Meet the Pop-Up Grant Recipients for July & August August 21, 2024

Announcing Our Newest Pop-Up Grant Recipients

We are proud to announce three standout Pop-Up Grants programs for July and August. These productions included diverse artistic endeavors, challenging us to see complexity in familiar stories and immerse ourselves in the creativity of the Dallas arts community.

Bombshell Dance Project & Dallas Contemporary

DC Empty

Unrestricted Grant: $2,500 Pop-Up Grant
Artist Bonus Funds: $5,000 Artist Bonus Funding

Bombshell Dance Project’s Creation Lab at DC Empty brought local Dallas artists together for a collaborative devising process that included a week of ideation and a one-night-only performance that invited audiences to take part in the creative process. This was the first installment of Bombshell’s Creation Lab, which will pop up around Dallas throughout the year.  

Created in 2016, Bombshell Dance Project is a contemporary dance company founded by Emily Bernet and Taylor Rodman in their hometown of Dallas, Texas. The company is driven by collaboration and focused on new formats and innovative work that brings audiences closer to dance. Learn more about Bombshell Dance Project on Facebook and Instagram.

Dallas Contemporary’s (DC) mission is to present the art of our time to the public: to document new directions in art through rotating exhibitions, publications, and learning programs for visitors of all ages. As a contemporary arts institution that grapples with timely and complex issues in one of the fastest growing metroplexes in our nation, they firmly believe in the power of artists’ ideas and voices to chronicle and transform society. Keep in touch with DC on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Prism Movement Theater & AT&T Performing Arts Center

La Maupin: The French Abomination

Unrestricted Grant: $3,000 Pop-Up Grant
Artist Bonus Funds: $5,000 Artist Bonus Funding

La Maupin is a tale of love and tragedy set in 18th-century France, all wrapped up in a high-octane Punk Rock Vanity Fair package. It is based on the true story of Julie D’Aubigny, a bisexual duelist and opera singer who was famous for dueling men and wooing their women. Through a beautiful mix of sword fighting and dance, the show details her almost too-incredible-to-believe exploits (like the time she burned down a nunnery to escape with her lover or the time she fought three men at once – and won!) While exploring Julie’s journey to find happiness and acceptance as a queer woman way ahead of her time.

Prism Movement Theater aims to provide quality movement theater born of ensemble-based work; emphasizing community outreach, education, and diversity in their work. Jeff Colangelo and Katy Tye founded Prism Movement Theater after collaborating together while both students at Southern Methodist University. Jeff, a fight choreographer, and Katy, an acrobat and dancer found that their particular movement aesthetics could be combined to create entire narratives without using any words. Keep in touch with Prism Movement Theater on Facebook and Instagram.

The Elevator Project is a series of performances by Dallas-based arts groups, presented on the AT&T Performing Arts Center campus. The series provides performance space in the Dallas Arts District to local talent, while giving audiences exposure to the vibrant arts scene around them. Drawing from all genres of performing arts, the projects are chosen through an annual submission process and curated by an independent panel of arts professionals. The Elevator Project was created in 2014 by the AT&T Performing Arts Center and is presented with generous support from the City of Dallas Office of Arts and Culture.

There is no better place to explore and experience live performing arts than the AT&T Performing Arts Center in the Dallas Arts District. On its vibrant 10-acre downtown campus, the nonprofit Center operates three of the nation’s finest performance venues: the Winspear Opera House (the best stage for Broadway in North Texas), Wyly Theatre, Strauss Square and the welcoming public green space, Sammons Park. Keep in touch with AT&T Performing Arts Center on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.

Shakespeare Dallas

The Odyssey

Unrestricted Grant: $2,500 Pop-Up Grant
Artist Bonus Funds: $5,000 Artist Bonus Funding

Scenes from The Odyssey by Mary Zimmerman, adapted from the translation by Robert Fitzgerald was performed in June and July 2024 at the Samuell Grand Amphitheatre in East Dallas. With her trademark irreverent and witty twist on classic works, Zimmerman brings to life the story of Odysseus’s ten-year journey, depicting his encounters with characters such as Circe, the Cyclops, Poseidon, Calypso, the Sirens, and others.

Founded in the early 70’s, Shakespeare Dallas offers North Texas residents a unique opportunity to experience Shakespeare in a casual park setting, as well as providing cultural and educational programs to audiences of all ages. Using Shakespeare’s works as a cornerstone, Shakespeare Dallas serves the Southwest region with fun and accessible indoor and outdoor theatre, integrated school programs, and cultural enrichment for people of all ages and backgrounds. Keep in touch with Shakespeare Dallas on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

WHAT’S A POP-UP GRANT?
We started our Pop-Up Grant program to shine a light on arts organizations creating programming that demonstrates exceptional quality, innovation, and accessibility safely, without skimping on the creative impact.

HOW DO YOU PICK THE RECIPIENTS?
Grant recipients are meticulously selected via a nomination process that incorporates 60+ anonymous volunteers. Nominations are made each month and a selection committee meets afterward to determine grantees based on our criteria above.

To learn more about Pop-Up Grants, please click here.