2023 IMPACT REPORT
“It’s been a great experience, not just with the choreographers but also the groups of people that I get to work with... I think Vail makes you start dreaming and get inspired and excited.” - Adji Cissoko
Olivia Bell, Adji Cissioko, and India Bradley perform Jamar Roberts’ Songs to the Dark Virgin on the International Evenings of Dance III performance. Photo by Christopher Duggan
Dear Vail Dance Festival Friends, Wonderful things happen when a community comes together, from all over the nation and the world, with enthusiastic and generous support of great ideas.
FESTIVAL BY THE NUMBERS The Vail Dance Festival continues to grow annually and has become a year-round enterprise. Our Festival is successful year after year thanks to you, our generous supporters. Individual donations are critical to the continued growth and development of our Festival, and annual support helps ensure we can continue to bring the best in dance and music to Vail for many summers to come.
In 2023 we saw that spirit soar with a season of our Vail Dance Festival that set a new bar for excellence and creativity. Together, we joined together to enjoy the art of dance, to connect with one another, and to celebrate the highest levels of artistic achievement. Within this impact report, we share our heartfelt gratitude for your support, accompanied by some highlights of our 2023 Vail Dance Festival. The impact you’ve had on our community, and the dance community as a whole, is truly remarkable, and for that we are all grateful. The Vail Dance Festival is a world-class dance laboratory in the Rocky Mountains. It fosters the development of extraordinary dancers and acts as an incubator for important new works. The next generation of artists are nurtured every year during our Festival, and the next wave of dance creations are given space to thrive thanks to your support of new works. We are grateful for your continued support in helping us make every new season our finest yet. Sincerely,
REVENUE SOURCES
26� Ticket Sales 1� Miscellaneous 4� Grants
Susan Campbell, Committee Chair & Damian Woetzel, Artistic Director
5� Sales/Sponsorships 4� Government VAIL DANCE FESTIVAL COMMITTEE Susan Campbell, Chair Jill Plancher, Vice Chair Judy Berkowitz* Priscilla Brewster Allie Coppeak Sara Friedle Stacy Gillett Lisa Goldman Sheika Gramshammer John Harrison Sally Hybl Alexia Jurschak
Jody & John Arnhold PREMIER PRESENTER Susan & Jeff Campbell Jill & Kevin Plancher Paul Repetto & Janet Pyle Tina & David Wilson and The Carol F. Storr Endowment for Classical Ballet SEASON PRESENTERS Priscilla Brewster Oscar Tang & Agnes Hsu-Tang
Jonna Mackin Jane Netzorg Senenne Philippon Fred Tresca Betsy Wiegers Damian Woetzel *Dance Committee Chair 1998-2018
60� Individual Donations
MARQUEE PRESENTER
The Vail Valley Foundation and the Vail Dance Festival are grateful to the Vail Dance Festival Committee and to our Marquee Presenter, Luminary Society Members, and Season Presenters for their leadership of, commitment to, and investment in this incredible Festival.
11,596
12
15,749
$898,487
35+
75% Repeat attendees over
$3.7
3 Venues: Gerald R. Ford
10 Conversations on Dance
Performance tickets sold
Ticket revenue generated Million economic impact (estimated revenue generated to the Town of Vail)
$19,200 revenue generated from Master Classes, Conversations on Dance, and Tiny Dancer Tea Party
Performances
Free and paid events offered
Amphitheater, Vilar Performing Arts Center, and Avon Performance Pavilion at Nottingham Park
10 Commissioned world dance premieres and 6 piece d ’occasions
Festival attendees
multiple years
podcasts experienced by 186 attendees
574 Individual donors supported the Festival
14 Exclusive donor events
WORLD PREMIERES & NEW WORKS
A SQUIGGLE IS A DOT THAT WENT FOR A DANCE
Choreography by Justin Peck New Music Commission by Caroline Shaw Underwritten by The Paul Repetto & Janet Pyle Gift for Collaborative Works Premiere Date: August 7, 2023
ETERNAL SUMMER
Choreography by Caili Quan New Music Commission by Gabriel Kahane Underwritten by Marvin Naiman & Margery Goldman Family Foundation Premiere Date: August 7, 2023
BY AND BY
Photos for the Vail Dance Festival were provided by Christopher Duggan, Chris Kendig, and Brian Malony
THE SWANS piece d ’occasion Choreography by Lil Buck and Adji Cissoko Music by Camille Saint-Saëns Premiere Date: August 1, 2023 THE VERY THOUGHT OF YOU piece d ’occasion Choreography by Denys Drozdyuk & Antonia Skobina Music by Ray Noble, as sung by Tony Bennett and performed by Robbie Fairchild Underwritten by Priscilla Brewster & Jonna Mackin Premiere Date: August 5, 2023 SONGS TO THE DARK VIRGIN piece d ’occasion
Choreography by Jamar Roberts Music by Florence Price Premiere Date: August 5, 2023
LAYING THE GROUNDWORK piece d ’occasion
Choreography by Leonardo Sandoval Music by Gregory Richardson Premiere Date: July 28, 2023
THE SOUND OF YOUR VOICE piece d ’occasion Choreography by Dario Natarelli with improvisation from the Artists Music by Moses Sumney, feat. Thundercat Premiere Date: August 1, 2023
JUKEBOX piece d ’occasion Choreography by Lil Buck & KJ Takahashi Music by Various Artists Premiere Date: August 4, 2023
SOUNDS OF DANCE The Vail Dance Festival is committed to the creation and arrangement of new music and embraces music as the foundation of dance. The Vail Dance Festival took the sounds of dance to new heights in 2023, commissioning three new music scores and featuring three festival composers.
