The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts Begins Accepting Applications for 2019 Dance Research Fellows

April 15, 2019 -- Beginning today, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts' Jerome Robbins Dance Division is accepting applications for its fourth class of Dance Research Fellows, generously funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the Louise Guthman Estate and the Committee for the Dance Division. In honor of the Dance Division's 75th anniversary year, each of the five curators who have overseen the collection during its history -- Genevieve Oswald, Madeleine Nichols, Michelle Potter, Jan Schmidt and current curator Linda Murray -- selected a particular collection within the Dance Division's holdings for one researcher to explore. A sixth collection was selected by members of the Dance Division's expert staff.

Topics for 2019 Dance Research Fellowship:

• The Genevieve Oswald Fellow - The Claire Holt Collection
• The Madeleine Nichols Fellow - The AIDS Legacy Project
• The Michelle Potter Fellow - The Khmer Dance Project
• The Jan Schmidt Fellow - The Dance Theatre Workshop Collection
• The Dance Curator Fellow - The Selma Jeanne Cohen Collection
• The Dance Division Fellow (topic selected by the Dance Division staff) - The Dance Photography Files

Applications for the Dance Research Fellowship must be submitted by May 15, 2019 through the Library's Fellowship Portal, where applicants are invited to create an account and upload a CV and then apply for the Dance Division Fellowships specifically. For more details on application requirements, please visit nypl.org/dance-fellowship.

"As we celebrate the Dance Division's 75th anniversary year, we wanted to give our past curators and staff an opportunity to select the collections that they believed were critical to our understanding of dance history, or felt were ripe for further exploration," said Linda Murray, curator of the Jerome Robbins Dance Division. "The array of topics selected speaks volumes about the breadth of our collections, and gives potential fellows an amazing opportunity to use archives that are available nowhere else in the world."

Created in 2014 to support scholars and practitioners engaged in graduate-level, post-doctoral, and independent research using the Dance Division's unmatched holdings, this program awards a stipend of $7,500 and a research period from June 1 to December 31, 2019 for fellows to complete their work. Each fellow is required to participate in a public symposium on Friday, January 24, 2020 where they will deliver a presentation or performance on the outcome of their research. Previous classes of fellows selected their own research topics, while the 2017 and 2018 classes focused on Jerome Robbins and Merce Cunningham respectively, in honor of their centenaries.

Previous fellows include Malaika Adero, Reid Bartelme and Harriet Jung, Ninotchka D. Bennahum, Claire Bishop, Yoshiko Chuma, Adrian Danchig-Waring, Silas Farley, Robert Greskovic, Joseph Houseal, Julie Lemberger, Alastair Macaulay, Hiie Saumaa, Gus Solomons, Jr., Victoria Tennant, Justin Tornow, Preeti Vasudevan, Netta Yerushalmy.

The Jerome Robbins Dance Division of The New York Public Library is the largest and most comprehensive archive in the world devoted to the documentation of dance. Chronicling the art of dance in all its forms, the Division acts as much more than a library. It preserves the history of dance by gathering diverse written, visual, and aural resources, and works to ensure the art form's continuity through active documentation and educational programs.

Founded in 1944, the Dance Division is used regularly by choreographers, dancers, critics, historians, journalists, publicists, filmmakers, graphic artists, students, and the general public. While the Division contains more than 44,000 books about dance, these account for only a small percent of its vast holdings. Other resources available for study free of charge include papers and manuscript collections, moving image and audio recordings, clippings and program files, and original prints and designs.

The 2019 Dance Research Fellowships were made possible by the generosity of the Estate of Louise Guthman, the Doris Duke Charitable Trust, and the Committee for the Jerome Robbins Dance Division.

About The New York Public Library For The Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center

The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts houses one of the world’s most extensive combinations of circulating, reference, and rare archival collections in its field. These materials are available free of charge, along with a wide range of special programs, including exhibitions, seminars, and performances. An essential resource for everyone with an interest in the arts — whether professional or amateur — the Library is known particularly for its prodigious collections of non-book materials such as historic recordings, videotapes, autograph manuscripts, correspondence, sheet music, stage designs, press clippings, programs, posters and photographs. The Library is part of The New York Public Library system, which has 90 locations in the Bronx, Manhattan and Staten Island, and is a lead provider of free education for all.