Denver dance institution Cleo Parker Robinson Dance this week revealed a $4 million grant from the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade that will allow the company to expand from its current headquarters.
More details of the money’s use will be shared at a press conference in May, along with the lineup for the company’s 52nd season, officials wrote in a press statement.
“This expansion project has a been a dream of many years and it has been a specific goal of CPRD executive director Malik Robinson,” according to the statement. “While many donors and supporters of Cleo Parker Robinson Dance have discussed this project opportunity with us, and to date have invested in this project (before and during the pandemic), you may imagine that CPRD has had significant challenges in bringing this goal to fruition.”
Founded by Black dance icon and award-winning choreographer Cleo Parker Robinson, the company’s world-touring ensemble and Denver-based programming constitute one of the few programs in the U.S. celebrating African diaspora styles and contemporary Black dance at a high level of execution.
Robinson has also long maintained a popular dance school, and her company stages local shows and mini-festivals annually at its home base in the historic AME Shorter Church, 119 Park Ave. West, in the Five Points neighborhood
While Robinson is waiting until May “as project details are further developed,” officials wrote, the company — which has ailed in the past due to fundraising difficulties, and which looked at potential closure during the first months of the pandemic — has pledged that its next 50 years will “continue with fiscal responsibility in all we do.”
The May press conference will include details that will help jumpstart the permitting, reviews, funding and design processes.
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