Our Mission
Supporting ballet beyond it’s traditional boundaries
Ballet Rising is a ballet-focused grant program supported by a community network and a media platform. We address a lack of connectivity at the very edges of the global ballet community with the aim of expanding opportunities and collaboration.
For most of its history, ballet stars came mainly from Europe and North America. Today, that is changing. The ballet world has a wider range of ethnic, racial and religious diversity than ever before, and global audiences are becoming increasingly aware of the social, individual and economic benefits of supporting dance in their communities. Ballet Rising provides support to artists, faculty, and students who have worked on the margins of the ballet community for too long, and provides fundraising, education, networking, and advocacy assistance. In addition, we use our media platform to share unique and inspiring stories from the artists in our network to create awareness about how their journey is evolving. This creates an abiding interest in the growth of the community from a wider range of participants.
We have three main programming goals: financial support, help through networking and publicity through media that make our work more sustainable.
Our main goal is to raise funds to give emerging ballet communities and artists the momentum they need to grow. In many parts of the planet, even the most basic necessities of life are difficult to obtain. Good dance floors, shoes, mirrors, etc. are difficult to access, but can be an important building block to help them develop. Similarly, good instruction can be a rare commodity. We want to help dedicated artists get the funding they need to study or that instructors travel to these communities to help them develop in a way that can provide opportunities and broaden horizons. Our program will aim to help them become an influential part of their community at home and a force for good worldwide.
Through our network of highly regarded artists from around the world, we strive to connect people with skills and expertise with those who seek their help. After a long and successful dance career, artistic director Casey Herd has built a huge network of many of the most influential artists in the ballet world. We want to use these connections to bridge the knowledge gap and help those in need build sustainable organizations that can give emerging ballet communities a big boost.
We report on the emergence of new and emerging ballet leaders, teachers and students around the world with the aim of supporting integration into the global ballet community. We mainly focus on locations where ballet has not traditionally been a major art form, such as Africa, Southeast Asia and beyond, and we publish film and written content. As part of this goal, we highlight local cultures in non-ballet-centric communities to encourage understanding, appreciation and collaboration between all types of dance and art outside of traditional ballet-centric countries.
