The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s capital campaign was a well-choreographed project that breathed new life into the organization’s fundraising plan

By Margaret Battistelli Gardner

It was rigorously orchestrated, at times quite colorful and, in the end, a thing of beauty.

A performance by the world-renowned Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater? Sort of. But it didn’t involve a mastery of modern movement or a cadre of exquisitely muscled artists.

This one took place behind the scenes and, ultimately, rendered a result that deserved a standing O or, at very least, a thunderous round of applause.

ALVIN AILEY AMERICAN DANCE THEATER

405 W. 55th St.,
New York, NY 10019

Phone: 212.405.9000

Fax: 212.405.9001

On the Web: www.alvinailey.org

THE FIGURES
Employees: 55 full-time; 163 part-time, including dancers, teachers and musicians in the school, and teaching artists for the arts-in-education programs
Annual operating budget: $18 million
Annual contributed revenue: $6.5 million (35 percent)

HISTORY
Alvin Ailey and a group of young, black modern dancers performed for the first time as the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater at New York’s 92nd Street YM-YWHA in 1958 and spent the next two years on what Ailey called “the station wagon tours.” In 1960, AAADT became a resident company of the 51st Street YWCA’s Clark Center for the Performing Arts, and founder Ailey won international acclaim for his group with a piece of work called “Revelations,” which became the company’s signature piece. Ailey established the school in 1969 with the conviction that anyone who longs to dance should be able to do so, regardless or race, religion, background or economic status. When Ailey died in December 1989, Judith Jamison assumed the role of artistic director.

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