Georgia Tech Arts is excited to announce that it has received a grant of $150,000 from the Charles Loridans Foundation to bring professional contemporary dance companies, from around the globe and Atlanta, to the campus of Georgia Tech. These selected groups will further the mission of Georgia Tech Arts by integrating performing arts into the lives and work of students, faculty, and the surrounding community. Presenting a blend of nationally recognized and locally based dance companies will ultimately raise the profile of contemporary dance across Atlanta and Georgia Tech.
Georgia Tech Arts is excited to announce that it has received a grant of $150,000 from the Charles Loridans Foundation to bring professional contemporary dance companies, from around the globe and Atlanta, to the campus of Georgia Tech. These selected groups will further the mission of Georgia Tech Arts by integrating performing arts into the lives and work of students, faculty, and the surrounding community. Presenting a blend of nationally recognized and locally based dance companies will ultimately raise the profile of contemporary dance across Atlanta and Georgia Tech.
Georgia Tech Arts newly vested director, Dr. Aaron Shackelford, explains the focus on contemporary dance programming in future seasons: “The cultivation of contemporary dance at Georgia Tech can make a uniquely strong contribution to the field in terms of both audience and artistic development. Contemporary dance companies and choreographers are also on the forefront of pressing issues that face the lives of students and many members of the community. These include the deep collaboration inherent to their creative process, the exploration of social issues, reconsideration of physicality, and abstract thinking. Given that these topics are not easily taught or established in the classroom, Georgia Tech Arts, along with the selected dance companies, is committed to providing meaningful engagement experiences for students and beyond.”
The two-year grant supported the sold-out performance of VIVA MOMIX on March 1, 2020, a work that Georgia Tech Arts Dr. Shackelford added to the 2019-2020 season programming after his arrival to the department this past summer. It represents Georgia Tech Arts’ commitment to establishing itself as a hub for innovative dance work that invites the entire community to share in these encounters.
With the funding of the Loridans Foundation, Georgia Tech Arts will also present three additional, yet to be announced contemporary dance ensembles in fall 2020, spring 2021, and fall 2021.
“The Trustees of the Charles Loridans Foundation are so pleased that Dr. Aaron Shackelford and his team at Georgia Tech Arts want to bring the best national and local contemporary dance companies to the Ferst Center,” says Bob Edge, Chair of the Charles Loridans Foundation. “This dance initiative can be artistically important not only to the Tech community but all of Metropolitan Atlanta. Recent enhancements at the Ferst make it an ideal venue for the ambitious dance presentations Dr. Shackelford has in mind; and the Loridans Trustees are very pleased to support this important program with a multi-year grant.”
Georgia Tech Arts will announce its full 2020-2021 season on May 6, 2020.