Artspeak Radio with Dance Data Project, Hard Edge, & Florescence

Artspeak Radio, Wednesday, March 19, 2025, 9am -10am CST, 90.1fm KKFI Kansas City Community Radio, streaming live audio www.kkfi.org
Producer/host Maria Vasquez Boyd welcomes Elizabeth Yntema President/founder of Dance Data Project, artists Chloe Eddens, Myla McCune, Terri Pollack, Shelly Pinto, and Laura Nugent.

ELIZABETH YNTEMA President/founder of Dance Data Project-We promote gender equity in the dance industry, including but not limited to ballet companies, by providing a metrics based analysis.
Through our research, programming, resources, and advocacy, DDP showcases and uplifts women throughout the dance industry. We focus on leaders, both artistic & administrative, and artists of merit: choreographers, photographers, lighting, costume, set designers, commissioned composers, film directors/producers, etc.

HISTORY OF THE PROJECT
DDP began as an independent project researching the lack of new female choreographic works. We also examine gender imbalance in artistic and administrative leadership in dance companies, venues, and organizations. Our research began with a focus on examining productions by companies generally rooted in or greatly influenced by the European classical form, but has since grown to examine modern and contemporary dance organizations and leaders.
The “ballet world” has only recently begun to discuss gender inequality in leadership. We use our data to enrich conversations that create change. Through our original research and information derived from DDP Listening Tours, we highlight companies and initiatives that are making concrete gains in promoting female choreographers and women in leadership positions. Through sharing the results of our data analysis and acquired insights directly from the field, DDP designs programming specifically tailored to the needs of up-and-coming female talent in ballet.

Founded and established by Elizabeth Yntema in 2015 as a simple database, DDP has operated as an official 501(c)(3) nonprofit since April 2019. By issuing data reports, advocacy, and programming, DDP raises awareness related to gender equality, primarily in areas of leadership and choreographic opportunities.
Dance Data Project® solicits and accepts donations that are consistent with its mission. Donations will generally be accepted from individuals, partnerships, foundations, government agencies, or other entities, without limitations. In the course of its regular fundraising activities, Dance Data Project® will accept donations of money as well as in-kind services such as research help.

Elizabeth B. Yntema is the President & Founder of Dance Data Project® (DDP), an organization dedicated to promoting gender equity in classical ballet through data analysis, advocacy, and transparency. Established in 2015, DDP has become a global leader in highlighting disparities in leadership, compensation, and programming in the dance industry, providing essential research and metrics-based tools for institutions worldwide.
A recognized leader in philanthropy and gender equity, Yntema has served on numerous boards, including WTTW/WFMT, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, and The Joffrey Ballet, where she played a key role in fundraising and programming initiatives. She co-chaired major galas for both the Joffrey Ballet and Hubbard Street Dance Company, raising millions to support the arts. She has also been an active member of the Junior League of Chicago, where she received the Volunteer of the Year Award for her advocacy on behalf of homeless women and children.

Her contributions to advancing women in ballet have earned her widespread recognition, including the Top Tier Feminist Giver Award from Philanthropy Women (2021) and Lifetime Honorary Membership in Corps de Ballet (2022). She has been featured in leading media outlets such as The New York Times, Forbes, Fortune, NPR, The Guardian, and Inside Philanthropy, and has appeared on numerous podcasts discussing the intersection of data, philanthropy, and the arts.
Yntema holds a B.A. in International Relations and Honors English from the University of Virginia (magna cum laude) and a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School, where she received the Jane L. Mixer Memorial Award for Outstanding Contribution to Social Justice.
She continues to advocate for systemic change in the arts through research, thought leadership, and strategic philanthropy, ensuring a more equitable future for women in dance.

Dance Data Project
790 Frontage Road Suite 224 Northfield, IL 60093
www.dancedataproject.com

CHLOE EDDINS & MYLA McCune – “HARD EDGE soft thread” Contrasts Roommates Styles Exploring Feminine Complexity KCAI Seniors Chloe Eddins (’25 Painting) and Myla McCune (’25 Ceramics) collaborated on the exhibition at Vulpes Bastille (1737 Locust Street), currently on view. Femininity is a balance of contrasts: delicate yet strong. Our work honors memories through decoration, exploring growth, decay, preservation, and loss, while reflecting the joy and grief of the feminine experience. Myla transforms textiles into rigid ceramics, creating tension between softness and strength. Chloe uses soft materials and bold details, taking textiles beyond their domestic roots. Both artists explore the contrast between flexible and rigid materials, challenging how we view their purpose. Chloe’s glass swords and Myla’s ceramic tiles embody both fragility and strength. Together, their work highlights the complexities of femininity.

