Twinning Projects Guidelines and the Application Form

Introduction

Many daCi members around the world seek the opportunity to attend a daCi international conference, to benefit from the shared expertise and rich experiences offered, resulting in exchanges and communications. Consequently, daCi has developed an initiative that enables its members to collaborate on a transnational or Twinning Project to focus on important themes as identified by daCi.

The purpose of this Twinning initiative is to:

  • Promote creative and choreographic explorations with children/youth among daCi members;
  • Promote exchange across national and cultural borders;
  • Support daCi members’ creative and choreographic explorations that further daCi aims;
  • Facilitate understanding of cultural and worldview differences in creative and choreographic explorations;
  • Build a cross-cultural knowledge base of children’s/youth dance;
  • Activate the 2024 daCi Ljubljana Declaration: https://daci.international/about/daci-ljubljana-declaration

The Twinning Project aims are to:

  • Build awareness and visibility of children’s/youth dance through twinning activities based on the development of empathy and connectedness with a worldview;
  • Foster connections by creating meeting points for meaningful relationships and collaborations that stimulate participants to nurture creative exploration and talent while acquiring knowledge in responsible ways;
  • Increase daCi membership by creating an environment of inclusivity and visibility where non-daCi members may experience and benefit from the daCi network;
  • Generate knowledge of intercultural dance explorations and education that may be external to mainstream dance exploration, research, practice, education, and/or scholarship.

What daCi Offers

  • The daCi Twinning Project Fund provides financial assistance of up to $5000, with a minimum guarantee of $1000 CAD, for daCi member collaborators to design and implement Twinning Projects that meet the stated daCi objectives and that will advance children’s/youth dance in diverse communities.
  • Twinning Projects costing more than $5,000 will be considered if applicants have financial support from other funding bodies and agencies.
  • Successful Twinning Project applicants will receive instalments of the grant yearly over the years leading up to the triennial daCi conference.

How To Apply

  • All applicants must be current daCi members;
  • Calls for application are published online in the month of August, two years prior to the conference (e.g. for conference in 2027, the call will be in August 2025)
  • Applicants will submit one (1) electronic copy of the Application Form for the daCi Twinning Project to the Secretary of daCi no later than 15 October 2025
  • Applications in the English language are preferred; however, applications in other languages will be accepted.

Assessment of Applications

  • daCi Twinning Project Applications will be reviewed and assessed by three members of the daCi Twinning Project Committee which comprises a chair and two evaluators - substitutions may be made as necessary to avoid conflicts of interest;
  • New and emerging as well as more experienced dance teachers/educators/artists will be considered on an equal basis relevant to the proposed Twinning Project;
  • Applications will be assessed on overall quality and purpose of the proposed Twinning Project;
  • Awards will be made depending upon the availability of funds.

Projects will be selected based on the following criteria:

  • Accordance with daCi objectives and developmental appropriateness of the project for participants (see daCi’s vision and mission statements for further information: https://daci.international/en/about/vision-mission);
  • Significance of the collaboration and potential to meet the Twinning Project aims;
  • Clear and thorough description of Twinning Project as per #2 of daCi Twinning Project Application Form;
  • Appropriateness of proposed collaborative approach to Twinning activities;
  • Degree of promotion of collaboration and exchange between different nations and cultures;
  • Degree of contribution to overall culture of twinning initiatives;
  • Potential impact of Twinning Project on both national and international levels;
  • Projected contribution of Twinning activities in building a cross-cultural knowledge base on children’s/youth dance;
  • Specification and justification of funding requirements.

Announcement of Twinning Project Grant Recipients

All individuals applying for daCi Twinning Project funding will be notified within two months of the application deadline. Funding will be disbursed one and a half years prior to the daCi conference (which typically occurs the second week of July in the conference year).

Funds may be used for:

  • Travel and accommodation (based on the best rates available);
  • Original invoices and receipts will be required in order to claim any expenses;
  • Funds should be used for only the purposes specified in the application. Please notify the committee if there are proposed changes to those in the original application.

Funds will not normally cover the following:

  • Computer hardware or software that is readily available and commonly used;
  • Equipment purchase (e.g. dvd/cd players, cameras, TV monitors, digital recorders);
  • Other overheads such as meals or employment related expenses.

Guidelines for Twinning Project Grant Recipients

  • daCi Twinning Projects should take place at least 1 year before meeting at the triennial daCi international conference. Twinning partners will be in close communication with each other during the project planning period, exchanging ideas and visions for dance education practices and their project in many different ways;
  • Projects interweave skills and knowledge from different cultures and places to create dialogue and new knowledge. Together, partners enter a constant learning process by communicating with each other regularly, equally involved in a creative process of mutual learning and sharing;
  • Twinning Partners may vary; for example, pairing could be between researchers and young dancers, dance teachers and choreographers or another configuration. The main idea is that the partners will share learnings from a unique collaborative perspective;
  • A final report will be submitted once the project has been completed. This report should include a copy of any publications or forthcoming events resulting from the Twinning Project;
  • Expenditure of Funds: Allocated funds need to be spent by December 31 (of the year in which the conference takes place). Any unused funds need to be returned to daCi. If the funds have not been spent for the purpose for which they were granted, the money must be repaid to daCi;
  • If ethical requirements need to be considered for the Twinning Project, funding will not be supplied until proof of ethics approval is provided.
  • Successful applicants are obligated to provide daCi with a final report. The final report is due to the daCi Treasurer three months after the completion date specified in the proposal, and shall include:
  • A description and evaluation of the project;
  • A detailed financial report with receipts;
  • Documentation (videotape, newspaper articles, programs, etc.) of the project.

daCi Twinning Projects should culminate in a face-to-face gathering at a triennial daCi conference, enabling the young people involved to connect in person. Grantees are required to generate and upload a final video (format details to be provided) of the Twinning project to daCi Connect which should be submitted within two months after the conference for website publication to promote daCi. Additionally, grantees are encouraged to explore other ways of disseminating the results of the Twinning Project.

Further, all public mention of this project must include the following statement:

This project was partially supported by a grant from dance and the Child international (daCi), with generous support from the Cooper-Newell Foundation.

Conference Registration

All participants of daCi Twinning Projects, including those who have been supported by daCi funds, must pay the conference registration fee to present the project at the conference and to be recognized by daCi in associated conference literature.

Application Form >>