The Capezio Ballet Makers Dance Foundation is pleased to announce the selection of Arlene Shuler, President and CEO of New York City Center, as the recipient of the 58th annual Capezio Dance Award. The Foundation is a philanthropic organization funded by the world's premier dance footwear and apparel manufacturer, Capezio Ballet Makers. The Foundation will present the 2009 Capezio Dance Award and the accompanying $10,000 honorarium to Arlene Shuler at the opening performance of this year's Fall for Dance Festival, on September 22, 2009 at New York City Center.
Awarded annually since 1952, the Capezio Dance Award celebrates significant contributions to American dance by an individual, company, or institution. It recognizes those who bring respect, stature, and distinction to dance and who exhibit qualities such as innovation, creativity, and imagination.
Arlene Shuler has exemplified these qualities in unique combination throughout her career as a dancer, foundation executive, and arts administrator. As an award recipient, Ms. Shuler joins dance luminaries
Alvin Ailey, Suzanne Farrell,
Savion Glover, Michael Kaiser, Charles Reinhart,
Paul Taylor, and last year's honoree, Chuck Davis.
Trained at the School of American Ballet,
Arlene Shuler performed for four years with the Joffrey Ballet in New York. Following her performing career, Ms. Shuler entered Columbia University, where she earned both her bachelor's and law degrees with honors.
Ms. Shuler began her arts administration career in Washington, D.C., where she held positions as a program administrator at the National Endowment for the Arts, as legislative assistant to Congressman Ted Weiss, and as a consultant to the Federal Council on the Arts and Humanities. Returning to New York City, Ms. Shuler became Executive Director of Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts. She then served as Deputy Director of the Wallace Funds, President of General Atlantic Partners Foundation, and Vice President of Atlantic Philanthropic Service Company.
For eleven years, Ms. Shuler worked at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, initially as Vice President for Planning and Development and then as Senior Vice President of Planning and External Affairs. Subsequently, she became Executive Director of the Howard Gilman Foundation, implementing new programs for dance and theater. Ms. Shuler presently serves on the Boards of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the
George Balanchine Foundation, and the Advisory Board of the Trust for Mutual Understanding.
In 2003,
Arlene Shuler was appointed to her current position as President and CEO of New York
City Center, where she danced as a member of the Joffrey Ballet early in her career. At
City Center, Ms. Shuler has overseen a major revitalization, expanded programming and enhanced the organization's widely respected dance and musical theater education programs in New York City's public schools. Her accomplishments include the conception and launch of the acclaimed Fall for Dance Festival, a groundbreaking new model for developing dance audiences that has been replicated in the U.S. and London. She also formed a partnership with London's
Sadler's Wells Theatre that has led to a regular exchange of programming and provided a home for
Christopher Wheeldon's new ballet company, Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company.
The Capezio Ballet Makers Dance Foundation celebrates Ms. Shuler's lifelong commitment to dance and extraordinary contributions as a visionary administrator, performer, and fundraiser, by recognizing her with the 58th annual Capezio Dance Award. "The Fall for Dance Festival is the most significant new audience development program for dance in many years, and we are proud to recognize this innovative and creative leader who has contributed so much to the future of the dance community," says Anthony Giacoio, President of the Foundation.The Capezio Ballet Makers Dance Foundation has been a supporter of
City Center's dance and education programming for more than four decades.
