Merce Cunningham Trust

Merce Cunningham Trust
Name	Merce Cunningham Trust
Formation	2002
Type	Non-profit performing arts organization
Headquarters	New York City
Founder	Merce Cunningham
Leader title	Executive Director

Merce Cunningham Trust The Merce Cunningham Trust is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving, promoting, and perpetuating the work and methodology of choreographer Merce Cunningham. The Trust maintains Cunningham's repertoire, archives, and pedagogical legacy while facilitating performances, licensing, and research worldwide. It operates within networks of dance institutions, museums, archives, and universities to support revival, reconstruction, and scholarship.

History

Established in 2002 by choreographer Merce Cunningham and associates after a career that intersected with figures such as John Cage, Martha Graham, Meredith Monk, Robert Rauschenberg, and Andy Warhol, the Trust formalized stewardship of Cunningham's legacy. Its institutional formation followed collaborations with companies like the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, New York City Ballet, Paul Taylor Dance Company, and partnerships with venues including Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Tate Modern, and the Museum of Modern Art. The Trust navigated transitions after Cunningham's death in 2009, working with performing ensembles such as Batsheva Dance Company, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, San Francisco Ballet, and festivals like the Jacobs Pillow Dance Festival to restage works. Key archival and preservation milestones involved cooperation with repositories such as the Library of Congress, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, and the Getty Research Institute.

Mission and Activities

The Trust's mission encompasses licensing performances, granting reconstruction permissions, and offering educational programs to institutions including Juilliard School, New York University, Yale School of Drama, Columbia University, and international conservatories like the Royal Ballet School and Paris Conservatoire. Activities include curatorial work for exhibitions at institutions such as the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and the Centre Pompidou, public programming at festivals like the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and the Venice Biennale, and support for research projects with organizations such as the Smithsonian Institution and Havard University (note: Harvard University). The Trust also engages with digital initiatives involving collaborators such as Google Arts & Culture and academic centers like the New York Public Library.

Repertoire and Artistic Legacy

The Trust administers rights and resources for a repertoire that includes seminal works like "Suite for Five" and "RainForest" and collaborations originally realized with artists such as Meredith Monk, Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Trisha Brown, Paul Taylor, John Cage, and David Tudor. It supports restagings of works across companies including Cunningham Company (198x–2009), Ballets Russes-linked institutions, and contemporary ensembles such as Company Wayne McGregor and Kidd Pivot. The Trust articulates Cunningham's innovations in chance procedures alongside musical partnerships with figures like John Cage and visual-art collaborations with Claes Oldenburg, Yayoi Kusama, and Brice Marden, influencing choreographers including William Forsythe, Pina Bausch, Ohad Naharin, Meredith Monk, and Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker.

Preservation and Archival Work

Preservation efforts have been implemented through deposits, conservation projects, and digital documentation with repositories including the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, the Getty Research Institute, the Library of Congress, and the Smithsonian Institution. The Trust has overseen notation transfers to systems such as Labanotation and coordinate archival film collections featuring performances at venues like The Kitchen, Brooklyn Academy of Music, and Lincoln Center. It has facilitated scholarly access for researchers from institutions such as Brown University, University of California, Los Angeles, University of Oxford, and Columbia University while supervising material conservation, object cataloging, and metadata projects in collaboration with conservators at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and curators at the Tate Modern.

Collaborations and Commissions

The Trust continues a history of commissions and cross-disciplinary collaborations with composers, visual artists, and designers including John Cage, Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Meredith Monk, Nam June Paik, Yoko Ono, and contemporary partners like Wayne McGregor, Akram Khan, Crystal Pite, and institutions such as the BBC Proms, Lincoln Center Festival, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, and Arts Council England. It has co-commissioned reconstructions and new projects with festivals and organizations including the Venice Biennale, Edinburgh International Festival, Sydney Festival, National Theatre (London), and the Paris Opera Ballet.

Governance and Funding

Governance is overseen by a board of trustees composed of figures from dance, visual art, and academia with ties to organizations such as Juilliard School, Bard College, Yale School of Music, Columbia University, and the Guggenheim Foundation. Funding sources include grants, philanthropic support from foundations like the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, corporate partnerships, licensing revenues, and donations from patrons associated with institutions such as Lincoln Center, New York Public Library, and private collectors represented by galleries like Gagosian Gallery.

Category:Non-profit organizations based in New York City