The Arts & Business Council recently announced its upcoming merger with Americans for the Arts, thus creating the largest arts advocacy organization in U.S. history. Based in Washington, D.C., Americans for the Arts encompasses 4,000 arts agencies and foundations and has been instrumental in advocating for the arts in government affairs, especially in the late 1990s when the National Endowment for the Arts was in danger of being dismantled by a Republican Congress. The Arts & Business Council’s main function is to create partnerships between cultural organizations and corporations. With chapters in 18 cities nationwide, the council has built relationships with corporate sponsors, for example American Express’s sponsorship of its National Arts Marketing Project. Following the approval of both organizations’ boards of directors, the joint group was renamed the Arts & Business Council of Americans for the Arts. In joining together the two organizations intend to direct their attention to private donations. A recent survey conducted by the Business Committee for the Arts showed that small businesses surprisingly tend to give more generously to the arts than do larger corporations. As a result of the merger the organizations hope to seriously increase giving across the entire private sector—foundations, individuals, and corporations. (Back Stage)

The Boston Ballet has cut salaries for almost all non-unionized employees in order to balance its budget after Nutcracker revenues came in lower than expected. Executive director Valerie Wilder said the cuts began at the beginning of January, and that 90 to 100 employees were affected. Cuts are graduated according to pay scale, she said, with senior management bearing the brunt. Full salaries will be restored in July at the beginning of the new fiscal year, and no one will lose his or her job. Wilder also said the company is exploring ways to have its unionized employees, including dancers, contribute to cutting expenses. (New York Times)

The Jerome Foundation, located in St. Paul, MN, has selected ten New York City cultural institutions to receive grants of up to $80,000. In this round of giving, 19 grants totaling $595,000 were awarded in all. In NYC, New Dramatists received a two-year grant of $80,000 to support its New Works Process and the Composer Librettist Studio. Other recipients were the Asian American Writers’ Workshop ($42,000); the Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning ($30,000); the Orchestra of St. Luke’s ($24,000); the Foundry Theater ($23,000); Aaron Davis Hall ($20,000); the Socrates Sculpture Garden ($20,000); Eyebeam ($15,000); the New York Foundation for the Arts on behalf of artist Kyle deCamp ($10,000); and the Collapsable Giraffe ($10,000). Created by artist/philanthropist Jerome Hill, the Jerome Foundation supports the creation and production of new artistic works by emerging artists residing in Minnesota and New York City. (Back Stage)

A new study conducted by Americans for the Arts found that nearly 3 million people work in the arts, a figure which represents around 2.2% of all jobs in the United States. Released on March 15, which is Arts Advocacy Day, the study, Creative Industries 2005: The Congressional Report, also found that arts-related jobs exist in all 435 Congressional Districts. The study, in part a follow-up to another conducted in 2004, tracked arts entities in the following fields: museums and collections; performing arts; visual art and photography; film; radio and TV; design and publishing; and arts schools and services. Among the areas most heavily populated with arts employers are New York City and California. New York’s 14th Congressional District, represented by Democrat Carolyn Maloney, led the country in employing 119,320 arts workers. Other top districts include New York’s 8th, which includes Times Square and the Theater District, five districts in California, and districts within or surrounding Chicago, Philadelphia, and Atlanta. Robert Lynch, the president and CEO of Americans for the Arts, declared that the study showed “that arts-centric businesses contribute significantly to local economies in all U.S. Congressional Districts.” (Back Stage)

