NEA Freeze Threatens Immigrant Dance - Help Us Now!

Emergency Fund: Support Tabula Rasa Dance Theater’s 2025 Season

A Critical Moment for Independent Dance in America

Tabula Rasa Dance Theater has always created powerful, socially relevant work. This year, we face a financial crisis due to the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) funding freeze. Losing access to expected NEA grant funds has been a devastating blow to many independent arts organizations, including ours.

Despite this setback, we remain committed to presenting the program our frozen NEA grant was designed to support, which features two groundbreaking works, “Escaramuza” and “Border of Lights,” at El Museo del Barrio Theater in New York City from June 20th to 22nd, 2025. Each piece is a timely, crucial reflection on the reality immigrant cultures face in America today:

• “Escaramuza” is a celebration of Mexican heritage inspired by the all-female charreada, an equestrian art form that displays female strength and cultural pride.

• “Border of Lights” confronts the harsh realities of xenophobia in our country, and in particular the demonization of Mexican immigrants at the U.S.-México Border—it is an urgent meditation on migration and human rights.

Why We Urgently Need Your Help

With a major source of funding frozen indefinitely, we now must raise $50,000 to cover:

✔ Dancer stipends – ensuring our artists are paid for their work.

✔ Rehearsal space – so we can continue creating.

✔ Costumes, lighting, and stage design – maintaining the high production values our audiences expect.

✔ Technical and artistic collaborators – preserving the integrity of our work.

Tabula Rasa Dance Theater does not rely on corporate sponsorships—we depend on people like you who believe in the power of independent art. Your contribution will ensure our work reaches the stage, fostering conversations that matter in this increasingly untenable social moment.

How You Can Help

• $50 covers a rehearsal session.

• $250 supports a dancer’s stipend.

• $1,000+ funds critical production needs.

Every donation is appreciated, no matter the size, and every share helps us reach a wider audience. Your contributions make a real and deeply felt difference to our work.

Join Us for an Exclusive Pre-Show Reception:

All donors will be acknowledged in our program, and those contributing $500+ will receive an invitation to an exclusive pre-show reception with the company, where they’ll get an insider’s look at the artistic process to bring "Escaramuza" and "Border of Lights" to life before the performance.

Time is running out. Our program foregrounds immigrant culture and homegrown xenophobia-experiences this funding freeze was designed to mute and erase.

Donate today and help us make these experiences audible and visible again. With your help, we can overcome our frozen funding and bring these transformative performances to the stage.