I research arts work and work worlds with particular emphasis on how institutions value dance and the arts, principally in a US context.

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Books 

Funding Bodies: Five Decades of Dance Making at the National Endowment for the Arts. Middleton: Wesleyan University Press, 2021. (print)

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Précis: My first book project examined how federal dance funding narratives, guidelines and evaluative practices have historically shaped and constrained artists in the US dance field from 1965-2016. An open-access copy of the book is made available through the generosity of Duke University Libraries TOME program, and is accessible here:https://dhjhkxawhe8q4.cloudfront.net/wespress-wp/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/28110929/wilbur_funding_print.pdf

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(manuscript in progress): Prescribing Dance: Sweating the Influence of the US Healthcare System on local Dance Work, Workers, and Work Worlds  

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Peer Reviewed Journal Articles/Essays

“Does the NEA Need Saving?” The Drama Review/TDR, Carol Martin, Ed. Vol. 61, Issue 3. T236, Winter  2017. (print) 

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**ON TAP: A THEATRE AND PERFORMANCE STUDIES PODCAST** commentary on TDR/NEA essay, here: https://soundcloud.com/ontappod/on-tap-020 (@36:36).

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“Gestural Economies and Pedagogies in Deaf West’s Broadway Revival of Spring Awakening,” The Drama Review/TDR, Issue 4 T228, Megan Nicely and Gelsey Bell, Eds., Vol. 60, Issue 2, T230, Summer 2016. (print) 

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“It’s About Time: Creative Placemaking and Performance Analytics,” Performance Research Vol. 20, Issue 4. Gigi Argyropoulou and Hypatia Vourloumis, Eds. (2015): 98-105. (print) 

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“Dance for Veterans: A Complimentary Health Program for Veterans with Serious Mental Illness” in Arts &  Health: An International Journal for Research, Policy, and Practice. Donald Stewart and Michael Balfour, Eds. Co- authored with Drs. Donna Ames, Robert T. Rubin, Hilary Meyer, Matthew Baker, and Christine Suarez, and Kristen Smiarowski. Vol. 7 issue 2 (2015): 96-108. (print) 

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“Failing Perceptions: Policy, Production, and U.S. Dance Makers,” Journal of Emerging Dance Scholarship. Linda Caldwell, Urmimala Sarkar, Eds. World Dance Alliance. Vol. 1 Issue 1 (2013). (web) 

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Chapters in Edited Collections and Volumes

“Who ‘Makes’ a Dance? Studying Infrastructure through a Dance Lens,” Mellon Futures of Dance Studies. Susan Manning, Janice Ross, and Rebecca Schneider, Eds. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2020. (print) 

 

“Endangered Strangers: Tracking Competition in US Federal Dance Funding,” Oxford Handbook of Dance and Competition. Sherril Dodds, Ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2018. (print)

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Commissioned, Collaborative Research

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Wilbur, Sarah, Paul Bonin-Rodriguez, and Deborah Goffe, co-Investigators. “Performing Artist Case Studies.“ White paper and allied website. Doris Duke Charitable Foundation National Sector Building Monograph. Wesleyan University Institute for Curatorial Practice in Performance. (2021) (print)

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Commentary, Reviews, Book Reviews, Entries, Performance Texts

(forthcoming) “Accountability (n.), Accountable (adj.), Accounting (v.)” in Oxford Handbook of Dance Praxis.  Anurima Banerji, Jasmine E. Johnson, Royona Mitra, Eds. London: Oxford University Press, (estimated fall 2024). (print)

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(book review) Performing Policy: How Contemporary Politics and Cultural Programs Redefined U.S. Artists for the Twenty-First Century by Paul Bonin-Rodriguez (book review), in e-misférica, Macarena Gómez Barris and Marcial Godoy-Anativia, Eds. Vol. 14, Issue 1, 2018. (web) 

 

(book review) The Oxford Handbook of Dance and Politics. Kowal, Rebekah J., Gerald Siegmund, and Randy Martin, eds. Dance Research Journal, Helen Thomas, Ed., Vol. 50, Issue 1, April 2018. (print)

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"A Dance Based Addendum to the Gray Areas Quiz" in Art Practical, Volume 5.4, April  2014. http://www.artpractical.com/review/reflections-on-a-dance-based-addendum/ (web).