Grantee Database
KERN DANCE ALLIANCE
Grant Year
2025-26
Grant Program
Arts and Youth
Award Amount
$21,000.00
Project Description
With support from the California Arts Council, KERN DANCE ALLIANCE (KDA) will produce the 10th annual Books in Motion: DANCE + LITERACY program, a free summer reading program fostering literacy through the arts for 4,000 children in Kern County’s underserved communities. Targeting unhoused, low-income, and marginalized youth, Books in Motion delivers 50+ performances across 23 Kern County Library branches and homeless shelters. Children engage with literature through performances, learn choreography, create crafts, and receive free books. With American Sign Language (ASL) services and Spanish-language offerings, Books in Motion ensures inclusivity. By integrating dance with Common Core literacy standards, Books in Motion cultivates critical thinking, cultural responsiveness, and positive self-expression, empowering youth in a region with limited arts access. Funds will support artist honorariums, books, craft supplies, and accessibility accommodations, transforming lives through equitable arts education.
Organization Summary
KDA serves a diverse population through our programs:
– ADAPTIdance®: DANCE + DISABILITY offers adaptive dance classes for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
– BOOKS IN MOTION®: DANCE + LITERACY links dance and literacy to inspire children to read.
– CHILDREN’S DANCE EDUCATION + OUTREACH PROGRAM provides at-risk youth with an afternoon of dance at the Bakersfield Fox Theater.
– DANCING with the ANGELS connects foster care families through the arts.
– HealingMOTION: DANCE + THERAPY are dance therapy sessions for cancer patients and survivors.
– NATIONAL DANCE DAY provides a celebratory day of dance classes for the community to enjoy.
– NATIONAL HONORS SOCIETY FOR DANCE ARTS recognizes artistic merit, leadership, and academic achievement in students studying dance.
– MemoryMOVES®: DANCE + THERAPY are dance therapy sessions for Alzheimer’s and dementia patients.
– MightyMOVERS: DANCE + THERAPY are dance therapy sessions for pediatrics patients.
– OPEN STAGE affords creatives access to the Bakersfield Fox Theater’s technical staff and theater amenities for free.
– Paso a Paso utilizes dance to support empowerment through life-skills workshops for Kern County high school girls, specifically Latinas.
– SHINE for GIRLS: DANCE + MATH = SUCCESS combines dance with math to improve girls’ math scores and spark interest in STEAM.
– Taste of Dance celebrates cultural diversity in Kern County by showcasing cultures through culinary and performing arts.
– KDA Creative Corps is a $4.2 million dollar re-granting program awarded by the California Arts Council to KDA in support of arts programs that positively impact the lives of people living in the Central Valley’s lowest quartile of the California Healthy Places Index. The $4.2 million California Arts Council grant has been used exclusively for the regranting and administering of the KDACC. It has NOT be used to fund KDA’s existing programs, which will continue to operate alongside the KDACC. KDA continues to need funding and support to meet its daily and annual operating needs. www.kdacreativecorps.org
Organization
KERN DANCE ALLIANCE
Address
PO BOX 12407
BAKERSFIELD
93389-2407
County
Kern
Region
Central Valley
Phone
(661) 491-5376
Congressional District
California's 23rd Congressional District
State Assembly District
District 34
State Senate District
District 16
