Ballet Is Saved for Another Season
The Oakland Ballet will keep on dancing, thanks to $500,000 the company has raised to keep itself afloat for another season.
Financial trouble had forced the ballet to cancel its 2004 season in April and cancel two dozen dancer contracts.
The company appealed to art lovers for donations, which trickled in. Among the gifts was a $200,000 matching grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.
Founded in 1965, the Oakland Ballet ran into financial difficulties in 2002, when disappointing ticket sales from its “Nutcracker” performances hurt an already thin budget.
By the time the company dropped the curtain on the “Nutcracker,” in January 2003, the ballet had made $300,000 less than projected -- losing 17% of its annual budget.
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