World Arts West Dance Festival
The first and most successful cultural event of its kind in the country; each annual festival features 10-15 ensembles – with workshops, panels, film showings and other community programming centered on an overarching theme. Last year, we celebrated our 45th Annual Dance Festival at Dance Mission Theater and Presidio Tunnel Tops, showcasing culture, wisdom, and beauty through global dance and music, with the theme of “Dance as Activism” – reflecting the power of cultural dance to challenge societal norms, preserve cultural heritage, and inspire social change.

Arts Equity Research
WAW conducted the first ever comprehensive needs assessment of Northern California’s cultural dance companies. Funded by the Wallace Foundation, A Community of Dance: A Baseline Study of Culturally Specific Dance Organizations in Northern California provides a baseline understanding of the unique characteristics of culturally specific dance organizations in Northern California. Through an in-depth community engagement process with 100+ organizations, the study highlights the unique strengths and challenges of culturally specific dance organizations while identifying emerging, effective strategies to support this subsector of the arts ecosystem.

Artist Service Programs
Workshops, fiscal sponsorship, mentorship, production support, Cultural Artist Archiving Cohort, Career Pathway Roundtable and Comprehensive Equity Resource for cultural artists.

Cultural Artist Visibility & Advocacy
Ensuring cultural artists are represented on important local, regional & national platforms.

Grants Accelerator Program (GAP)
Year-long program mentoring 12 Bay Area cultural artists to access grants funding and increase their capacity to present their work.

Wallace Foundation National Arts Partners Regranting Cohort
Groundbreaking initiative supporting BIPOC arts organizations under 500K; the largest grant in WAW’s history, enabling us to enter grantmaking for the first time, the next step in WAW’s equity journey centering cultural artists.

Special Artist Commissions
Commissioning and producing innovative, new, large scale dance-music projects.