The dancers and apprentices of the Washington Ballet in Washington, D.C. recently voted in favor of joining the American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA), a branch of the AFL-CIO union that represents dancers and opera singers. The Nation Labor Relations Board announced the results of the anonymous vote on February 15. In December, the dancers called on AGMA to bargain on their behalf with company management. Among their concerns was the scheduling of long and unpredictable rehearsals regardless of fatigue, leading to frequent injuries. The Washington Ballet refused to recognize AGMA's attempt to organize the election and threatened legal action, but the NLRB rejected the company's legal arguments and set up the vote. After the company's 20 dancers voted 18-2 to unionize, AGMA informed director Jason Palmquist that the conditions of the dancers' employment, including wages, hours, and tour contracts, were now to be negotiated through AGMA. The Washington Ballet performs full annual seasons at the Kennedy Center, the Warner Theater, and the Center for the Arts at George Mason University; presents biennially at the Joyce Theater in New York; and tours both nationally and internationally. (Backstage, New York Times)

The main building of the famous Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, home to the Bolshoi ballet and opera companies, will close its doors on July 1 for the first time in over 150 years. At a March 4 press conference, Anatoly Iksanov, the director of the house, announced the closing and said that renovation work will likely continue through 2008. Although some preservationists have opposed the project, most officials admit that renovations are long overdue and that the theater needs to be updated in order to measure up to comparable international venues such as the Metropolitan Opera House. Backstage areas will be enlarged, orchestra acoustics improved, and sprung floors will be installed. Architects and building officials also expressed concern over damage to the old foundations, caused by environmental stresses such as weather and new building projects in the area. While the reconstruction is underway, the opera and ballet companies will perform in an annex theater already built next door. Although some larger-scale productions will have to be performed elsewhere in Moscow or limited to tour engagements, the opera and theater companies are making efforts not to diminish the companies’ rosters of performers. (New York Times)

New York City Department of Cultural Affairs commissioner Kate Levin announced staff changes last December. “These are exciting--and challenging--times at DCA,” said Levin. “In order to make the most of our opportunities, and recognizing the fiscal restraints under which the City must continue to operate, I have asked two of our senior staff members to change their responsibilities.” Susan Rothschild will now serve as DCA’s general counsel and senior advisor, “focusing her encyclopedic knowledge of the agency and its history on our burgeoning workload in the Counsel’s office, and on selected special projects.” The former general counsel, Margaret Morton, has been made deputy commissioner, “applying her extensive administrative experience to improving the agency’s organization and management.” Morton can be contacted at (212) 643-3924, and Rothschild at (212) 643-7729.

In January the three-weekend 33rd Dance on Camera Festival at Lincoln Center wrapped up with the announcement that the $1,500 top prize had gone to The Cost of Living, a 34-minute film made by the DV8 Physical Theater in London. The prize is presented by the Dance Films Association. The jury also gave an honorary award to Carmen and Geoffrey, a feature-length documentary about the legendary dance couple Carmen de Lavallade and Geoffrey Holder. (New York Times)

The contralto Marian Anderson, who in 1955 was the first African American to sing at the Metropolitan Opera House, has been honored with a new 37-cent commemorative postage stamp. The stamp was issued in January by the United States Postal Service in a ceremony at Washington, D.C.’s Constitution Hall, where in 1939 Anderson was barred from singing because of her race. The Daughters of the American Revolution, the hall’s owner, refused to let Anderson sing; Eleanor Roosevelt promptly resigned her DAR membership and Anderson instead gave a career-making performance at the Lincoln Memorial, which was broadcast live and attended by seventy-five thousand people. The Marian Anderson stamp is the 28th in the Black Heritage Series.

On January 22, the anniversary of George Balanchine’s birth, New York City Ballet announced the promotion of eight dancers. Soloists Ashley Bouder, Megan Fairchild, Janie Taylor, Joaquin De Luz, and Stephen Hanna have been promoted to principal dancers. Corps de ballet members Teresa Reichlen, Adam Hendrickson, and Daniel Ulbricht have been promoted to soloists. All the dancers promoted studied at the School of American Ballet and served as company apprentices before becoming corps members, with the exception of De Luz, who received his training in Spain and danced with the Pennsylvania Ballet before joining the NYCB corps.

