Everybody Dance Now!

Mission: Everybody Dance Now! (EDN!) is a national nonprofit organization that utilizes the popularity and cultural history of hip hop and street dance forms to promote self-esteem in youth and to close the opportunity and achievement gaps that disproportionately impact quality of life for low-income residents and communities of color. Everybody Dance Now! provides weekly hip hop dance programming to young people throughout the country who would otherwise not have access to such opportunities. We promote equity, empowerment and healing through the arts. 

History: Everybody Dance Now! was founded in 2005 in Santa Barbara, CA by a then fourteen-year old. The organization was entirely youth-led for its first decade. In 2010, EDN! was featured on MTV’s America’s Best Dance Crew, and EDN! expanded to cities across the US – inspiring and training young people across the nation to start EDN! chapters in their communities. In 2016, EDN! began programs in New York City, the birthplace of hip hop dance, bringing on strong leaders based in New York who are leaders in hip-hop dance and education.

The past year has been formative for EDN!. EDN! is proud of our continued mission – and knows the relevance of and need for EDN!’s work providing arts education to youth that instills pride and cultural knowledge, and offering healthy creative, physical and emotional outlets. EDN!’s leadership and partners also see great potential for EDN! to support the broader hip-hop dance community, provide programs and offerings that bring people together and help people move forward during today’s unprecedented times, and further promote racial justice through the arts and center racial justice in EDN!’s education and other work. 

Organization: EDN! has committed funding support of federal, state and local governments, in addition to foundation philanthropic support and earned programmatic revenue from site partners. In addition to having a strong base of committed funding and current funding reserves, EDN! has potential to grow significantly – and is looking for a leader to lead EDN! to an even more elevated stage.