Episode 43: Dancers’ Group

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“It sends a message that we believe as a society that we are all better when we take care of each other”

In this episode, we feature the voice of Wayne Hazzard, the Cofounder and Executive Director of Dancers’ Group

The Dancers’ Group was born in the middle of the AIDS crisis has evolved over the decades as a service organization providing wrap around fiscal sponsorship programs and services to incubate and support artists, and the dance community as well as their historical roots of presenting unique grassroots-based dance to the San Francisco Bay Area.

Wayne Hazzard

Wayne is a native Californian and as a co-founder is proud to continue his work with the Bay Area dance community as the executive director of Dancers’ Group. Hazzard is a leader in the service field who is known for his work with fiscal sponsorship and on new program development, and he was acknowledged as a 2015 Gerbode Professional Development Fellow. Before his manifold career in arts management, Hazzard had a distinguished 20-year career performing with many notable choreographers and companies including the Joe Goode Performance Group, Margaret Jenkins Dance Co, Ed Mock & Co, June Watanabe, Emily Keeler, Aaron Osborne, and more. Coinciding with his life as a dancer, Hazzard has and continues to work as an advocate for dance. For his unique artistic vision, Hazzard has received numerous awards, including an Isadora Duncan Award for his innovation, dedication, and contribution to the field of dance. And a Sangam Arts 2018 Mosaic America Impact Award. Hazzard has served as an advisor and panelist with such organizations like the Center for Cultural Innovation, Dance USA, National Endowment for the Arts, California Arts Council, San Francisco Arts Commission, City of San José Office of Cultural Affairs, and Dance Advance in Philadelphia. Photo Credit: Peter Prato

Dancers’ Group

Dancers’ Group Mission Statement
Dancers’ Group’s mission is to promote the visibility and viability of dance. We serve artists, the dance community, and audiences via programs and services that are as collaborative and innovative as the creative process itself. We lead as both a service organization and a presenter of performance opportunities. This hybrid engagement maximizes our impact in San Francisco and beyond and supports a vision of the region’s dance community as diverse, resilient, resourced, and artistically vibrant.

Core Programs and Services
Recognized as a national model in the field of dance, Dancers’ Group was founded in 1982. An artist-centric organization closely connected to its constituents, Dancers’ Group offers a portfolio of 15 programs under the categories of Free Public Performances, Audience Development, Fiscal Sponsorship, and Information Exchanges and Convenings. During the pandemic, Dancers’ Group is serving as a virtual hub of resources, information, and news about the dance ecosystem, providing free access for 50k digital users and 1,750 members to an online Community Calendar; publishing quarterly issues of “In Dance” online, with articles about artists and topics relevant to them; and sending out weekly emails. The organization is also offering virtual access to philanthropic support and other resources to 125 Fiscal Sponsorship projects; and distributing Re-Granting funds to individual dance artists and small organizations through its CA$H program. While the Rotunda Dance Series is on hiatus during the pandemic, Dancers’ Group will premiere Joanna Haigood’s new work in 2022 through its ONSITE program, which commissions and produces free live dance performances in the alternative, often outdoor spaces.

History
In 1982, Dancers’ Group was founded by a highly respected group of teachers, choreographers, community activists, and students. Of this group, three primary founders emerged providing the vision and skills to create a new entity. The founders were Vernon Fuquay, executive director; Aaron Osborne, teacher, choreographer, and artistic director; and Wayne Hazzard, dancer, and school/facility manager. The facility that the organization occupied was known to many as Footwork Studio and to a later generation of artists, students, and the general public, Dancers’ Group Studio Theater. In its first ten years, Dancers’ Group emerged as a highly respected school and presenting organization aiming to unify, strengthen, and amplify the contemporary dance community in San Francisco.

In 1992, the region’s current service organization, Dance Bay Area, dissolved and Dancers’ Group stepped forward to ensure that several of Dance Bay Area’s vital services would remain. These services to the dance community are the Parachute Fund, fiscal sponsorship, and In Dance.

Dancers’ Group was evicted from its home at 3221 22nd Street in the Mission at the height of the space-crisis that erupted from the dot-com boom in 1999. The loss of our physical space allowed the Dancers’ Group to investigate its mission and services to the dance field. Since that time, the Dancers’ Group has developed new services, re-granting programs, and presenting opportunities for dance artists and audiences.

Today, the Dancers’ Group is recognized as a national model in the field of dance. Through a network of partnerships that have given it access to supporting dance across the broad spectrum of styles, forms, cultures, and practices in the Bay Area, Dancers’ Group has built programs and services designed to fulfill the wide-ranging needs of the region’s diverse dance community. Find out about the Dancers Group Covid-19 Resources

Donation/Volunteer

Support the Dancers’ Group through membership, and donating to the Dancers' Group General Fund. You can also support specific Artists and Dance/Arts Companies. Become an advertiser and support In Dance Magazine through buying Advertising

Support the Performing Arts Worker Relief Fund

Videos

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