Minneapolis Announces 2025 Bridge Fund for Dance Recipients
Photo credit: Background photo courtesy of Arena Dances
August 18, 2025 | The City of Minneapolis is pleased to announce the grant recipients of the inaugural 2025 Bridge Fund for Dance – totaling $656,800 for 41 projects across three funding categories. The Bridge Fund for Dance invests in Minneapolis and Minnesota-based choreographers, dance companies, event producers, and performing arts organizations to create new and existing dance and choreography projects in and around downtown Minneapolis.
The funding was created largely in response to the temporary closure of the Cowles Center and the growing demand for financial support. It builds on last month's announcement of a new collaboration to operate the Cowles Center, and represents another direct investment in the City’s creative future – building stronger communities, a more vibrant downtown, and better quality of life for all through culture and creativity.
“Dance has the power to turn sidewalks into stages and strangers into neighbors,” said Mayor Jacob Frey. “The Bridge Fund for Dance is bringing that magic downtown – fueling creativity, drawing people in, and showing why Minneapolis is a world-class home for the arts.”
“This a thrilling moment for dance in Minneapolis. The Bridge Fund for Dance was created to fuel innovation and collaboration across our local dance community,” said Ben Johnson, City of Minneapolis Director of Arts & Cultural Affairs. “This year’s awardees embody the spirit of experimentation, cultural dialogue, and community engagement we set out to support, and I’m thrilled to see their work activate theaters, parks, storefronts, and skyways throughout our downtown.”
This funding opportunity drew extraordinary interest, with more than 120 applications received – a testament to unique strength of Minneapolis’ dance community and the power of advocacy in support of more inclusive funding that supports the entire dance ecosystem in Minneapolis.
Development and Research Residency Support
Fifteen recipients will use these funds to incubate new dance ideas, strengthen collaborations, and explore site-responsive work. For example:
In a 12-day residency, Sam Arros-Mitchell will develop a work-in-progress, Juya Nokakamea, an immersive Indigenous dance rooted in the Yaqui story of the Talking Tree.
Nieya Amezquita’s piece asks: Can safe spaces become confining? Does comfort discourage curiosity and risk? Through this exploration, she aims to embody the tension between safety and transformation—inviting audiences to consider how we each navigate change.
Jillian Kramschuster wants to explore the moment that humans feel an initial spark that ignites their passion. This project would also focus on themes of burnout, imposter syndrome, and isolation as these are things that can be felt by individuals who are in pursuit of their dreams.
Production & Tech Week Support
Three awardees will expand technical elements and production timelines, ensuring seamless public presentations. For example:
Toni Pierce and Abdo Sayegh Rodriguez at TU Dance will deepen the collaboration with New York Based project - EVIDENCE for the joint performances at Northrop Auditorium and will help to broaden the project’s impact by engaging with Minneapolis school students.
Deborah “Jinza” Thayer, Artistic Director of Movement Architecture will present "From Tokyo to Brooklyn: A Jagged Journey" at Northrop Auditorium. This dance installation travels through Northrop's immense backstage spaces. It features large scale projections, an oversize mobile installation and nontraditional lighting.
Taja Will has Disability Justice at the center of choreographic praxis. Meaning, the design of accessibility must evolve alongside the work, for the collaborators and in consideration of the audience.
Presentation Support
Twenty-three events and showcases will bring fully produced dance work to theaters, parks, vacant storefronts, skyways, and public plazas. For example:
Anat Sinar, Centered: transforming an abandoned ice-cream shop into a multiuse gallery, performance venue, and community hub.
Berit Ahlgren, Showing: an immersive real-estate–style tour in a vacant building that animates gentrification narratives.
The Great Northern Festival, Pride of Place: a silent-disco winter dance for 500-800 participants at Father Hennepin Bluff Park.
Leila Awadallah, After the Last Red Sky: a work that is transforming and warping traditions of Arabic dances and music into sorrowful, joyful, rageful reclamations of life.
Masanari Kawahara, Degenerate Matter: a Butō lantern procession at Graco Park meditates on impermanence via dance and light.
Kitty Margo (MDT), Winter Showcase: Minnesota Dance Theatre’s original holiday performance engaging youth and honoring a local legacy.
Ranee Ramaswamy and Ragamala Dance Company present Ananta, The Eternal: Bharatanatyam duet and free community programs across five venues, including MIA and Northrop.
DejaJoelle, The Ceremony: a multi-sensory world-building performance elevating Black cultural ritual in an immersive gallery setting.
Emily Michaels King, MAGIC GIRL: an iridescent one-woman show tracing a personal journey of self-love through movement, sound, and light.
Leslie Parker, LoverRoot: a new solo and ensemble dance work rooted in experimentation and Black improvisation.
A full list of awardees and project details can be found on the Bridge Fund for Dance website.
The City of Minneapolis Arts & Cultural Affairs Department exists to advance, support, stimulate, and promote a diverse and active arts and cultural environment that recognizes and draws on the full potential of Minneapolis’ artists and arts organizations, reflects, and responds to civic concerns and aspirations, and enriches the lives of all people who live in, work in and visit Minneapolis.
City news release can be seen here:
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