Mary Ellen Childs to Leave Her Role as Program Director of McKnight Fellowships for Dancers and Choreographers

The Cowles Center will say goodbye to Mary Ellen Childs, who announced that she will be leaving her position as Program Director of the McKnight Fellowships for Dancers and Choreographers in order to concentrate on her own artistic practice as a composer. 

"It has been a great privilege to support the work of individual artists through the fellowship program for these many years," shares Childs. "I am grateful to so many people at the McKnight Foundation, The Cowles Center, and especially to the many phenomenal artists who have been fellows and applicants to the program over the years."

Childs has spent the last 24 years as a Program Director for McKnight Artist Fellowship programs, beginning her tenure in 1997 when she developed the McKnight Fellowships for Theater Artists at the Southern Theater.  The McKnight Fellowships for Dancers & Choreographers program expanded under her leadership and initiative to include exciting engagements such as: SOLO, which commissions and presents new work from dancer fellows; the National Residencies program for choreographers; and the International Choreographer Residency that has hosted choreographers from Cuba, Israel, Burkina Faso, South Africa, and Mexico in Minnesota. 

“McKnight is so deeply appreciative of Mary Ellen’s more than two decades of leadership within the McKnight Artist Fellowships community and for her ambitious, creative, and diligent administration of artist fellowships," says Arleta Little, Arts Program Officer and Director of Artist Fellowships at the McKnight Foundation. "We will really miss her wisdom and generosity of spirit. But, of course, we can only celebrate her decision to focus more intention and energy on her own creative practice!”

Mary Ellen Childs will continue in her role as Program Director of the McKnight Fellowships for Dancers and Choreographers through the end of the year. Dana Kassel, who currently serves as Program Associate for the McKnight Fellowships at The Cowles Center, will assume the position of Program Director for Dancers and Choreographers beginning January 1, 2021. A new Program Assistant will be hired to complete the team for the McKnight Fellowships for Dancers and Choreographers.