12 May 2025

Flyaway Productions

 

Thank you for your support of Flyaway Productions!
By now you've heard...
 
We imagine that by now, you’ve heard about the recent wave of National Endowment for the Arts grants being terminated by President Trump and his administration.

Unfortunately, Flyaway Productions was included in the long list of arts organizations whose 2025 grant was terminated, despite having a signed contract with the NEA. Our grant project was meant to support 10 dancers, 5 artistic collaborators, and several crew members to create public art in the Tenderloin.

We are a 29-year-old organization and have been receiving NEA funds since 2009. We make free public art. Our work is site-specific, off the ground, and justice-driven. We have performed for over 10,000 audience members both in SF and around the country. We also offer an annual youth program for teen girls and gender expansive youth.

Despite the NEA termination, our fall production remains underway, BUT this sets a scary precedent for future funding for social justice-driven dance and the arts in general. The National Endowment for the Arts doesn’t just fund individual arts organizations, it also funds other grant-making entities, like the California Arts Council, which also funds Flyaway’s work.

That’s why we are asking our community to do everything in their power to advocate with us for the restoration of NEA funding to artists and arts organizations.

Flyaway's next move is joining in resistance with all the other arts organizations in the Bay and around the country who reject the premise that we are not worthy of national funding. Our imagination is a national treasure. We will not stop.

Below are some actions you can take in solidarity with Flyaway and thousands of arts organizations that have lost critical funding.

Thanks for listening, and for being there,
JO
Quick actions you can take (under 5 minutes):

1. Email and call your representatives to tell them to save the NEA using:
2. Advocate for the state of California to restore funding to the California Arts Council: You can send an email to your state representatives here. Let them know you are a fan of Flyaway and are devastated by this news. 

Additional Impactful actions you can take (30+ minutes):

1. Contact your local media and tell them what this means to your community.
2. Join California Arts Advocates on Friday, May 9th, for an Arts Action Hour to make phone calls to lawmakers
  • Join our Arts Action Hour to make phone calls to state and federal lawmakers on Friday, May 9th, from 2:00-3:00 pm
  • Join here: Zoom Link | Meeting ID: 833 4623 9473 | Passcode: 209698
3. Learn how to become an arts advocate: Attend an Arts Advocacy Strategy Session on Zoom
  • When: Thursday, May 15th from 3:00 - 4:30 pm 
  • Who/ What: Review updates and discuss strategies on federal, state & local arts advocacy with Julie Baker and Tooshar Swain, Director of Policy at Americans for the Arts.
  • Register here

Here are some resources to help you stay in the loop:
Donate to Flyaway
Media Credit: Fred Elmes of Clarissa Dyas, MaryStarr Hope, Sonsherée Giles, and Laura Elaine Ellis in The Wait Room, New York - 2019
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Copyright © 2016 Flyaway Productions, All rights reserved.

For more information please visit:
flyawayproductions.com

Compagnie Lézards bleus

 

30 Apr 2025

Rebekka Gather