We are honored and humbled to announce that NCDC has received a John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Award ($50,000 matching grant over two years), as part of its Knight Arts Challenge.  This matching grant award helps us to mark the beginning of a two-year creative process that will result in a new and immersive event: The Garden, a performance installation inspired by Italo Calvino’s novel Invisible Cities.  

The Garden aims to expand the way Philadelphia audiences experience live performance and widen their perspective on their daily urban surroundings.  This project will raise awareness of what art can be, what it can address and how, inciting lasting shifts in perception of the Philadelphia community. 

With funding from the Knight Foundation’s Knight Arts Challenge, The Garden will be created by five interdisciplinary collaborators, performed by an ensemble of five dancers and helmed by Artistic Director/Choreographer Nichole Canuso.  The Garden will take place in a central Philadelphia location, a building converted into a designed space where audience members are led, via headset, into the heart of the dance.  Oscillating between viewer and participant each audience member will at times become the main character, blend into the ensemble and view the action from a distance.  A free workshop series throughout the Summer and Fall of 2012 will allow the public to play a part in creating the work, providing essential feedback and participation that will inform the development of the project.

Because the Knight Arts Challenge is a matching grant, NCDC must raise additional monies up to $50,000 over the next two years in order to receive this award.  Our Third Annual Benefit Cabaret was a great way to kick off the beginning of this fundraising campaign and we are looking forward to your continued support.  We will be updating the website often to keep you abreast of how you can take part in our workshop series.

If you would like to make your tax-deductible donation right now, please donate to our Knight Arts Challenge Award HERE.  All donations are greatly appreciated!

About the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation’s Knight Arts Challenge is a $9 million initiative supporting innovative projects that inspire and enrich Philadelphia’s communities.  The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation is dedicated to the democratic ideal of informed and engaged communities.  To this end, the foundation supports transformational ideas that seek to innovate journalism and media, engage communities and foster the arts.  For more information about the Knight Foundation visit their website here.