Dance News, New York City, New York

New York, New York, January 20, 2007- Arlene Shuler, President and CEO of New York City Center, today announced that The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has awarded a grant of $3.5 million to City Center for the support of its Fall for Dance Festival. The grant includes $2.5 million to inaugurate a new, dedicated endowment fund for Fall for Dance and up to $1 million to help underwrite the Festival’s annual expenses until the $10 million fund is fully established. The Mellon Foundation’s grant requires City Center to match the $2.5 million endowment component two to one over the next five years. To reach this goal, City Center will launch a new endowment campaign that will seek to secure the full $10 million by 2012. The Mellon grant will help to assure the future of the Fall for Dance Festival by inaugurating this vital endowment allowing City Center to continue in its historic role as an accessible and welcoming home for outstanding dance in New York City through programs like Fall for Dance.

"In just three seasons, the Fall for Dance Festival has become a successful model for audience development programming for other arts organizations, and has exceeded our own expectations for bringing thousands of new audience members to City Center.” said Arlene Shuler, “Not only is the Festival the first dance experience for many attendees, it also offers smaller and lesser-known companies significant exposure, and has reinvigorated the perception of City Center as a home for dance in New York City. This extraordinary grant will enable us, for many years to come, to continue presenting exciting world-class and up-and-coming companies at a low price that makes tickets affordable to a diverse and enthusiastic audience. We are so grateful to The Mellon Foundation for its leadership support which will ensure the long-term viability of Fall for Dance.”

Established in 2004, the Fall for Dance Festival celebrates the vitality and breadth of dance by presenting 30 different dance companies from New York, across the country and around the world, during 10 days of performances. Artists represent a variety of genres from ballet to hip-hop. The Festival showcase premier dance companies alongside today’s most exciting new talents, and with all tickets just $10, dance lovers and a new audiences willing to give dance a try have made the Festival a sold-out success.

The Festival has made great progress in achieving its original goal of helping develop a new generation of dancegoers. Surveys distributed during the 2006 Festival indicated 37% of the audience was under 30 years of age and 24% were not regular dance attendees. Just as important, 40% of the respondents who had attended previous Fall for Dance Festivals saw more dance performances throughout the year, as a result of their experience at the Festival - which is a sign that Fall for Dance has benefited the entire dance community by enticing audiences with the right combination of affordable ticket prices and programming. The Festival has also introduced companies to dancegoers who might be unfamiliar with their work; in fact, 45% of the audience said that they had subsequently attended a performance by one of the companies they saw at the Festival.

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation is a private philanthropic institution, with assets of approximately $5 billion, and issues grants on a selective basis to organizations of higher education, independent libraries, and centers for advanced study, museums, art conservation, and performing arts groups.

Under its Performing Arts Program, the Foundation focuses on achieving long-term results by providing multi-year grants to organizations in the disciplines of music, theater, dance, and opera. These grants, which are awarded on the basis of artistic merit and leadership in the field, seek to strengthen an institution’s artistic and administrative capacity; encourage the development and performance of new work; identify and train new generations of leaders; reinforce the role of individual artists within institutions; expand research and scholarship in the performing arts. The Mellon’s annual donations specifically for performing arts, have averaged $20 million since 2000.

New York City Center has long been known and beloved by New York audiences not only as one of the city's preeminent performing arts institutions but also as an accessible and welcoming venue for dance and theater. New York City Center produces the Tony-honored Encores! musical theater series, and is home to some of the country’s leading dance companies, including Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, American Ballet Theatre and Paul Taylor Dance Company, as well as Manhattan Theatre Club, one of New York City’s leading theater companies. Continuing to fulfill its mission to make the arts accessible to the broadest possible audiences, in 2004 New York City Center launched the acclaimed Fall for Dance Festival. In 2006, New York City Center and London’s Sadler’s Wells Theatre created a partnership to facilitate the exchange of innovative dance works and new commissions by up-and-coming and acclaimed choreographers and dance companies, both in London and in New York City.

Media Contact:
Helene Davis
Helene Davis Public Relations
212-354-7436
helene@helenedavispr.com

Preview of Works by Guest Choreographers Trisha Brown and Jessica Lang