Every year the organization provides hundreds of current and former professional dancers with critical financial assistance. Our educational scholarship and entrepreneurial granting program was created to provide a bridge toward the acquisition of a required degree, an important new skill, or to provide seed money to help start a fledging business. The organization has two funds that are geared to help dancers in this process.
Provides $2,000 scholarships or grants to initiate an academic or retraining
process or to help professional dancers with start-up money for a new business.
Eligibility for financial assistance is based on work history as a professional
dancer. Dancers who are eligible must complete an application form and provide
documentation of a performing work history.
In addition to the Newhouse fund, other named scholarship programs have been created by dance artists and patrons to enhance this program, they include:
- Carmen Diana Barth
- Violet Blumenfeld
- Arlene C. Cooper
- Douglas Durst
- Agnes de Mille
- Vivian Milstein
- Rudolf Nureyev
- Clarence Y. Palitz, Jr.
- Lillian Sayers
- Sanford I. Wolff
The Newhouse fund was established in 2002 by the organization's Director Emerita Caroline H. Newhouse (1910-2003), whose passion and support for dancers was a driving force behind the organization's growth for many years.
Provides $5,000 scholarships toward graduate degrees in fields other than
performance dance. The Osato scholarship program was created to help dancers
meet the substantial financial commitments that come with the pursuit of a
graduate-level degree. Areas of graduate study supported by the scholarship
include professional degrees (law and medicine), the medical arts (nursing,
physician's assistant, physical therapy, etc.), the helping professions
(social work, counseling, psychology, creative arts therapies, etc.), physical
and social sciences, education, business and the humanities.
The program was established in 2005 by a generous endowment gift of $750,000 from renowned dancer and actress, Sono Osato. It is anticipated that the endowment will generate funds sufficient to award a scholarship to a minimum of two applicants annually.
Review our eligibility guidelines to see if you are eligible
to receive funds from this program.
As a not-for-profit arts-service organization committed to dancers, we endeavor to reach as many current and former professional dancers as possible. All of our services are provided free of charge. Donate now to help us reach even more dancers.