Keshet Dance Company
Grants Awarded
Keshet will collaborate with 21st Century Public Academy and National Water Dance to provide Middle School Outdoor Environmental Education and community programming focused on water issues for youth in Albuquerque. Participants will benefit from hands-on learning and arts integration, fostering creativity, environmental awareness, and community engagement while connecting with a nationwide network of outdoor learners and artists.
Keshet's 2024 marketing campaign aims to foster engagement among individuals interested in movement arts, outdoor recreation, and environmental education. The program will provide accessible guided movement classes, outdoor performances, and creative learning experiences that connect participants of all ages with nature, ultimately promoting community wellness and environmental awareness.
Keshet will develop an outdoor classroom and performance space in Midtown Albuquerque, enhancing community engagement with the arts. This initiative seeks to foster creativity, promote learning, and connect local artists with audiences in a vibrant outdoor setting.
The project aspires to transform the Keshet Center for the Arts into an outdoor classroom and performance space for public gatherings, educational activities, and creative pursuits. This eco-conscious venue will not only enrich Keshet's current offerings by facilitating partnerships with local schools and encouraging exploration of environmental justice through art, but also serve as a communal hub, providing accessible, inspiring spaces with panoramic Albuquerque vistas. Enhanced accessibility features, sustainable landscaping, and strategic location at a key city artery also potentially make it a preferred gathering spot for groups such as urban runners, while fostering real-world environmental learning and increased collaboration with local institutions like the 21st Century Charter School.
Founded in 1996, Keshet Dance Company uses the vehicle of dance to spur learning, connect community, empower youth, and sustain meaningful partnerships. Rooted in dance, mentorship, and a welcoming space for the arts, Keshet mission is to “activate community and foster unlimited possibilities through education, engagement, innovation, and the pursuit of justice.” Our organizational vision is to “actuate a flourishing environment for empowered individuals, nurtured communities, and sustained equity.” Over the past 27 years Keshet has pursued this mission and vision through unique and dynamic partnerships, placing dance in unexpected spaces, using the arts as a catalyst for learning and engagement. For instance, over the past 27 years Keshet’s Arts and Justice Program Initiatives have worked with a broad range of community partners at the intersection of arts and juvenile justice who envision a future where youth are empowered, and where the systems that serve them are transformed, centering the arts as a way to build the well-being of young people and their communities. Keshet’s work in this area includes dance programming for incarcerated and paroling youth; post-release transition and detention alternatives support, through internships and peer-led support; field research supporting policy and advocacy efforts towards meaningful systems change; and community conversations and learning opportunities centering youth voices with an eye towards resource connectivity across social sector and government agencies. Top accomplishments in this area include long-term engagement of previously incarcerated youth (tracking 100% high school graduation rates and a 0% recidivism rate for Keshet-engaged students!), strides in policy reform, and recognition by numerous local, national, and international accolades, included being honored at the White House for Keshet’s unique programming and successes by First Lady Michelle Obama. All of Keshet’s education and engagement programming is rooted in accessibility. Keshet approaches accessibility from both a financial perspective and physical perspective. To remove economic barriers, Keshet offers all classes and performances on a sliding scale with $0 options for all, ensuring unlimited, noncompetitive scholarships for all. Keshet also focuses heavily on ensuring students with disabilities have equal access to all programming. One of the few dance organizations in the country with a dedicated Mixed Ability Dance Program, Keshet is a leader in the national conversation about accessibility in the arts, which translates to accessibility across all of Keshet’s unique partnership programming. It is no surprise that Keshet’s primary project partner for this endeavor is also deeply rooted in community education and engagement. The mission of National Water Dance (NWD) is to promote dance as a vehicle for social change by increasing awareness of environmental and social issues through collaboration with the artistic, educational and scientific communities. NWD creates a national community, which offers platforms for educating students and supporting artistic exchange among professional artists, while engaging and informing the public.