Dance/NYC is proud to announce the successful completion of the first round of grantmaking through its Dance Workforce Resilience (DWR) Fund, a pilot initiative designed to promote fair labor practices, support contracted freelance dance work, and reduce wage inequities across New York City’s dance sector. The Fund received over 120 applications in its first month, with all applicants who were not yet selected opting to remain in the pool for future lottery rounds.

Launched in June 2025, the DWR Fund offers one-time $1,000 grants to freelance dancers working in the NYC metropolitan area for eligible, contracted dance work completed between January 1, 2025, and April 30, 2026. Applicants are randomly selected through a monthly weighted lottery that prioritizes individuals who are most often underpaid or excluded from traditional funding opportunities, including African, Latina/o/x, Asian, Arab, and Native American (ALAANA); disabled; immigrant; transgender; nonbinary; and older (40+) dancers.

Supported by the Ford Foundation, New York Community Trust, and other generous funders, the DWR Fund is a core component of Dance/NYC’s multiyear Dance. Workforce. Resilience. (DWR) Initiative, which aims to strengthen the dance ecology by fostering economic sustainability for individual dance workers and organizations alike. It is administered by Dance/NYC in collaboration with consultants F. Javier Torres-Campos and Jo-Ná A. Williams, Esq., utilizing guidance from an advisory group of dance workers with experience in grantmaking and arts labor advocacy.