Dear Business Partner:

Ballet Northwest has a proud history of community outreach. Last year we gave back to our community $27,700 benefiting over 4,200 people. Ballet Northwest needs financial support from local business like yours to help fund our outreach programs to youth, senior citizen, and local artists. Our goal this season is to raise $15,150 in local business sponsorships so we can increase our level of giving and add new programs. Your company can help by making a donation at any level amount to one of the following:

• Dance Education, providing discounted tickets to 2,000 local students to attend our performances.
  Goal: $3,000

• Senior Citizen Outreach, providing discounted tickets to 1,000 local senior citizens to attend our performances.
  Goal: $1,500

• Big Brothers Big Sisters, providing 100 free tickets to Big Brothers Big Sisters.
  Goal: $1,150

• Community Youth Services, providing 100 free tickets to Community Youth Services.
  Goal: $1,150

• Salvation Army’s Adopt-A-Family (a.k.a. “Sugar Plum Dreams”), providing 100 free tickets to the Nutcracker at Christmas.
  Goal: $1,150

• Dance Literacy Outreach, an old program expanded to bus 1,000 elementary students to the Washington Center for a dance lecture and free ballet performance.
  Goal: $1,500

• Company Scholarships, providing $3,000 in scholarships to our company members every year for college tuition and summer dance camps.
  Goal: $1,500

• Participation Grants, providing $5,500 annually in small grants to 50 deserving, financially challenged company and non-company cast members families to help cover costs of participating in the ballets.
  Goal: $2,750

• Men’s Dance Classes, providing specialized ballet training geared for men interested in performing.
  Goal: $450

• Master Classes, providing unique dance training, taught by a variety of local, national, and international instructors for company members.
  Goal: $500

• Dance Heritage Preservation, a new program to preserve Ballet Northwest’s 35 years of videos, photos, and other precious material history.
  Goal: $500

If you can help, please E-mail us your earliest convenience.

Best regards,
The Ballet Northwest Board of Directors

The Company
Established in 1970, Ballet Northwest is one of the oldest ballet companies in Washington State. We select dancers twelve years of age and up for the company through open auditions each year. The company is comprised of aspiring young dancers as well as those with extensive training and performing experience.

The Performances
Since its inception, Ballet Northwest has staged performances of ballets to delight and enrich our community. Our repertoire includes The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, Coppélia, Les Sylphides, Cinderella, An American in Paris, and Firebird. Our dedication in maintaining high production values and developing local talent has made us an important member of the arts community in Southwest Washington. In addition to our public performances, we support and encourage dance education. Company members provide public readings of the stories of the ballets they perform in increase community appreciation and participation. Company members receive training from visiting professional dancers brought in to give them the experience of different forms of dance. Competitive scholarships are given each year to help our dancers enhance their dance and educational goals.

The Community Outreach
Ballet Northwest provides hundreds of free tickets worth nearly $3,000 to local youth organizations, and $300 in gift certificates to nonprofit organizations for their fund raising events. Several times during the season, Ballet Northwest does out reach to local elementary schools, presenting lecture demonstrations at our own expense. We annually give an average $7,500 in ticket discounts to about 3,500 students and senior citizens. Ballet Northwest gives a minimum $3,000 in scholarships to its company members every year for college tuition and summer dance camps. In addition to scholarships, Ballet Northwest provides generous financial aid to company members financially challenged to pay fees and costs of performance shoes and clothing. Ballet Northwest also gives over $4,000 annually in small grants to nearly 40 deserving, financially challenged company and non-company cast members to help cover costs of participating in the ballets.

The Community Support
As a nonprofit organization, Ballet Northwest relies on the support of the community. We have received major grants and gifts from the Washington State Arts Commission, POSSCA, The Lassen Foundation, Mervyn’s of California and others. We have also received support from local businesses, including Kell-Chuck Glass and Group Health Cooperative.

The Corporation
Founded in 1970, Ballet Northwest is a community based, 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting dance as a performing art in Southwest Washington. We produce performance featuring local dancers at The Washington Center for the Performing Arts, sponsor touring dance companies, and offer educational opportunities for performers and the community.

The Dancers
In addition to providing excellent productions, Ballet Northwest provides a creative outlet for the youth of our community. The dancers work long and hard to learn intricate choreography and perform at a higher level with each production. Performing on stage gives dancers self-confidence and poise, providing them with skills that help them in their future endeavors.

The Dance
Dance is one of the most brilliant and lively of the arts, and because it is purely an art of motion, the most ephemeral. Recall some of its images: the ballerina’s fluid arms and long graceful legs; her sweeping flight, heightened and extended by her partner; the sweep of music; brilliant swirling costumes; leaps and whirls; or maybe the sinuous twists and fancy kicks of a jazz dancer. The dancers’ bodies are strong and lithe, and they seem able to make any motion, any slightest gesture seem easy and graceful, the reward of long and concentrated training. The images pass before our watching eyes, and are gone, recorded only in memory. Such a brilliant art deserves our care and attention for the delight it has given us.

The Supporship Benefits
All Sponsors receive recognition in our programs and on our web site regardless of sponsorship level. However, Sponsors receive additional benefits when giving at the $1,000 level and above. These benefits include acknowledgement at curtain time and company’s name and logo displayed prominently in all publicity and in the theater lobby. Your business receives advertising space in our season programs and on the Ballet Northwest web site. Depending on the sponsorship level, you also receive several VIP ticket sets to all our season productions.