to the left, three with hands on their hips and the fourth with arms lifted to their chest. They background is dark and moody, with a single theatrical light visible. Text reads: How can artists work sustainably? We aim to support the "emerging-into-self-producing" dance artist at any stage of your practice. We are interested in collaborating with artists to discover how to make and share your work in ways that are resilient to the ongoing changes we continue to face. Image caption reads: Kelly Goetz (2024). Photo by Sarah Annie Navarrete. Image behind text shows a person with light pink skin and shoulder-length brown hair in a white dress with sleeves and corset, kneeling in a white spotlight in front of a red suitcase. They are reaching out toward one of five red balloons floating above the suitcase, tied to it with strings. In the foreground, broken shards of a mirror on the floor reflect parts of the person and balloons. Text reads: Can art go deeper while using less? We invite dance artists to consider all that goes into your work, from your and collaborators' labor to materials and energyo We support exploring hybrid, transdisciplinary, and unconventional approaches to make powerful work that wastes as little as possible. Image caption reads: Angelica Monteiro (2023) Photo by Faith Davis. 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. Text reads: Awardees receive: artist stipend, productton budget, technical inventory, rehearsal studio, performance venue, creative mentorship, presentation support, communtty outreach. Image caption reads: Michael J. Love (2019). Photo by Uli García Vela. 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 a bracelet, standing with head pointed up, eyes closed, and arm extended. Slide 5: Text reads: Timeline: January 3: Applications open, February 2: Applications close, February 10: Awardees Notified, April: Short-Form Works, October, Long-Form Works. Image caption reads: Anxious 20yr Olds (2017). Photo by ARCOS. Image behind text 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.

ARCOS is committed to relational, rather than transactional, practices of sharing resources, knowledge, and care in artmaking. ARCOS Presents 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. 

The 2025 program will present one production of short-form works (~10–15 min) and one double bill of long-form works (~30–45 min). Application open below. 

PROGRAM TIMELINE

January 3 – Apps open
February 2 – Apps close
February 10 – Awardees notified
April 17–19 – Short-form works
October 9–11 – Long-form works

QUESTIONS

Email a@arcosdance.com or
DM @arcosdance on Instagram

This project is supported in part by the City of Austin Economic Development Department.


Past ARCOS Presents awarded artists include:

  • Kelly Goetz for Menstruator and Ciceley Fullylove for Rhythm & Grooves (2024) at CRASHBOX

  • Angelica Monteiro for Narratives of the Migrant Body (2023) at Motion Media Arts Center

  • Interdisciplinary tap artist Michael J. Love for The Auralvisual Mixtape Collection, Part II: Dope Fit! (2019) at Carver Museum and Cultural Center

  • University of Texas at Austin alums anxious 20yr olds (Gianina Casale, D’Launa Lawson, Oluwaseun Samuel Olayiwola, Lizzette Chapa, Hunter Sturgis) for This Isn’t New (2017) at Museum of Human Achievement
Kelly Goetz: Menstruator / Ciceley Fullylove: Rhythm & Grooves (2024) Angelica Monteiro: Narratives of the Migrant Body (2023) Michael J. Love: Dope Fit! (2019) anxious 20yr olds: This Isn't New (2017)



Dance Artist Development Award



ARCOS Foundation for the Arts provides the Dance Artist Development Award (DADA) to honor independent professional dance artists in Austin seeking to deepen, expand, or refine their practices. While many grants provide funding for artistic projects, the impact of which can be quantified (for example, by measuring artists paid or audience members directly affected), this award is intended to provide dance artists the opportunity to take a risk to explore a practice- rather than product-based pursuit that may have profound, long-term effects on their creative development and work going forward. Prior recipients have used the development funds to explore new movement modalities within and outside of our community, work with mentors to strengthen their self-producing capacity, and conduct leadership training in art as social engagement and activism.





 Awardee 

Sandie Donzica

 Finalists 

Rosie DeAngelo Alisa Guardiola

 Panelists 

Cristina Goletti Karissa Royster Rulan Tangen


2018


 Awardee 

Erica Saucedo

 Finalist 

Rachel Nayer

 Panelists 

Bruno Augusto Rachel K. H. Sherertz Rosely Conz

2017

 Awardee 

Hunter Sturgis

 Finalist 

Sandie Donzica

 Panelists 

Cohdi Harrell Joy Cosculluela Jesús Cortés

2016


 Awardee 

Michael J. Love

 Finalist 

Stephanie Patrick

 Panelists 

Anjali Austin luciana achugar Catherine Cabeen



2015



 Awardee 

Lisa Hueske

 Panelists 

Ekalos Reed Gabriel Williams Krista Bower


Fiscal Sponsorship

Previously, ARCOS served as a nonprofit fiscal sponsor primarily to Austin-based artists by providing financial management and administrative support for municipal arts grants. Since the City of Austin Cultural Arts Division launched revised funding programs that no longer require fiscal sponsorship for application, this is no longer one of ARCOS’ currently offered forms of arts service. 


Past fiscally sponsored artists and projects include Magdalena Jarkowiec’s In Here at Fusebox Festival (2018) and Us Kids Are Alone In The House at Salvage Vanguard Theater (2016), Millie Heckler’s SoulFunktion Yes Body summer dance parties (2018), Esther Bramlett’s Articulate Austin Series (2019), and Michael J. Love’s virtual-hybrid Beatbox Series (2020-21).