December 17, 2021

Doris Duke Charitable Foundation awards Performance Forward Fund grant to Ananya Dance Theatre

We are honored to announce that the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (DDCF) has awarded a grant to Ananya Dance Theatre from the Performance Forward Fund. The grant makes us ready to propel our organization, artists, and communities into a brighter, post-pandemic future.

“The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation is grateful to provide this responsive, flexible funding to Ananya Dance Theatre and other performing arts nonprofits with trust in their leadership to address their most critical opportunities as they navigate this moment and build toward the future,” said Maurine Knighton, program director for the arts at the DDCF. “Despite the unprecedented disruption, these organizations have continued to prioritize supporting artists and have come up with innovative ways to bring artistic work to audiences and the communities they serve.”

DDCF is awarding up to $250,000 each to contemporary dance, jazz, and theater organizations nationwide to accelerate their ability to pivot from business as usual to executing new and promising ideas. Recipients have been identified for evidence of a track record of equity-focused values and practices, visible connections and relevance within their communities, strong leadership, and innovative digital experimentation.

“We are grateful to the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation for its confidence and support of our work,” said Ananya Chatterjea, artistic director of Ananya Dance Theatre. “The foundation’s grantmaking lifts up and recognizes the role of the performing arts in pursuing social justice and serving as an engine for economic opportunity and equity.” 

The mission of the DDCF is to improve the quality of people’s lives through grants supporting the performing arts, environmental conservation, medical research and child well-being, and through preservation of the cultural and environmental legacy of Doris Duke’s properties. The foundation focuses its support to the performing arts on contemporary dance, jazz and theater artists, and the organizations that nurture, present, and produce them.

The foundation has been awarded the National Medal of Arts in special recognition of its support of creative expression across the United States and “bold commitment” to artistic risk, which has helped performing artists share their talents and enriched the cultural life of the nation. For more information, please visit www.ddcf.org. 

@DorisDukeFdn #PerformanceForward