Chances Dances is thrilled to announce the results of the Winter 2011 Critical Fierceness Grant cycle! Congratulations to all the winners! We had SO MANY worthy applications and it was truly a grueling decision. Thanks also to our lovely Winter 2011 Critical Fierceness Board: Davey Ball, Jackie Boyd, Bryce Dwyer, Alicia Eler, Jeanine O’Toole, and Katie Zien. And sincere thanks to all who applied!

$500 GRANTS

DOUBLE DJ & DANIELLE PAZ

Stiletto wearin’ queer dance trio Double DJ will be collaborating with artist and videomaker Danielle Paz to create a video that will “capture the energy and charisma of DoubleDJ, but tailor the choreography and narrative arc of our performance specifically for the camera.” The piece will depict a “fantasy version of how DoubleDJ was created,” inspired by the Chronicles of Narnia and “the idea of another world existing just on the other side of the wardrobe.” The collaborators hope their effort will cross-pollinate interest between their respective communities of experimental filmgoers and queer bar patrons as well as make DoubleDJ’s choreography available on the internet for queers everywhere to enjoy.

KAN SEIDEL & PRECIOUS DAVIS

Kan and Precious will be using Critical Fierceness funds to involve a group of 10 homeless MtF trans youth in a glamourous, self-affirming photography project, culminating in the production of printed, bound portfolios as well as a gallery opening displaying their photographs and documentary about the process. The duo will be serving as mentors, assisting the girls in styling and preparing their shoots. “It is essential that struggling trans youth have an opportunity to feel that their chosen gender performance is respected and appreciated,” they write; furthermore the project will serve as vocational training, useful not only for modeling but developing “skills necessary for creating a resume or preparing for an interview in any field.”

$250 GRANTS

MEG LEARY

With the assistance of a $250 Critical Fierceness Grant, Meg Leary will create a performance piece that “establishes a conceptual and aesthetic connection” between the closing and current disuse of Thalia Hall in Pilsen and the loss of queer artists due to AIDS. Specifically, she seeks to resurrect the work of Michael Peters, the now-forgotten choreographer of such iconic works as Michael Jackson’s Thriller music video; Peters died of AIDS at 46 years old. Leary’s silent performance will take place in now-abandoned Thalia Hall, attempting to “create a sensual and evocative re-envisioning” of Peters’ Thriller choreography, thus addressing the invisibility of queer cultural contributions and connecting to the Hall itself as a deserted and unseen interior space.

THE LAND LINE

The Land Line is a new, Chicago-based, collaborative quarterly journal “for work that is raunchy, flamboyant, interdisciplinary, and intellectually rigorous.” Critical Fierceness money will help with the printing and dissemination of future issues, which will prominently feature work by Chicago queers and allies. The Land Line prints “research-based essays, cultural criticism, engaging interviews, nonlinear comics, radical art, and experimental poetry side-by-side in a free publication under the banner of staunch amateurism.” A list of locations where you can find their first issue is on their website, as well as a call for submissions for issue number two!

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We’re looking forward to seeing these projects come to fruition over the coming months, and to our next cycle this summer! Mark your calendars–June 30th is the deadline!

Love and admiration,

Team C/D

The Critical Fierceness Grant is a microgrant for queer arts in Chicago presented by Chances Dances! Up to $500 in financial assistance is available for Chicago-based artists or artistic initiatives who identify themselves or their work as queer.

*Deadline = December 31st, 2011*

DOWNLOAD AN APPLICATION, CHECK OUT PREVIOUS WINNERS, AND LEARN MORE HERE: http://www.chancesdances.org/fierceness

Questions? Email us at chancesdances@gmail.com

The Critical Fierceness Grant
The Critical Fierceness Grant
The Critical Fierceness Grant
******************************************A micro-grant for queer art in Chicago

Chances Dances is excited to announce the recipients of the Summer 2011 Critical Fierceness Grants: Renegade Lingerie, Youth Empowerment Performance Project, Nikki Patin, and Xina Xurner! Thanks to a ton fabulous community support, buckets of dancefloor sweat, and a whole lot of hard work, we were able to award $1500 in grant money to four amazing projects this cycle.

Many of the artists will be present at Chances at the Subterranean on August 15th, so come hang out with us and these fabulous queer cultural workers!

Thanks go out to all our amazing and talented applicants–your work was thoroughly interesting and deeply appreciated and we encourage you to apply again and tell your friends!

PROJECT INFO:

RENEGADE LINGERIE / MUGSIE PIKE ($500)

Mugsie Pike is a “lingerie and underwear designer, radical seamstress, and activist” who founded Renegade Lingerie as “a way to support people traditionally excluded from the market – transgender and genderqueer folks, plus size and petite people, dis/differently-abled people, etc.” Critical Fierceness funds will help Pike to with prototyping costs for the affordable and ethical production of Tool Belts–stand-to-pee packing harnesses for trans men.

www.renegadelingerie.com

YOUTH EMPOWERMENT PERFORMANCE PROJECT ($500)

YEPP offers street-based LGBTQA young people “the opportunity to explore themselves and their stories through performance with the long term goal of establishing a youth-led theatre initiative.” Operating as a safe space for “artistic creativity and emotional support,” five YEPP ensemble members have rehearsing weekly since March of this year, working toward a three-night stint at Links Hall on August 19-21. “This premiere performance will encapsulate the aforementioned values by portraying the unique stories of each ensemble member, investigating any feelings of hurt, times of struggle, and methods of survival with the intention of allowing the ensemble members to celebrate their strengths.” Funding from their grant will go toward providing stipends to the performers, ensuring they are compensated for their efforts.

Check out this footage of  YEPP in action on Facebook!

NIKKI PATIN ($250)

Writer and performer Nikki Patin will be using Critical Fierceness funds to assist in the early stages of her Vitruvian Woman project. From her application: “Vitruvius stated that a good structure is solid, useful and beautiful. He also said that the human body is the greatest design in the known Universe. I want to transform my body, according to this theory. My hypothesis is if my body is strong (solid), then it can become useful as a tool of expression and performance (beauty). [...] My body takes up most of my focus through trying to live through chronic pain, not to mention surviving the stigmatizing energy that accompanies living in a fat, female, queer body of color. Without denying or ignoring the marginalization that accompanies each of these labels, I want to examine my own internalized isms while loving myself more consciously and thoroughly than I ever have.”

www.nikkipatin.com
www.thevitruvianwoman.com

XINA XURNER ($250)

Xina Xurner is artist Concha LaBoo (Marvin Astorga) and drag diva Lil Elote (Young Joon Kwak), making “cunty noise-influenced house music that oozes sex, death, and decay.” With their CF Grant funding, they plan to print  “Xines” (books containing lyrics, images, contributions from other artists, and an audio CD) for distribution at shops and record stores as well as “mini-Xines,” smaller versions of the larger Xine that can be handed out at shows and performances.

Give them a big LIKE on Facebook right here.

It’s that time again, queers of Chicago! Applications for the Summer 2011 cycle of the Critical Fierceness Grant are available for download. Click here or on the link to the left to be taken to the CF Grant page. You and/or your collective could receive up to $500 to make your big gay project a reality! WERK!