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The Morrison-Shearer Foundation inspires and nurtures the creative processes of dance artists, media artists, and their collaborators.The Morrison-Shearer Foundation inspires and nurtures the creative processes of dance artists, media artists, and their collaborators.
Dancer / Choreographer SYBIL SHEARERexpanding upon the legacy of its foundersPhotographer / Filmmaker HELEN BALFOUR MORRISONExpanding upon the legacy of its foundersPhotographer / Filmmaker
HELEN BALFOUR MORRISON
Dance Maverick
SYBIL SHEARER
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Exploring Opportunities for Media Artsits and Their Collaborators

Earlier this year, members of the Morrison-Shearer Foundation’s Board of Trustees visited the Chicago Film Archives  and the studio of noted photographer, Judy Natal. Through these visits and others, the Foundation is establishing the basis for its future support of the creative processes of media artists and their collaborators, set to launch…
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Without Wings The Way Is Steep Volumes I, II & III Soon Available in Digital Formats

The Morrison-Shearer Foundation is proud to announce plans for the digitization and wider distribution of Sybil Shearer’s three-volume autobiography: Without Wings The Way Is Steep. In addition to providing a fascinating view of an insider’s history of modern dance in America, the volumes offer intimate views into Shearer’s thoughts about leaving…
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Arts Club of Chicago Event Features Ray Johnson’s Link to Sybil Shearer

On Thursday, September 15, Jenny Harris, COSI Research Fellow for Modern and Contemporary Art at The Art Institute of Chicago presented a talk on her research into the fascinating connections between the seminal Pop Art figure, Ray Johnson, and Sybil Shearer. Her investigation was inspired by the acquisition of a…
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Sybil Shearer Honored by John Neumeier and the Hamburg Ballet

In the fall of 2022, Scott Lundius, MSF’s executive director, discovered that the Hamburg Ballet would perform in Chicago at the Harris Theater in 2023 as part of a special tour celebrating John Neumeier’s 50th anniversary as its artistic director. Lundius called the Harris Theater’s CEO, Lori Dimun, setting off…

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Fellowships

AYAKO KATO – Sybil Shearer Fellowship at Ragdale: 2024

AYAKO KATO Sybil Shearer Fellowship at Ragdale: 2024 Photo: William Frederking During her residency fellowship at Ragdale, Ayako Kato will be working on ETHOS IV: Degrowth/Cycle/Rebirth, an evening-length piece created to shift focus from human-centered, capitalistic ways of being to a more symbiotic, nature-centered way of being. It will be premiered at the…
Spotlight

Stephanie Martinez Named 2023 Sybil Shearer Fellow at Ragdale

Award winning choreographer, Stephanie Martinez, has been selected as the second recipient of the Sybil Shearer Fellowship for an artist's residency in the new Sybil Shearer Studio at Ragdale. Stephanie is the Founder and Artistic Director of PARA.MAR Dance Theatre in Chicago. Through this fellowship, Stephanie will explore the work…
News

Through the Morrison-Shearer Foundation, dance maverick Sybil Shearer continues to enrich Chicago dance

Chicagoland’s dance community has an important and enduring friend in dance maverick Sybil Shearer and the Morrison-Shearer Foundation. The Foundation, established in 1991, perpetuates the legacy of dancer/choreographer Shearer and collaborator/photographer Helen Balfour Morrison as an inspiration for new creativity in the arts by providing grants, the Sybil Shearer Fellowship…