Two bulwarks of Lincoln Center leadership announced in January their plans to resign. On January 12, Lincoln Center chairman Bruce Crawford, 76, said he would step down in June. And on January 25, former opera diva and longtime arts administrator Beverly Sills, 75, said she was also resigning her volunteer post as chairwoman of the Metropolitan Opera, effective immediately. Sills’s 60-year career in the arts has included her rise to stardom as a soprano with the New York City Opera, a decade managing the company after her 1980 retirement, and serving as chairwoman of first Lincoln Center and then the Met. Crawford, an opera fan and Met trustee, has served for only three years; he is also chairman of Omnicom Group, a marketing and communications conglomerate. (New York Times)

On November 30, six harrowing weeks after Dance Theatre of Harlem lost its insurance and was forced to close the doors of its school, a press conference was held to announce its reopening. Artistic director Arthur Mitchell and newly appointed executive director Laveen Naidu worked with Michael Kaiser, president of Washington, D.C.’s Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and known in the nonprofit world as “Mr. Fix-It,” to develop a strategic plan for DTH that includes reorganization of the staff structure, a raft of new board members, and proactive fundraising. An emergency fundraising campaign had gathered over $1.6 million in new donations, enough to keep the school going for about six months. Mr. Kaiser, credited with rejuvenating the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, American Ballet Theatre, and the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, will continue to advise DTH pro bono for the next year. Michael Bloomberg has been active in the campaign, reportedly making an anonymous donation of $500,000, and the NYC mayor held his weekly press conference at the school on 152nd Street to gain coverage for the issue. Cameras flashed as the regal Mitchell led students, in their school uniforms of blue leotards and pink tights, in a short barre exercise. The mayor tied DTH’s survival to “the continued Harlem renaissance,” and promised, “We are committed to returning dance to the public school curriculum this fall.” Manhattan borough president C. Virginia Fields spoke of DTH’s importance to the city’s African-American community, and new board member the Reverend Calvin O. Butts III said, “This work involves a lot of rhetoric, a lot of hope, but also a lot of hard work.” Mr. Naidu, a South African native who studied at the school, danced with the company, and is married to a DTH ballerina, said that no teachers would lose their jobs in the staff restructuring. No promises have been made about the company itself, laid off in September, but DTH hopes to rehire its dancers within the next fiscal year.

After weeks of internal struggles at the famed Milan opera house La Scala, including the cancellations of many performances, Ricardo Muti, for almost 20 years its talented and reputedly temperamental musical director, stepped down on March 2. In his letter of resignation, Mr. Muti cited the hostility of the musicians and other staff toward him as preventing the collaborative relationship required to continue on as director. The relationship between the conductor and his orchestra became strained in February 2004 with the dismissal of Carlo Fontana, the general manager of La Scala, with whom Mr. Muti had had difficulties. Orchestra musicians, stagehands, and other workers at the opera house began to stage strikes that caused the cancellation of many opening-night performances, and union officials criticized Mr. Muti for influencing management to replace Mr. Fontana with Mauro Meli, a close friend of Mr. Muti’s. In March 2005, more than 700 of the 800-person staff at the opera house joined in demanding that Mr. Muti step down. The news of the resignation was met with sadness in Milan, a city that takes particular pride in its opera house, which had recently undergone a three-year restoration project. (New York Times)

Aaron Davis Hall, Harlem’s Center for the Performing Arts, will expand by taking over the Croton Gatehouse, located at Covent Avenue and 135th Street. Designed by Frederick S. Cook, the Gatehouse was built in 1890 as a part of the New Croton Aqueduct System. The building was given landmark status in 1981 and is now under the jurisdiction of the
Department of Cultural Affairs. The department will cover the costs of renovation, estimated at $13 million, which will enable Aaron Davis Hall to expand its performance programs and administrative offices. The renovation was designed by Olhousen DuBois Architects in collaboration with Wank Adams Slavin Associates and will be completed by the fall of 2006. (New York Times)

