Vershawn Sanders-Ward is a visionary director, choreographer, educator and ARTIVIST who is transforming the landscape of contemporary dance through her art and activism. As the Founding Artistic Director and CEO of Red Clay Dance Company, she blends African diasporic dance forms with modern techniques, creating performances that inspire social change and provoke thought.

When Robyn Mineko Williams was named one of Dance Magazine’s “25 to Watch” 10 years ago, she was on the precipice of a choreographic career after 12 years onstage with Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. She created at a feverish pace through 2019, but since then, Williams has slowed down, taking on fewer commissions and working on protracted, site-specific, independent projects further developing her signature ethereal style.

When it came time to select a college, Columbia College Chicago had some of the things Vershawn Sanders-Ward was looking for. The others, she had to find on her own. 

“African dance was in the basement; it was one class,” she said. “When I was at a point where I had the confidence to say, ‘I really need this,’ I had to figure out a way to make it work.”

Digital Editor Gabriela Furtado Coutinho attended the Platform Awards on Monday and included the event in her Chicago theater round up for this month. She wrote that the existence of the Platform Awards as a new, major grant opportunity for artists, encouraged her as she reflected on recent theatrical events.

On this edition of The Arts Section, host Gary Zidek catches up with Oscar-winning animator Adam Elliot to talk about his new film MEMOIR OF A SNAIL. The Dueling Critics, Kelly Kleiman and Jonathan Abarbanel, join Gary to review the world premiere EVIL PERFECT. Later in the show, Gary checks in with acclaimed theater director Lili-Anne Brown to look back at her career and chat about an award she recently won. And we’ll hear from best-selling horror author Grady Hendrix.

When Elizabeth Walder was a teenager, she wanted to be a professional musician. A clarinetist by trade, she would commute to New York City to play with the Juilliard pre-college orchestra and internationally in classical and ethnic ensembles. 

Hisako’s House is where the heart is for choreographer and dancer Robyn Mineko Williams, who invites audiences to experience the 50-minute piece performed in her grandmother’s mid-century home in Lombard. Rebellious caught up with the show’s creator, RMW&A (Robyn Mineko Williams and Artists) director and Walder Foundation Platform Award winner, to discuss the evolution of this immersive project.

The Walder Foundation announced $2.4 million in 12 unrestricted grants of $200,000 to Chicago-area performing artists through its inaugural Platform Awards.

Catch up on the dance world promotions, appointments, departures, and notable awards from the past month. Plus, a new funding opportunity is available for dance artists.

$2.4 million to give unrestricted support, professional development, and networking opportunities to 12 performing artists in music, theater, dance, and related fields in the Chicago area.

Chief Manny (Brandon Calhoun), Brendan Fernandes, Darrell Jones, Vershawn Sanders-Ward, and Robyn Mineko Williams are among the inaugural recipients of the Walder Foundation’s Platform Awards, each of which includes a $200,000 unrestricted grant and professional development opportunities.

Experience an immersive performance by Robyn Mineko Williams and Artists with HISAKO’S HOUSE, running from August 16-25, 2024.

The Walder Foundation has announced that it will award $2.4 million to Chicago-area performing artists through the inaugural Platform Awards. Twelve music, theatre, dance, and interdisciplinary arts professionals will receive unrestricted grants of $200,000 each.

The Walder Foundation has named three Chicago-based performing artists, including two Columbia College Chicago alumni and one faculty member, as recipients of its prestigious 2024 Platform Awards.

“When you’re inside a rhythm, it entrains you, it imprints on you, it saturates along an infinite scale,” says Co-Curator and Associate Professor Darrell Jones who received an inaugural Platform Award from the Walder Foundation this past week.

Chicago’s Walder Foundation will award $2.4 million to performing artists through its inaugural Platform Awards, to support area mid-career music, theater, dance and interdisciplinary artists enriching the city’s creative and civic landscape.

Walder Foundation will award $2.4 million to performing artists through its inaugural Platform Awards.

The Skokie-based Walder Foundation is providing the unrestricted grants to music, theater, dance and interdisciplinary performance artists.

As part of its inaugural Platform Awards, the Skokie-based Walder Foundation is giving out $2.4 million in unrestricted grants to 12 local mid-career music, theater, dance and interdisciplinary performance artists.