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CMDE NEWS

It's raining grants for dance

Friday, August 14, 2009
Hackensack Chronicle
MANAGING EDITOR

When important economic indicators zag instead of zig, funding for arts and education programs is often the hardest hit.

However, Hackensack's Center for Modern Dance Education is the happy beneficiary of a trend reversal backed by a federal program designed to fuel a national economic recovery.

The non-profit organization on Euclid Avenue found out on July 24 that it will receive a federal grant totaling $25,000 through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, otherwise known as the federal stimulus package. Combined with a $10,000 grant from the New Jersey-based Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation announced on July 23, it appears that the Center for Modern Dance Education will keep a spring in its step even while the economy tries to regain its footing.

Federal stimulus package includes arts funding

While the $787 billion federal stimulus package signed into law in February is primarily focused on jobs preservation and creation, infrastructure investment, energy efficiency measures and aid to the unemployed, the package also includes assistance for arts and education programs. The round of grants announced at the end of last month sprinkled 631 separate grants for arts groups around the country, totaling almost $29.78 million that will be used to retain jobs across a wide range of arts disciplines. The grants will also support many projects that involve the arts, including commissions, residencies, rehearsals, workshops, performances, exhibitions, publications, festivals and training programs.

The grant for the Center for Modern Dance Education, which will be distributed through the National Endowment for the Arts, will be used to support the preservation of jobs at the center, such as dance instructors and administrators, during the current economic downturn.

Hackensack's representative in Washington, D.C. felt that these funds were well directed.

"I was delighted to help direct these federal dollars to the Center for Modern Dance in Hackensack," said U.S. Rep. Steve Rothman (D – Fair Lawn), a member of the U.S. House Appropriations Committee. "Dance and other artistic endeavors are important to nurture talent and instill confidence in students, and encourages them to reach their full artistic potential. The center will receive $25,000 through the Recovery Act, enabling it to continue to serve Hackensack's children and adults who want to pursue dance."

Dodge grant also backs dance

The Center for Modern Dance Education will also benefit from a $10,000 grant from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, a prominent foundation created in 1973 with an $85 million bequest from the youngest child of Standard Oil tycoon William A. Rockefeller, Jr. The Center for Modern Dance Education grant was among of total of almost $10.1 million in grants disbursed by the foundation to various cultural, educational, social and environmental organizations, including an $80,000 grant for the Hackensack Riverkeeper environmental advocacy organization.

Founded in 1962, the Center for Modern Dance Education has striven to provide quality dance programs for all members of the diverse Hackensack community, including free family classes. Times may be tough economically, but Elissa Machlin-Lockwood, the center's artistic director, is glad that the helping hand of the federal government, as well as the Dodge Foundation, reached out in a timely fashion.

"Even in the best of times, we manage on a tight budget," she said. "The current economy has impacted both our earned and donated income, even as the demand for accessible arts programming remains high."

"This grant will not only directly help support jobs in the arts, but will also help us continue to offer the kind of accessible programs that are such a big part of our mission as a community organization," Machlin-Lockwood added. "It's really wonderful to see the federal government making an expanded effort to support the arts and artists."

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Mailing Address:
Center for Modern Dance Education, Inc.
84 Euclid Avenue
Hackensack, NJ 07601
Telephone: 201-342-2989
NJ TTY: 800-952-7897
Fax: 201-342-8209
E-Mail: cmde1962@aol.com

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