Keshet Dance & Center for the Arts
Rooted in dance, mentorship, and a welcoming space for the arts, Keshet activates community and fosters unlimited possibilities through education, engagement, innovation, and the pursuit of justice.
Housed at the Keshet Center for the Arts in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and founded in 1996, the heart of our organization is Keshet Dance Company, a core group of professional dance artists, who creatively feed and are fed by by three intersecting program areas: Education and Engagement, encompassing classes and performances for all ages and abilities, the Ideas and Innovation Community, a business resource center and residency-based makerspace for arts entrepreneurs, and Arts and Justice Initiatives, including juvenile justice direct service, research/data, policy/advocacy, and community connectivity.
Financials
Programs
EDUCATION AND ENGAGEMENT
Everyone can dance! Keshet classes are available to all levels, ages, and abilities; from age 2 to 102. To remove economic barriers, Keshet offers all classes and performances on a sliding scale with $0 options for all, ensuring unlimited, noncompetitive scholarships for all.
While many of Keshet’s dance education opportunities are multi-generational, we also offer specific programs for young dancers, pre-professional students, professional dancers, novice adults, older adults, dancers with disabilities, and more. Keshet’s full production season engages audiences in a wide range of dance performance experiences and opportunities. Local performances range from community-wide collaborative productions to national and international visiting guest artists.
ARTS AND JUSTICE INITIATIVES
Keshet’s Arts and Justice Initiatives work with a broad range of community partners at the intersection of arts and juvenile justice, who envision a future where youth are empowered and where the systems that serve them are transformed, centering the arts as a way to build the well-being of young people and their communities.
Keshet’s work in this area includes dance programming for incarcerated and paroling youth; post-release transition and detention alternatives support, through internships and peer-led support; field research supporting policy and advocacy efforts towards meaningful systems change; and community conversations and learning opportunities centering youth voices with an eye towards resource connectivity across social sector and government agencies.
IDEAS AND INNOVATION COMMUNITY
The Keshet Ideas and Innovation Community champions the value of the artist and the arts economy. Through a range of residency programs, makerspace resources, and professional development access in both craft and infrastructure, Keshet supports performing artists and arts organizations at multiple stages within their careers and organizational development. Keshet offers free arts business classes for arts entrepreneurs focusing on topics such as Grant Writing, Marketing & Branding, Financial Management, Intellectual Property Law, and more. Residency and presenting programs include the Keshet Makers Space Experience, Presenting Voices Series, Choreographers’ Showcases, and Hear Here Festival, supporting and connecting artists locally and globally, providing rehearsal and performance space, peer support, and business mentorship.