Bill Shannon

Bill Shannon (born 1970) is an American artist who resides in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Shannon holds a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Born with a degenerative hip condition, he developed a way to express himself through dance and skateboarding on crutches.

Performances
Performances and video work include:
 * Kaaitheater, Brussels
 * Performance Space 122, NYC
 * The Kitchen, NYC
 * Sydney Opera House Studio Theater, Australia
 * Walker Art Center, Minneapolis
 * Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, OR
 * Central Park SummerStage, NYC
 * Dance City, Newcastle, England
 * Contact Theater, Manchester, England
 * Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
 * Arizona State University, Tempe
 * The Exit Festival, Cretiel, France
 * Amman International Festival of Independent Theater, Amman, Jordan
 * Holland Festival, Amsterdam
 * Temple Bar, Dublin, Ireland
 * URB Festival, Helsinki
 * Melbourne Fringe Festival
 * Teatro de la Ciudad in Monterrey, Mexico
 * "Work It Out" music video by RJD2 (2007)
 * 'Life flows better' Visa advert, (2009)

In 2002, he completed a project with Cirque du Soleil choreographing parts of their production Varekai.

His visual and multimedia art have been exhibited in contemporary museums, galleries and fairs include:
 * ArtDC in Washington, DC (2007)
 * Kiasma
 * Helsinki Museum of Contemporary Art in Finland (2005)
 * Tate in Liverpool, England (2003)
 * Headlands Center for the Arts in San Francisco (2005).

Awards

 * Dance Magazine's "25 to Watch" in 2001
 * John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship in 2003
 * Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists award (2000)
 * Colbert Award for Excellence: The Downtown Arts Projects Emerging Arts Award
 * Pennsylvania Council of the Arts Interdisciplinary Arts Fellowship
 * Wynn Newhouse Award in 2010

Grants

 * National Endowment for the Arts
 * the National Dance Project of the New England Foundation for the Arts
 * Jerome Foundation
 * New York Foundation for the Arts
 * New York State Council for the Arts
 * James E. Robison Foundation
 * Bossak-Heilbron Charitable Foundation
 * The Harkness Foundation for Dance
 * Arts International: The Fund for U.S. Artists at International Festivals.

Competitions

 * 2000: Mantis Battle (Solo Category) in NYC; placed second in ProAms Florida (Abstract Category)
 * 2002: Most Creative Street Dancer by the LA Urban Dance Festival.