Franco De Vita, currently Dean of Faculty and Curriculum at the Boston Ballet School, will be the new principal of the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School at American Ballet Theatre, ABT artistic director Kevin McKenzie announced on March 24. Mr. De Vita, a native of Italy, danced with several European ballet companies in the repertory works of George Skibine, Antony Tudor, and George Balanchine, and performed in musical comedies and operettas. After retiring from the stage, Mr. De Vita received the highest degree given by the Italian ministry of education through the Accademia Nazionale de Danza in Rome. From 1983-1995 he co-directed the Scuola de Danza Classica Hamlyn in Florence, with Raymond Lukens. He has served on the faculty of The Ailey School, the Ailey/Fordham BFA program in New York City, and the School of the Hartford Ballet; as a company teacher for the Hartford Ballet; and as a guest teacher for many ballet companies and schools in the United States and Canada. Effective April 1, Mr. De Vita will be responsible for directing ABT’s pre-professional classical ballet program for students age 14-18, which operates out of 890 Broadway rehearsal studios in Manhattan. (Backstage, New York Times)

On March 30, after a dramatic month of pre-show turmoil, Barry and Fran Weissler and Clear Channel Communications, producers of the revival of the 1966 musical Sweet Charity, said they have decided not to close the show as announced days earlier, but instead to push the opening back to May 4. This would be the last possible day to open and still be considered for the year’s Tony nominations. Star Christina Applegate broke her foot in the production’s opening scene during a run in Chicago earlier in the month; the producers replaced her with Broadway veteran Charlotte D’Amboise for the remaining previews and possibly the opening weeks of the show. Although Ms. D’Amboise received favorable reviews in a run in Boston, the overall production did not, and the producers announced on March 25 that the show would close in Boston. They also expressed concern over weak advance sales of just $2 million, an amount well shy of that needed to ensure the financial success of the production, which cost $7.5 million to produce. But just five days later, the Weisslers and Clear Channel announced that Sweet Charity would come to Broadway, with Ms. D’Amboise filling in for the first week of previews and Ms. Applegate returning for the second week and to open the show. ( New York Times)

Victor Castelli, whose career spanned 34 years with the New York City Ballet, died on February 8 in New York City of pneumonia. NYCB dedicated several performances of George Balanchine’s Mozartiana during their winter season to Castelli, for whom the “Gigue” solo was originally created. Born and raised in Montclair, NJ, Castelli studied ballet locally and in New York City at the School of American Ballet before joining NYCB in 1971. Known for his dynamic dancing, Castelli went on to perform many roles in the repertory, including the title role in Balanchine’s Prodigal Son and major roles in Jerome Robbins’s The Watermill and Dances at a Gathering. After retiring from the stage in 1990, he served as a ballet master at NYCB. He also worked devotedly to retain the works of the NYCB repertory, in particular those choreographed by Jerome Robbins, serving as an advisor to the Robbins Rights Trust. Castelli frequently traveled the country staging NYCB repertory works for other ballet companies. (New York Times)

updated on 3/24/05

Actor Ossie Davis, nominated for Tony Awards in both acting and writing, died February 4 in Miami Beach, FL, where he was on location shooting a film. Davis is survived by his wife Ruby Dee, a longtime collaborator both on stage and screen and as a political activist. Both were honored with Kennedy Center Honors last year, and Davis received a Screen Actors Guild Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001. Born in Georgia, Davis attended Howard University, where he became inspired to pursue writing and acting in New York. After serving in World War II, Davis met Dee performing in the plays Jeb and Anna Lucasta in 1946. They went on to act together in many stage, television, and film productions, including A Raisin in the Sun on Broadway, the T.V. series Roots: The Next Generation, and Spike Lee’s film Do the Right Thing. Davis and Dee were also important figures in the civil rights movement, helping to organize the 1963 March on Washington. Davis delivered eulogies for both Malcolm X, in 1965, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in 1968. Also gifted as a writer, Davis was known for constantly working on his craft during breaks on the set. His 1961 play Purlie Victorious, a comedy that challenged the audience with its use of racial stereotypes, was made into a musical in 1971 and is being revived by the City Center Encore series starting March 31. (New York Times, Back Stage)

