Crossing Bridges has been birthing since founder Jan Hanvik began working on US-Mexico dance exchange projects in Mexico and Manhattan in the 1980s. It continued developing while he pursued the field of transcultural exchange in numerous cultures throughout the hemisphere. An LLC was created 12/16 to house Crossing Bridges’ activities.

The product or concept of brokering residencies by artists from all parts of the world in artist residency programs throughout Spain, Portugal, the Caribbean, and Latin America, came about when Hanvik’s affiliation with the 500-member Alliance of Artists Communities led to a deep identification with this community. An opportunity revealed itself in the fact that 70,000 (of 90,000) applicants to U.S.-based artist residencies failed to be matched up with an opportunity.