In her 10 years as chairman of Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation Inc., Joan Weill has raised $75 million for the organization's state-of-the-art building; helped to more than double its annual operating budget, to $29 million; and more than tripled the amount of funds brought in at its annual opening-night gala.
For someone who doesn't dance anymore, Judith Jamison turns up onstage with surprising frequency. That's because her colleagues at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater can't let her retire without acknowledging the key role she has played both as a flamboyant star of the 1960s and '70s and as the company's artistic director since 1989.
November 8: The presentation of the Mayor's Awards for Arts and Culture.
His biggest movie credit has been playing himself in " A Muppet Christmas: Letters to Santa," but Mayor Bloomberg is set to share top billing with double Oscar-winner Meryl Streep. Hizzoner will team up next Monday with the legendary actress to co-host the Mayor's Awards for Arts & Culture at Alice Tully Hall.
Judith Jamison, artistic director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, has received a National Award for Citizen Diplomacy from the U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy.
Michelle Obama has often joked that she, President Obama, and their two daughters, Sasha and Malia, "live above the store." But one could also compare the White House to a beehive where, upon Mrs. Obama's encouragement, young creative talents are invited to cross-pollinate on the East Room stage.
Today, the U.S. Center for Citizen Diplomacy anounced the seven recipients of it's 2010 National Awards for Citizen Diplomacy. Honorees are recognized for their extraordinary work to increase American citizen engagement in international affairs and their outstanding contributions in fostering cross-sultural understanding.
The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is currently on tour in the UK. It will be the last time it tours here under the stewardship of one of America's leading dancers and directors, Judith Jamison, who promises something unusual for her swansong.
On July 17, Denise Jefferson, director of The Ailey School, died of ovarian cancer. Affectionately known as Ms. J, her warmth and megawatt smile belied the fact that she was the mastermind behind the educational juggernaut for 26 years.
"We could hear you, a little bit, upstairs," Michelle Obama said, one day last month, to the eighty children pulling down their leotard elastics over their small rear ends in the East Room of the White House. When she walked onstage, what looked like eighty children took pictures of her with their cell phones.