DANCE DATA PROJECT® RELEASES THIRD ANNUAL LEADERSHIP TRANSITIONS DATA BYTE, FINDS WOMEN RECEIVED 31.7% OF RECENT ARTISTIC DIRECTOR APPOINTMENTS

Northfield, IL | December 20, 2022 | DDP today announces the release of the third annual Leadership Transitions Data Byte. This short form analysis provides a detailed breakdown of role transitions for artistic directors, executive directors, associate artistic directors, and resident choreographers at dance venues, ballet companies, modern/contemporary companies, and prominent schools/conservatories which occurred in 2022 or have been announced for 2023 and later.

This report is an expansion from the Artistic Director Leadership Changes 2021+ Data Byte, which solely focused on artistic director transitions within dance companies. This year’s Data Byte also highlights directors who began as interim/acting directors and are now or will be promoted to a permanent leadership role between 2022 and 2024 (these directors are only counted once).

“DDP’s mission is to promote more equitable opportunities for women in dance, particularly in roles of leadership. With this short form study, we can directly examine and document the course of job changes in the dance field, a global industry,” said DDP Senior Research Consultant, Junyla Silmon.

This year’s 2022+ Leadership Transitions Data Byte highlights 91 role transitions, including 53 total artistic director transitions, 21 total executive director transitions, 9 total associate artistic director transitions, and 8 total resident choreographer transitions.

Between the 2021 study and the period covered in DDP’s 2022 Data Byte (which looks forward to 2023 in some cases) the number of artistic director transitions DDP was able to document have more than doubled, from 19 to 41. In 2021, 11 men and 8 women were appointed as artistic directors. In 2022, DDP sourced a total of 22 male and 13 female appointments.

“Overall, we haven’t seen that more openings have resulted in a greater number of women being appointed as a percentage of available positions,” said DDP Research Lead and Programming Consultant Rebecca Ferrell. “In 2021, women received 42.1% of overall artistic director appointments, while in 2022 women received 31.7% of overall artistic director appointments.”

“Going forward, DDP intends to deepen our investigation to include additional leadership positions,” says DDP Founder & President Elizabeth ‘Liza’ Yntema. She continued: “Clearly, what we are seeing is an extraordinary level of post-pandemic turnover in the global dance job market. This is really an opportunity for boards of directors and companies to make profound, systemic change, by introducing more diverse leadership, planning for a fiscally viable and artistically interesting future. That is done by conducting a full formal job search based on assessment of mission, organizational capabilities, and connection with their individual communities.”

The 2022+ Leadership Transitions Data Byte can be found on DDP’s website or by download below.