Established in
2004, CHIME, is a mentorship program in which self-selected pairs
of artists receive significant fees and cost-free studio time over
one year to work in a mentor/mentee relationship. Providing choreographers
with the time (in and out of the studio) and resources to exchange
experience and to offer substantial and sustained feedback to one
another is at the heart of CHIME’s mission. CHIME formalizes
the exchange and feedback mechanisms between established and emerging
choreographers. This dialogue about the making of work has both public
and private components.
The goals of this program are:
• To improve the quality of choreography and the general health
of our dance field;
• To encourage and stimulate the artistic growth of emerging
choreographers;
• To foster exchange between emerging and established choreographers;
• To create an arena for the rigorous, critical analysis of
choreography;
• To establish long-term relationships between dance community
members; and
• To diminish the isolation so prevalent among working choreographers.
Two choreographers identify each other for a mentoring relationship
and apply jointly to CHIME, and participants describe for themselves
how best to achieve mentorship goals they have established together.
CHIME provides the space, financial support and the structure; the
artists define their own mentor-mentee relationship and their own
methods for exploring their craft together.
Each year, An advisory panel of national and regional specialists
in the dance field reviews the proposals and selects the CHIME grant
recipients. Beyond the private activities of the artists’ mentoring
time, Artistic Director Margaret Jenkins and the CHIME administration
organize regular gatherings of all participants as well as CHIME LIVE!
public events where the mentorship pairs discuss the activities of
that have organized their year together.
Certain values
are at the heart of how CHIME was conceived and developed. We appreciate
high quality choreography, we respect the lessons learned by choreographers
who have pursued their craft over time, we regard open communications
between choreographers of different generations as important, and
we believe choreographers should be generously compensated for their
work.
After a planning period funded in 2002 by The James Irvine Foundation,
the MJDC launched CHIME in the San Francisco Bay Area
in 2004. 2012 will mark the eigth year of activity for the CHIME program
in the San Francisco Bay Area.
With the generous support of The Irvine Foundation, a one-year pilot
program for Southern California was completed in 2008, and the three-year
launch of the program, CHIME in Southern California,
began in 2010.
With support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, a new program called
CHIME Across Borders began in 2010, in which mentorship
relationships are established and encouraged between Bay Area choreographers
and leaders of the national and international dance community.
