News
Another Semester of Ballet & Books Begins!
We are excited to bring back the official Ballet & Books Newsletter, where we share all of our organization's news and updates in one place. We are also highlighting some of our amazing mentors and their stories throughout the school year. Please let us know if you have any questions or would like any relevant news or announcements to be included in the next issue, we'd love to hear from you!
Steps and Stories: What’s New at Ballet & Books
-Our New Program Director
Chelsea Mulcahy joined Ballet & Books as our new Program Director in August. Chelsea is a Youth Development Professional with a passion for anything that involves building community. With a background in both non-profit management and secondary education, Chelsea also serves as an Afterschool and SEL Program Director at a high school in Grand Rapids, MI. We're so excited to have her join the Ballet & Books team and can't wait to see all she'll accomplish!
-Spelman has joined the Ballet & Books family! They joined our training this month and will begin programming in the fall. A member and leader of the Spelman chapter, Kai Ricketts, will be featured in our upcoming blog series this fall.
-Fall 2024 New Mentor Training took place on September 15th where we welcomed our new mentors and chapters. Thank you to Kyle Muña and our Nationals team for organizing and leading an amazing training, we can't wait to kick off the semester!
-Our Giving Tuesday campaign, "Literacy is Power | Fight the Literacy Crisis with Ballet & Books" will launch in November, so please be on the lookout for that communication
-New chapters UNC-Chapel Hill and NYU will begin programming next semester
-We will be hosting a live panel event, "Dance as a Means Towards Health Equity," on October 18th on Columbia University's campus. If you are in New York City, we'd love for you to come and spend time with some of the most influential leaders in dance today. More details and communications will be sent out closer to the time of the event.
Partnership Spotlight: University of Michigan School of Music, Theater & Dance
As one of the premier programs in the nation, our University of Michigan mentors are enrolled in a course focused on dance pedagogy and community engagement. Through this course, students earn academic credit by mentoring in the Ballet & Books program and participating in weekly activities. At the end of the semester, mentees are invited to the University of Michigan campus to join a departmental dance performance. We are excited to continue this partnership and are looking forward to seeing the incredible achievements of our University of Michigan mentors this year. Go Blue!
Empowering Dreams: Our Valued Supporters
Grants we've received this year:
- Extra Wish from the Greater Atlanta Community Foundation
- Tompkins County Community Fund ($10,000)
- Maxwell Weaver Foundation ($5,000)
- Ohio Arts Council ($4,500)
- ArtsWave ($4,000)
- Arts Education from Community Arts Partnership Tompkins County ($2,300)
We would like to extend a special thank you to a few of our donors for their unwavering support this year. We are deeply grateful for your contributions and look forward to continuing our work together! Thank you so much Terrel Lefferts, Deborah Hilzinger, Jeffrey Sheehan, and Rachael Przybyla