Jerwood Charitable Foundation has awarded £55,000 of match funding for the second phase of the innovative Jerwood Choreographic Research Project (JCRP). This unique investment scheme is designed to stimulate and test new ideas and thinking in choreographic research and broaden the understanding and value of choreographic research with the arts and cultural sector.
The JCRP is a National Dance Network initiative, led and delivered by the Birmingham-based dance house DanceXchange. The new funding announcement will build on the first JCRP (2013-15) which was also supported by £50k match funding from Jerwood Charitable Foundation, and raised an additional £83k from 32 producing partners, attracting 417 applications from artists and creatives of which 12 were supported.
“We are delighted to offer our commitment to a second phase of JCRP”, said Jon Opie, General Manager, Jerwood Charitable Foundation. “The first, as demonstrated by the response from dance makers and artists, showed an urgent need for creating opportunities that valued ideas above output and gave the time, space and expert support to help them grow. The 12 resulting projects were exceptional and urged further investment in this research. The programme is unique in the way it brings together a wide variety of commissioning partners; more can be done with pooled resources and expertise and over the next two years we have the chance to show how a shared endeavour, with choreography at its heart, can result in stronger practices and projects across the cultural sector.”
The second phase will run from autumn 2015 – summer 2017 with the core aim of attracting investment from non-dance producing partners, facilitating both a broader dialogue and the championing of choreographic development. In the current climate of reduced funding for the arts, particularly for pure artistic research, the JCRP is establishing a new culture of investment, bringing together a wide range of investors as producing partners from across the cultural sector.
“I am looking forward to this next Jerwood Choreographic Research Project because I know the value of investing in risk taking in the arts”, said David Massingham, Artistic Director of DanceXchange. “Choreographic research can expand horizons about what movement means and how it manifests itself in performance as well as making the arts more dynamic and achieving other creative outcomes. The JCRP II will yet again seek to push boundaries and ask questions of how choreography shapes our view of the world.”
The outcome will be a range of innovative choreographic research projects funded, produced and championed by a unique group of cross-arts producers, which will be shared with the wider arts and cultural sector throughout 2015/16. Sharings and debates during this period will bring together artists, creatives and producers with the wider arts/cultural sector to disseminate learning and stimulate dialogue.
“JCRP has had a huge influence on the way I think about my own practice and the places and processes I use in making new performances. I’ve been able to learn from a series of new collaborations, to discover the influence that working in different kinds of rehearsal spaces and different institutions can have on the work you make. Most importantly I have been able to create a series of completely new research-based performance pieces that couldn’t have been made in any other way“, said Andy Field, JCRP first phase funded artist.