updated on 3/24/05

Nathalie Krassovska, a ballet dancer who toured with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, died February 8 in Dallas, TX. Born in St. Petersburg, Russia, Krassovska trained in Paris and London and appeared with the Nijinska Ballet and George Balanchine’s Les Ballets 1933. In 1936, she joined Les Ballets de Monte Carlo, where she worked with Michel Fokine on many productions. The troupe later merged with Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo and, after World War II, moved to the United States as a touring company. During her years with the Ballet Russe, Krassovska became known for her classical lyricism. In particular she thrived in the Romantic roles of the 19th-century ballet repertory such as Giselle. In 1950 Krassovska joined London Festival Ballet, where she danced for the next five years under the name Nathalie Leslie. She retired from performing in 1963 and settled in Dallas, where she helped to build the dance community by founding a school and associated student company, Krassovska Ballet Jeunesse. (New York Times)

updated on 3/24/05

Choreographer and early Ailey dancer Warren Spears died January 8 in Copenhagen, Denmark, aged 50, from multiple myeloma. Born in Detroit, Spears came to New York to train with the Dance Division of the Juilliard School, where Alvin Ailey spotted him in class and invited him to join his company. Spears danced with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater from 1974 to 1977, after which he left in order to devote more time to choreography. He created dances for his own New York-based company, the Spears Collection, for Dayton Contemporary Dance Company in Ohio, and for the Alvin Ailey Repertory Ensemble, the Ailey’s junior troupe. In 2003 he choreographed the critically acclaimed “On the Wings of Angels,” a segment in the Dayton company’s Flight Project, a tribute to the Wright brothers; Spears’s segment evoked the Tuskegee Airmen, a group of black fliers in WWII. He also performed with the Joyce Trisler Danscompany in the early 1980s and with companies in Europe. In the early 1980s Spears moved to Denmark, where he founded the New Danish Dance Theater in 1983, which he left in 1998. In 2003 he was knighted by Queen Margrethe for his services to Danish dance. Spears is survived by his spouse Karsten Mach, whom he married in Denmark, where same-sex marriage with full rights is legal. (New York Times)

updated on 3/02/05

Spanish lyric soprano Victoria de los Angeles, during her four-decade career a mainstay of opera houses worldwide, died January 14 in Barcelona, aged 81. De los Angeles was widely admired for her sweet-toned portrayals of leading lyric soprano roles, including Puccini’s Mimi (La Bohème) and Cho-Cho San (Madama Butterfly), Verdi’s Violetta (La Traviata), Massenet’s Manon, Bizet’s Carmen, and Debussy’s Mélisande (Pelleas et Mélisande). Born Victoria Gómez Cima in Barcelona in 1923, de los Angeles trained at the conservatory in Barcelona, completing the six-year program in three and graduating at 18 with the highest honors. She then joined Ars Musicae, an ensemble specializing in French and Spanish songs and German lieder. In 1944 in Barcelona, she made her recital debut and several months later her opera debut as the Countess in Mozart’s Nozze di Figaro at the Liceu Opera. She won the Geneva International Singing Competition in 1947, and debuts at London’s Covent Garden and Milan’s La Scala soon followed. Her Metropolitan Opera debut came in 1951, as Marguerite in Gounod’s Faust, and for the next decade she was a favorite there. She recorded with EMI for nearly 30 years, producing over 80 recordings, including 21 complete operas. After 1961 de los Angeles focused on recital work, in part so she could raise a family. A sensitive and expressive rather than intellectually probing singer, she said in a 1980 interview that her instinctive approach was due to her nationality: “We are a people that sings naturally.” (New York Times)

updated on 3/02/05