Every Dancer Insured: An Affordable Care Act Primer
With the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010, and its full
implementation beginning this past month in October 2013, it has now
become possible for every member of this group to obtain health
insurance with full benefits at a reasonable cost.
One of the most significant changes in health
insurance, is the option to purchase
insurance on the individual market, as many dancers do. Read on for more on this new insurance program and the options available.
At Holiday Time Ballet Trumps Pro-Football
Since when does ballet trump NFL football? When more than 300 craft and
Nutcracker-themed vendors and artisans overtake Reliant Center for the
Houston Ballet’s long-running annual pre-Christmastime event dubbed the
Nutcracker Market. In fact, dance lovers take note, the general manager
of Reliant Center, where the Houston Texans play their NFL home games
and a rodeo rides, each year ensures that a week in November gets set
aside for the ballet’s beloved annual Nutcracker Market.
Ten Important Lessons in Asking for Charitable Gifts
Like books about how to become successful in business, how-to tomes
about fundraising for non-profits have multiplied over the past several
decades. As helpful as some of these works are about the mechanics of
establishing and maintaining a fundraising apparatus, precious little
has been written about what happens or should happen during the
face-to-face meeting between non-profit leaders/volunteers and donors,
the time when a specific gift is requested — the “High Noon” of
fundraising. Read on for ten succinct lessons on what
should and should not happen when we ask for a gift.
Buyer Beware: Dancers and the ACA
Most dancers can easily spot a hazardous bobby pin on the studio floor. It’s also important to be aware of a few potential pitfalls when buying health insurance.
Lessons Learned: The World Trade Center Performing Arts Center Project and the Joyce Theater
On the 12th anniversary of 9/11, Dance/USA speaks
with Linda Shelton, executive director of The Joyce Theater Foundation,
about the plans for the World Trade Center performing arts center.
Originally, a two-organization complex with a purpose-built dance
theater, during over nearly a decade of planning, including budget cuts
to the project, the complex has been downsized and reshaped from the
original vision. Should the dance field be concerned about what happened
to this model project? What, if anything, can and should the dance
community be doing now as the project proceeds?
Building Bridges for Ballet’s Future
What does it take to create a great community outreach dance program at a ballet organization? Some key ingredients include: community need, planning and preparation, good timing, strong program leadership, local funding, a committed community partner, organizational buy-in, engaging curriculum, dedicated instructors, and interested program participants. Read on for former Ailey dancer April Berry’s report on how model ballet programs are built and sustained.
Authenticity: The Best ‘Best Practice’
The art world is too small to have competition among administrative teams, write Jennifer Edwards and Sydney Skybetter, either from different organizations or within organizations. Read more about our need for
need multiple thriving arts organizations in each community to grow a healthy arts market overall.
Navigating the Thicket, Then and Today
Ivan Sygoda has been a fixture in the dance world since he joined
Pentacle as tour manager in 1976 after a first career teaching French
language and literature at various colleges in the Northeast. This month
(July 2013), he transitions from director to founding director. Dance
writer Mindy Aloff spoke with Sygoda about the changes the dance field
has undergone and what he thinks about current trends exclusively for From the Green Room.
Conference 2013 Report: From Racial Equity to the Future of Dance
From crucial networking sessions for artistic and executive directors to
share programming hits and budgetary misses to paperwork how-to’s for
grants and insurance, to sustaining partnerships and forging bonds in
the community, Dance/USA’s 2013 Annual Conference held June 12-15 in
Philadelphia reflected the wide spectrum of interests and issues
confronting the organization’s members. Read on here for Karyn D. Collins’ report.
Is the Great Recession Over for the Arts?
The Great Recession that began in 2008 was the worst economic disaster
to hit America and the global economy since the Great Depression. While
the Great Recession is technically over as measured by economists,
millions of Americans are still out of work or have stopped searching
for work and some sectors of the economy still have not recovered.
What about the arts? Read on to see where the arts stand in the economic recovery.