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Updated 11/8/2024

Christal Brown / INSPIRIT

  • V

    VT

Institution/Business Type: Performing Group

Christal Brown is the Founder of INSPIRIT, an Associate Professor of Dance at Middlebury College and the CVO of Steps and Stages Coaching, LLC. Brown received a BFA in Dance and a minor in Business from UNCG and her MFA in New Media Art and Technology from LIU. Brown is a native of Kinston, NC where while serving as her mother’s sidekick, she learned the mechanisms of cultural organizing and the organic synthesis of art and activism. Her path of self-discovery has been influenced by trailblazers such as Chuck Davis, Bill T. Jones, Andrea E. Woods, Liz Lerman, Bebe Miller, and Jawole Willa Jo Zollar. Brown is a mover and a warrior of change and transformation. Brown combines her athleticism, creativity, love for people, and passion for teaching to create works that redefine the art of dance, the creation of identity and structures of power.

INSPIRIT was founded in 2000 by Christal Brown. Since its inception, INSPIRIT has grown to be an incubation tank, providing training in executive, artistic, and educational skills. In addition to having performed in various venues across the United States the company has also been in residence at colleges and universities while creating strong ties with various communities of young women nationwide through Project: BECOMING. 

INSPIRIT's vision includes providing a forum for collaboration among emerging artists and choreographers, promoting public appreciation of contemporary dance works, educating the general public about dance by sponsoring affordable and accessible performances in community based venues, encouraging interest in dance among youth through outreach and within public schools, developing the technical abilities and overall talent of young and unrecognized artist of all genres, races, and gender. 

INSPIRIT has grown from a performance ensemble to a methodology for collaboration, creativity, and community building.  Using the artist/executive model as a basis for creative process INSPIRIT has formed a replicable structure of art-making and social change.

 

Find Me

Christal Brown
Job Title: Choreographer/ Professor
Address:
105 Court St.
#311
Middlebury, VT 05753

Additional Content:

About

Overview

Institution/Business Type:

Performing Group

Legal Status:

Commercial / For profit - Corporation

Year Founded:

2005

Overview

Institution/Business Type:

Performing Group

Legal Status:

Commercial / For profit - Corporation

Year Founded:

2005

Disciplines

Primary Discipline:

Dance - Modern / Contemporary

Additional Disciplines:

  • Multi-Disciplinary

Activities and Services

Activities and Services:

  • Creation of a Work of Art (Including Commissions)
  • Curriculum Development
  • Residency - In School
  • Workshops / Demonstrations / Master Class
  • Performance / Concert / Reading
  • Residency - Community
Seasons Active: spring, fall, winter
Events Per Year: 10

Communities

Populations Engaged:

  • Adults
  • General Public
  • School Groups
  • Teens
  • Youth-At-Risk

Geographic Reach:

  • Multi-State Region
  • International

Media Gallery

I Have Worked With

Affiliations and Accomplishments

Professional Associations

Professional Associations:

  • International Association of Blacks in Dance
  • Fractured Atlas
  • Flynn Center for the Performing Arts - Board Member 2022
  • New England Foundation for the Arts - Board Member 2017 - 2021

Professional Associations

Professional Associations:

  • International Association of Blacks in Dance
  • Fractured Atlas
  • Flynn Center for the Performing Arts - Board Member 2022
  • New England Foundation for the Arts - Board Member 2017 - 2021

Awards

Awards:

  • National Dance Project Award for What We Ask of Flesh, New England Foundation for the Arts
  • Creation Grant Award for What We Ask of Flesh, Vermont Arts Council
  • Walter Cerf Medal for Outstanding Achievement in the Arts Governor’s Arts Award, Vermont Arts Council
  • Office Hours Residency, The Kennedy Center for What We Ask of Flesh
  • New England Arts Resilience Fund Award, New England Foundation for the Arts Development & Transition of INSPIRIT, a dance company
  • Distinguished Alumni UNCG
  • Rebecca Blunk Fund
  • The New England Dance Fund Award for The Opulence of Integrity

Education

Education:

  • BFA UNCG and MFA, Long Island University

Special Designations

Special Designations:

  • NEFA Grant Recipient

Artist Info

Teaching Artist

Teaching Settings:

  • Arts and Cultural Center / Venue
  • Community Site / Center
  • Corporate Business
  • School / University

Ages Served:

  • Elementary School-age
  • Middle School-age
  • High School-age
  • College-age
  • Adults

Subject Areas:

  • Arts Integration - English Language / Literacy
  • Arts Integration - History and Social Science

Certifications and Training:

  • The Leadership Program
  • Gyrotonics

Fee range:

$250 - $1,000

Teaching Artist

Teaching Settings:

  • Arts and Cultural Center / Venue
  • Community Site / Center
  • Corporate Business
  • School / University

Ages Served:

  • Elementary School-age
  • Middle School-age
  • High School-age
  • College-age
  • Adults

Subject Areas:

  • Arts Integration - English Language / Literacy
  • Arts Integration - History and Social Science

Certifications and Training:

  • The Leadership Program
  • Gyrotonics

Fee range:

$250 - $1,000

Touring Artist

NEST Eligible Artist

Technical Requirements:

  • Flexible

Fee Range:

$500 - $12,000

State of Residence:

Vermont

Minimum Number of Performers:

1

Maximum Number of Performers:

7