FESTIVAL COMPOSERS
FESTIVAL MUSICIANS
Caroline Shaw Leonard Bernstein Composer-In-Residence
Brooklyn Rider
Tyshawn Sorey Composer Shelbie Rassler Music Director, Conductor, Multi-Instrumentalist
Cameron Grant Joel Wenhardt Davone Tines Youba Cissoko
New Scores Created By: David K. Israel Caroline Shaw Gabriel Kahane
Underwriting by Susan & Elihu Rose, The Alphadyne Foundation, and Making Waves Foundation
Choreography by Lil Buck Music, original hymn by Albert Brumley, performed by Davóne Tines Underwritten by Irene Shen Premiere Date: August 7, 2023
GRIOT
Choreography by Adji Cissoko Music by Youba Cissoko Underwritten by Jonna Mackin Premiere Date: August 7, 2023 (Preview August 5, 2023)
SILENT WOODS
Choreography by Tiler Peck Music by Antonín Dvořák Underwritten by Donna & Donald Baumgartner Premiere Date: August 4, 2023
PLIM
Choreography by Matthew Neenan Music by Osvaldo Golijov Underwritten by Malo & John Harrison; Shirley & Jim Cassing; and LaDonna & Gary Wicklund Premiere Date: August 7, 2023
IF YOU RUN, I MIGHT FALL
Choreography by Kyle Abraham Music by Johann Sebastian Bach Underwritten by Vail Dance Festival Artistic Reserve Fund; Ginny Gold, Alexia & Jerry Jurschak; and Vickie Morris Premiere Date: August 7, 2023
WARM UP
Choreography by Larry Keigwin, in collaboration with the artists Music by Donna Summer Underwritten by El Pomar Foundation Premiere Date: August 7, 2023 (Preview August 5, 2023)
WILLED TO THE NEXT CORNER
Choreography by Melissa Toogood New Music Commission by David Israel Underwritten by Making Waves Foundation Premiere Date: August 7, 2023
EROS & PSYCHE
Choreography by Jamar Roberts Music by Philip Glass Underwritten by Malo & John Harrison and Jonna Mackin Premiere Date: August 7, 2023
INTERN/AMBASSADOR PROGRAMS ENGAGING THE NEXT GENERATION OF ARTS LEADERS The Vail Dance Festival is committed to helping nurture the career development of our future generations of artists, leaders and professionals. We’ve established a robust program for ambitious middle school, high school, college, and post grad students to join the Festival team and gain valuable experience while supporting a variety of key areas from administration to marketing to production. Twenty-Five interns and ambassadors joined us in 2023.
COMMUNITY ARTS ACCESS 3 FREE “Dancing in the Streets”
1,802 specially-priced tickets
1 FREE “Dancing in the Park”
550 Discounted $10 lawn tickets
292 Children 12 and under
2 Scholars-In-Residence, Spencer
Performances in Vail
Performance in Avon with over 600 attendees
received FREE lawn admission (with the purchase of an adult ticket)
221 FREE tickets were distributed through local nonprofits
were sold for Dance for $20.23
were made available for students and teachers
Lenain & Kyle Ikuma
22 Master Classes attended by 400 students
10 Interns 15 Ambassadors
97 Children participated in
YouthPower365’s Celebrate the Beat Pop Hop Camp and performed on stage with Dario Natarelli and Melissa Toogood on International Evenings of Dance I
Learn more about our community arts access program at vaildance.org/ about/programs
Over $50k raised for YouthPower365’s Celebrate the Beat! Thanks to the Plancher Family Match, over $50,000 was raised in support of YouthPower365’s Celebrate the Beat. Celebrate the Beat has been operating as a summer camp and year-round program in the Eagle County School District for over 15 years, serving over 700 students annually. This program, which uses dance, music, movement, and art to help youth learn about themselves, improves physical health and well-being, inspires youth to believe in themselves, and establishes a standard of excellence that impacts their lives.
INTERN PROGRAM Interns support a variety of areas of artist hospitality, media/marketing & communications, education/ outreach, venue/rehearsal management, food/beverage and development. Talented young professionals and graduate and undergraduate students from across the country joined the Festival team for over two weeks gaining extraordinary experience in arts production and management.
AMBASSADOR PROGRAM A unique hands-on opportunity for 8th-12th graders. Ambassadors receive both community service and educational experience.
“This internship can change a young person’s life and show them all of the possibilities both in and out of the arts industry.” -Marley Poku-Kankam, class of 2022 and 2023
THANK YOU The Vail Dance Festival thrives and grows each year due to the support of individual donors, community partners and corporate sponsors. One of the greatest joys of the Festival is the ability to share this extraordinary experience with so many people. We hope you enjoyed your time this summer and can’t wait to see you next summer. Above are just a few photos to represent the connections we made and the comraderie enjoyed. Visit our Flickr account to view all Festival photos: flickr.com/photos/vailvalleyfoundation/albums. Vail Dance Festival � PO Box 6550 � 90 Benchmark Road, Suite 300 � Avon, CO 81620 � vaildance.org