Dana Whitco

Dana Whitco directs the Tisch Initiative for Creative Research, a new strategic initiative designed to catalyze, nurture and promote the research praxis of Tisch faculty, students and staff. Dana works with diverse Tisch stakeholders to formulate new opportunities for research, to deeply integrate artists into the intellectual life of the University, and to strengthen Tisch’s capacity as an incubator for innovation and collaboration.

She is the Founding Director of the Center for Creative Research (Graduate School of Arts & Science, New York University) and Co-Founder of PositiveFeedback, NYC's first inter-institutional consortium dedicated to supporting collaborations between artists and scientists working on issues of climate change. Previous appointments in the performing arts include the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the National Dance Project (New England Foundation for the Arts) and Center Theater Group (Mark Taper Forum/Ahmanson Theater/Kirk Douglas Theater) in Los Angeles where she also completed graduate studies in dance at University of California, Los Angeles. Whitco is a frequent advisor and panelist for arts grant-making programs in New York City and across the country, and is a regular presenter at national and international conferences. She has taught dance and dance-related subjects at NYU, Temple University, UCLA, and Loyola Marymount University and at the elementary and secondary school-level, and currently serves on the boards of Movement Research, Bebe Miller Company and Culturebot.