Ballet Hispánico Receives Inaugural Doris Duke Foundation Performing Arts Technologies Lab Grant

Ballet Hispánico is proud to announce that it has been named an inaugural participant in Doris Duke Foundation’s Performing Arts Technologies Lab, a first-of-its-kind accelerator for projects seeking to explore innovative uses of digital technology in the performing arts. Ballet Hispánico is one of 20 pioneering artists, technologists, and art organizations accepted into the Lab. The initiative generated widespread enthusiasm, with an open call generating 745 applications from individual artists, universities, presenters, producers and arts organizations in 43 states, as well as Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. Through the Lab, Ballet Hispánico will fund the new Innovación Fellowship in Dance & Emergent Technology in partnership with Cornell Tech.

“We are so grateful for the support of the Doris Duke Foundation as our company continues to support the creation of new works by our family of choreographers, ensuring that we are at the forefront of dance and cultural programming,” said Eduardo Vilaro, Artistic Director & CEO of Ballet Hispánico.

“These aren’t just technology projects. They are ambitious proposals to radically innovate in the performing arts – how they are made, how we experience them, and who they are for” said Sam Gill, president and CEO of the Doris Duke Foundation.

Doris Duke Foundation Arts Program Director Ashley Ferro-Murray said, “The over 700 applications we received for this program sent us a clear message: performing artists are ready and excited to push the boundaries of what technology can do. They are asking critical questions about open-source approaches, accessibility and representation. Our goal is to help these innovators do what artists do best—bringing new, powerful experiences to audiences.” 

Ballet Hispánico’s Instituto Coreográfico and Cornell Tech’s Backslash have created the Innovación Fellowship in Dance & Emergent Technology to empower choreographers, dancers, technologists, and researchers to explore new ways of activating Latine/Hispanic dance. This fellowship fosters collaboration between the arts and technology, aiming to elevate Latine voices and employ innovative technologies for education and social impact. The fellow will work with Cornell Tech faculty, researchers, and students, utilizing advanced resources to dissolve disciplinary boundaries and enhance knowledge exchange.

The inaugural Doris Duke Foundation Performing Arts Technologies Lab is a first-of-its-kind accelerator for projects seeking to explore innovative uses of digital technology in the performing arts. Projects accepted into the Lab will receive funding for prototyping and feasibility testing, production facilities advice, and knowledge- and network-building opportunities. Selected projects tackle a wide range of opportunities in how the performing arts are produced, distributed and consumed, including: 

• exploring the use of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence in creating, presenting, experiencing, and preserving works across the performing arts, particularly among artists representing underserved populations and cultures; 
• enabling artists and audience members with disabilities to further access, create, and engage with art through the development of new digital tools; 
• preserving inherently ephemeral works in the performing arts through new archiving technologies, fulfilling a need that is especially acute for Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) artists; and 
• pursuing field-wide solutions to pressing issues such as capital needs.  

In addition to funding, the provision of technical advising and programming that helps grantees build and benefit from peer-to-peer support networks across the field will be a critical part of the Lab experience. 

The mission of the Doris Duke Foundation (DDF) is to build a more creative, equitable and sustainable future by investing in artists and the performing arts, environmental conservation, medical research, child well-being and greater mutual understanding among diverse communities. DDF focuses its support to the performing arts on contemporary dance, jazz and theater artists, and the organizations that nurture, present and produce them. Visit www.dorisduke.org to learn more. 

Ballet Hispanico receives inaugural Doris Duke Foundation Performing Arts Technologies Lab Grant, Image credit Ballet Hispanico