HARD EDGE soft thread is currently on display at Vulpes Bastille, . Additional viewing dates are March 8th, 15th, and 22nd, from 1–4 PM. Chloe Eddins (Senior, Painting) moves a needle swiftly through layers of felt. She’s currently working on a single square, inspired by an image from a short film she made during her junior year, where white figures move in a circle. About a week before the exhibition opens, she’s already completed fifteen similar squares, each featuring a different image. “Fifteen more to go,” she says.
Eddins operates in the realm of fantasy. Growing up, she wanted to be a princess, a vampire, a witch, a mermaid. As she nears the end of her time at the Kansas City Art Institute, she’s leaned into this childhood interest. The felt squares are now becoming a border for a large painting of her embracing a unicorn—an intimate moment, she says. “They haven’t noticed us yet.” “I wanted to maintain that gentleness in the border and I think that’s why I went with the felt and the tiny stitches and the silver thread. I wanted it to shine and have moments in the sun,” Eddins says.

Myla McCune (Senior, Ceramics) grew up on a pig farm. She dreamed of being a cowgirl, learning all she could about taking care of animals. At 13, when she shared her ambition with her father, she was confronted with a different expectation that shaped her understanding of gender roles. “The farm was going to my brother. I was supposed to get married,” McCune recalls. Femininity plays a central role in her current work, which retains a country aesthetic through quilting patterns and animal hides. She also crafted a glass piece in the shape of a gun, using a mold made from a firearm she received as a child. “It was called ‘Baby’s First Rifle.’ It was bright pink. I’d go outside and shoot squirrels for dinner,” McCune says. She doesn’t flinch at the subject of death, having developed a farm-hardened callous to it. “We had this pet pig named Felicia, and one night at dinner, my six-year-old brother asked, ‘How’s Felicia taste?’ That’s when I realized we were eating our pet pig.”
Lately, McCune has been working with animal hides, laser-engraving images onto them. A coyote skin on her studio wall features an image of herself and her mother, burned into the surface. She’s also been busy at Beals Studio, working on cowhide panels, with plans to create a textured quilt. “The process does smell,” she says.

Vulpes Bastille is located at 1737 Locust St. KCMO vulpesbastille.com

LAURA NUGENT, TERRI POLLACK, SHELLY PINTO- FLORESCENCE, Three site-specific installations by artists Terri Pollack, Shelly Pinto and Laura Nugent are on view at The Smalter Gallery, March 15 – April 18, 2025. The exhibition opens Saturday, March 15th with an artists’ reception from 4 – 8 PM. The public is invited. “Florescence” at The Smalter Gallery 1802 W. 39th St. KCMO

Can creativity evolve in the middle stages of life? How does one avoid getting stuck, stifled or trapped by convention or habit? How does the artist stay alive in their practice when outside interest wanes, and opportunitites are not as abundant? Is it possible to be continually emerging?

Though the artist must persistently progress to avoid stagnation, there is always the danger of straying too far from the brand recognition and a known aesthetic, being perceived as lacking a consistent vision. Innovation is necessary yet risky. But how else is a mid-career artist to remain relevant, in the sea of new faces emerging daily?
Florescence celebrates three women’s exploration of the transformation of their creative practices. Each artist experiments with unfamiliar materials and methods as a leap into unknown territory, entering an aspirational new phase that amplifies and expands on past work.

Florescence is the culmination of a collaborative rebirth of sorts. By challenging, tending to, and ultimately inspiring one another, these three artists manifested the necessary creative breakthrough to propel them forward in their respective practices.

Smalter Gallery, Our Vision: The Smalter Gallery is held accountable to both its represented artists and its patrons. We aim to create a space in which our artists feel guided, valued and cared for. Our patrons will feel they have been welcomed into a place where art can be experienced free of the pressure, fear or stress. The Smalter Gallery team is passionate, compassionate, non-judgmental and always enthusiastic about supporting new methods of creative expression. The gallery hopes to serve as a second home and lighthouse for new artists exploring and expanding their craft. The gallery will not exclude, ostracize or shame patrons or artists for any reason, and will encourage patrons and makers of all ages, races, sexual orientations, and socioeconomic backgrounds.

Smalter Gallery is located at 1802 W. 39th St. KCMO www.smalterart.com

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