Sarasota Ballet Receives $1 Million Gift From its Founder

The Sarasota Ballet has announced that it has received a gift of $1 million from its founder Jean Weidner Goldstein, Sarasota Magazine reports.

The planned gift comes through the Frank and Katherine Martucci Legacy Society. It will help the ballet continue its programming, as well as impact initiatives like the Margaret Barbieri Conservatory for pre-professional classical dancers.

The funding will also help to continue the high school drop-out prevention program "Dance-The Next Generation," which provides more than 150 students a year with free education enrichment and dance tutelage.

Read more on Sarasota Magazine.

The Sarasota Ballet was founded in 1987 by Jean Weidner Goldstein as a presenting organization with the goal of becoming a full resident ballet company, which was achieved in 1990 with the appointment of the Company's first Director, Montreal-based choreographer Eddy Toussaint. Integrating the dancers of his existing ballet company, The Ballet de Montréal Eddy Toussaint, into the emerging Company, Toussaint launched The Sarasota Ballet with much of his own choreographic work, such as his Florida Suite and Cantates. Additionally, together with Goldstein, he oversaw the first students of Dance - The Next Generation, the Company's celebrated and fully scholarshipped program for at-risk children.

Learn more about the ballet and its upcoming performances at https://www.sarasotaballet.org/.