Campaign: Step Forward
caring for dancers
Our Dancers Urgently Need Your Help!
While this pandemic is undoubtedly a major setback, we reflect on the unfortunate reality that the precarious nature of the dance profession has always existed, and how the DTRC will continue to evolve to support dancers as we have for the past 35 years.
The transferrable skill development that we encourage our members to undertake makes them employable outside of dance and in new roles within the arts. We have members taking classes in web design, foreign languages, and marketing just to name a few examples. In fact, we have a member currently training to develop their own podcast series!
Larger Grants
As you can imagine, there was significant interest in our retraining and subsistence programs in 2020 versus the previous year. These grants provide larger amounts of money that help to subsidize both tuition and living expenses for members looking to train more extensively in a career parallel to dance, or the career they might transition out of dance into.
We saw an increase of approximately $200,000 in grants approved from the previous year. Another development was the creation of the Amanda Hancox Scholarship, which is named in honour of the DTRC’s previous Executive Director who retired in 2019. We proudly awarded the first scholarship in August 2021 as part of our Special Awards program. The scholarship will be offered for many years to come and will assist high achieving members in completing their studies.
Impact of the Pandemic
Traditionally, the DTRC distributes its Annual Report in the spring. This year, it was delayed because of major staffing changes, our prioritization of new online programming to support the community in the challenges it was facing and the impact the pandemic had directly on our team. We certainly felt the weight of world events!
As always, it provides a great overview of the many exciting activities the organization programs across the country and features several member success stories.
Caring For Dancers
The DTRC is all about caring for dancers. At this challenging moment, more than ever, we need to be there to assist our members in becoming resilient individuals. I am anticipating a continued high level of demand as dancers look for solutions in the wake of the current crisis. We need your support in order to continue building this resiliency in our members.
Make a donation today and be part of directly making a difference in the lives of dancers across Canada.
