With support from the California Arts Council, Grown Women Dance Collective will produce world-class dance performances, community arts and wellness classes for children, adults and seniors in under-resourced communities, and dance and movement-based workforce development training.
Funds will support artists and staff; increasing increase our capacity to empower BIPOC artists, center the voices of historically marginalized community members, and strengthen our organizational partners’ missions through art. We will celebrate and strengthen Black and Brown communities; support cultural resistance, resilience, self-empowerment and joy. Support will help create spaces that inspire a sense of belonging, dignity, trust, joy, collaboration, and innovation and empower folks from historically disinvested groups to leverage their strengths, imagine new possibilities, achieve goals, re-invest people-power back into our communities, and collectively create a more just future.
Our programs celebrate resistance, resilience, self-empowerment and joy.
Performances & Narrative Shift Choreography: We create world class performances led by dancers of color in our 50’s and 60’s, centered around African American experiences and achievements. Our choreography shifts the narrative on important societal issues such as mass incarceration, homelessness, voting rights, and environmental justice. We challenge stereotypes, create cross-cultural, intergenerational, and cross-class bridges, catalyze new conversations and community action, and create a forum for healing based on art, justice, and human connection.
Dance and Healthy Movement Instruction in Under Resourced Communities:
We teach Dance (Technique & Dance with Literacy) to youth and therapeutic movement to adults (Dance, Pilates for Back & Joint Pain, Pre/Post Natal Pilates, & Fall Prevention for Seniors); bringing access to the arts, wellness skills, and the growth and emotional well-being associated with both.
Pilates Certification Training and Mentorship for Underestimated Community Members:
We provide Comprehensive Pilates Certification training for disinvested community members. Programs include full scholarships to receive internationally accredited certifications, mentoring, mental health counseling, financial literacy, nutrition classes, paid internships and job placement assistance. This empowerment program helps break the cycle of intergenerational poverty, helps stave off gentrification, decreases health disparities, and creates healthier, more joyous communities.

