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21. Does your project rely on any other grant funding apart from the Louisville Arts Grant? Please provide a general overview of the other grant
<br />funding required to realize this project:
<br />No, this project will only take place if funding from the Louisville Art Grant is awarded. We do this program in Boulder and Lafayette and Longmont as well, where it is
<br />funded by those municipalities.
<br />22. If your project relies on additional grant funding, has this funding already been secured?
<br />n/a
<br />23. Do you have an outstanding City of Louisville arts grants project or arts grants evaluation form? Please provide details.
<br />n/a
<br />Page 3: Project Details
<br />Project Details
<br />* 24. Please give a brief overview of your project:
<br />Sans Souci Festival of Dance Cinema is a Boulder -based international dance film festival that has been screening short dance films and music videos since 2003. We
<br />demonstrate our commitment to equity by screening diverse dance forms (from the frequently represented ballet, contemporary dance, etc. to the underrepresented
<br />styles such as tap, breakin', Butoh, Armenian folk, Bharatanatyam, etc.), as well as range of ethnicities, gender expressions, and ages, and committing to increasing
<br />equity in the field by creating a Fee Assistance Application for submitting artists. Our creative aging program, "Dance is Like a Fine Wine (DILAFW)," began in 2019,
<br />went on pause during pandemic lockdowns, but hit the ground running again in 2021 at residential and nonresidential centers for older adults, increasing arts access
<br />and education, bridging the gap between health services and true wellness during a loneliness epidemic, and opening up possibilities for personal expression and
<br />cultural exposure. The older adult population this funding will reach in Louisville is at Balfour Senior Living.
<br />* 25. Project goal(s)
<br />This funding will enable us to complete a total of 7 sessions (1 each month for 7 months) between May 2025 and January 2026. We take a break in August due to the
<br />business of our Season Premiere and in December due to the business of the holidays. What we want people to learn, understand/do: Support Aging in Place: Cost,
<br />travel, and mobility barriers often preclude attendance for older adults at cultural events, so that loneliness and isolation persist. Eliminating these barriers, DILAFW
<br />meets local patrons where they are comfortable, bringing the experience right into their shared common spaces. We have found that in considerations of wrap -around
<br />services for those aging at home, access to the arts is rarely considered. Much like a book club, our program forms bonds between individuals who attend regularly
<br />together, getting to know one another through the dialogue created around the film discussions. This helps aging folks build a community of friends that goes beyond
<br />their family and caregivers, who may perhaps become folks they can lean on in a time of need. Among the arts, dancing is particularly valuable in prolonging quality of
<br />life. End Ageism: The films we show with older dancers are about representation, to inspire participants to "see themselves onscreen" and realize they can do more
<br />and/or something new. Our program engages participants with questions like: Who can be a dancer? Can I be a dancer? What does a dancer's body look like? Could
<br />that be my body? What sensations do I feel in my body while dancing? Do they bring me joy? What movements feel great, keep me moving, and help me age well?
<br />* 26. Please outline the project's scope and the means of executing the project in greater detail:
<br />Activities: At each DILAFW event: 1) Screened in the venues "activity rooms," dance films feature diverse bodies across the age spectrum, with a special focus on older
<br />dancers. These films are pulled from Sans Souci's 20+ year archive of international dance films, featuring diversity of age, gender, race, dance style, geography,
<br />production values, and more. 2) Following the films (with captions for the hearing impaired and audio description for the visually impaired when possible), Sans Souci
<br />dance instructors will lead a dance/movement class designed for older movers of all abilities which will ignite creativity, encourage physical exercise, and instigate
<br />cognitive stimulation for participants, all while forming intergenerational bonds between the facilitators and participants. The majority of these dance classes will include
<br />elements of improvisation to centralize choice -making and maximize the opportunity for artistry.
<br />* 27. What is your target audience?
<br />The target audience is older adults living at Balfour. Participants with all levels of mobility are welcome. Our dance instructors are also experienced in working with
<br />participants with memory loss.
<br />* 28. How will you market your project?
<br />The staff at Balfour have agreed to help us market the project to residents using their regular communication channels (newsletters, emails, flyers, word of mouth).
<br />* 29. Please describe prior experience in executing similar projects.
<br />Sans Souci has been running DILAFW since 2019. These are other older adult centers where we have executed similar projects: Age Well Center (Boulder), Golden
<br />West (Boulder), Assisted Living at Waneka Park (Lafayette), Peaks at Old Laramie Trail (Lafayette), Brookdale Senior Living (Longmont). Our dance instructors/staff:
<br />Michelle Bernier, Executive Director, was recently named an "Emerging Leader in Dance" from the Dance Archive at the University of Denver, and has been with Sans
<br />Souci for 11 years! Megan Roney: certified DanceAbility instructor, licensed OT Mary Wohl Haan: MFA, 30+ years of teaching dance to students of all mobility levels
<br />Tanja London: MFA, somatics expert with international teaching and production experience, medical Qi Gong practitioner Anna Pillot: MFA, Dance and Certificate in
<br />Women and Gender Studies from the University of Colorado Boulder
<br />* 30. How will you track and measure the success of your project/event?
<br />Sans Souci dance instructors and staff will be in regular communication with Balfour staff to make sure we are meeting their needs. We will track and measure the
<br />success qualitatively (testimonials, anecdotal feedback) and quantitatively (attendance, retention). We have been consistently invited back to the other older adult
<br />centers where we visit. It is just a matter of securing funding each year.
<br />31. How will your project benefit Louisville residents? This grant's funding comes from City of Louisville taxes, and it is important that the
<br />project reaches Louisville residents.
<br />This project will directly and deeply impact a group of Louisville residents who may have little or no access to cultural events in the community. Please see the above
<br />PROJECT GOALS for a description of how we believe this project benefits residents.
<br />* 32. Have you received a Louisville Art Grant in the past? If so, what year(s), and for what event(s) or projects(s)?
<br />Yes in 2016 we received $1,000 and produced a Film Screening at the Louisville Center for the Arts.
<br />33. Please include any additional information we should know in order to evaluate your funding request.
<br />Please click this link to watch Sans Souci Highlight Reels: https://vimeo.com/showcase/3194247 It's the best way to get to know our work! Also, we have a free Virtual
<br />Screening open right now in honor of Black History Month. Check it out at: https://sanssoucifestival.org/black-history-month-2025/
<br />34. Optional: You may upload additional supporting documents such as photos of previous work, artist bios, etc that may be helpful in understanding this
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