In part one of my interview with "nomadic artist-athlete and educator" Jen Passios, we dive into her life as a professional dancer, creator, and grant writer. Throughout our conversation, we talked about taking advantage of happenstance and the importance of defining your boundaries and values around your career wants/needs.
About Jen Passisos
Jen Passios is an artist-athlete, wordsmith, and dance educator committed to building agency through improvisation.
She has spent the past 8 years performing throughout the United States, bringing dance to spaces ranging from law firms to museums, and church sanctuaries to sand dunes. Jen has had the pleasure of performing for audiences at events including the Inside/Out Festival at Jacob’s Pillow, the Institute of Contemporary Art Boston’s First Friday Series, TEDxCambridge, and New Balance’s 2018 International Conference. During her professional career, Jen has performed work by a notable roster of nationally and internationally acclaimed artists including: Yin Yue, Shannon Gillen/ VIM VIGOR, Marco Goecke, Itzik Galili, and Lorraine Chapman. In December 2019, she made her on screen debut as a principal dancer in the feature length film “Little Women” (Columbia Pictures) directed by Greta Gerwig and choreographed by Monica Bill Barnes. She spent the 2020-2021 season traveling the USA with CoGRAVITY partner Jacob Regan uncovering one pathway for a life in the arts during the COVID-19 pandemic. The pair continue to create, improvise, teach, and write about the current state of dance through a choose-your-own adventure lens.
In addition to her performance work, Jen uses her skills as a storyteller to help performing artists from Boston to Berlin secure the resources they need to bring excellent art to life. Through grant writing and strategy services, she has successfully obtained funding and expansion opportunities including awards from the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, Boston Dance Alliance, the Boston Center for the Arts, the New England Foundation for the Arts, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the Boston Mayor’s office of Arts and Culture, Mass MoCa/ Assets4Artists, Ballet Hispanico, The Boston Foundation, The Barr Foundation, the Western Arts Alliance, and Arts Midwest. As a result of these wins, her clients have been able to tour internationally, recoup money lost during the COVID 19 pandemic, make the leap from part time to full time operations, sustain a cast of 6 for an entire season, fund the creation & production of evening length works, expand educational programming, reclaim over 500 hours of studio time, and accumulate a total of $60,000 in institutional funding.
Connect with Jen!
Instagram: @nonjenue
Email: jenniferpassios@gmail.com
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