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“This grant is, simply, transformative,” said Martha Graham Center Executive Director Marvin Preston IV. “It affirms that our Trustees, dancers, faculty, and staff, as well as our pro bono legal teams, have been right to fight so long and so hard to preserve and share Martha Graham’s legendary art. There could not be better timing for the grant award, as, in just a couple of weeks, the artists of the Martha Graham Dance Company, with a live orchestra, will perform at Manhattan’s City Center, April 14 through 25, and demonstrate for the world the masterworks of American modern dance that the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation is helping us safeguard for generations to come.”

The grant has been awarded to achieve strategic goals of the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance, which administers the Martha Graham Dance Company, Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance and a new department, Martha Graham Resources. Said Mr. Preston, “The greatness of Martha Graham, her achievement and legacy deserve that we continue as one of the world’s leading performing arts and education organizations. The funding provides a firm foundation for assuring that this will happen.”

Following a three-year period of legal challenges during which all issued decisions have been in the Center's favor (a final appeal of copyright issues is pending), the Martha Graham Center is building an exemplary arts organization that operates according to sound business practices, optimizes its significant material, intellectual and creative assets, communicates its 21st century relevance to current and new audiences, and stimulates public dialogue, creating demand and support for its programs.

The Martha Graham Center kept in close contact with the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation as it won each legal battle, reconstituted the Martha Graham Dance Company, moved into new studios for the Martha Graham School and created a new division, Martha Graham Resources, which develops the Center’s legally owned assets: the dances, sets and costumes that comprise one of the world’s greatest dance collections. Catherine Maciariello, Program Officer for the Performing Arts, at the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, presented the Center’s proposal to the trustees of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, who agreed that Martha Graham is an American legend, and preserving her art should be a top priority. Ms. Maciariello also cited as reasons for approving the grant the Foundation’s faith in the Martha Graham Center the support of its dancers and the international dance community, the contributions from the lawyers who took on its legal defense, its thorough strategic business plan by which progress is being measured, and the substantial contributions from the Martha Graham Center’s Board of Trustees that made its survival attainable.

The grant award of $1.25 million includes a requirement that the Martha Graham Center raise a $750,000 match within 2 years. The Martha Graham Center’s Board of Trustees, which was conducting a $4.5 million campaign that was initiated with a $1 million challenge grant from Trustee Delores Barr Weaver, has chosen to satisfy first the Mellon Foundation match before raising the final $250,000 to achieve that campaign’s goal.

Founded in 1926 by dancer and choreographer Martha Graham, the Martha Graham Dance Company is the oldest and most celebrated contemporary dance company in America and features an international roster of some of the most exemplary dance artists in the world today. The Company provided the training ground for several of modern dance’s most illustrious performers and choreographers including Merce Cunningham, Paul Taylor and Twyla Tharp and has featured guest artists Mikhail Baryshnikov, Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev. Martha Graham was also known for her collaborations with other master artists including sculptor Isamu Noguchi, composer Aaron Copland and fashion designer Halston.

The Martha Graham Dance Company will present its 2004 New York Season, with a live orchestra for all performances, at Manhattan’s City Center April 14-25, 2004. Featured are three revivals of Martha Graham’s dances not seen in at least a decade: Cave of the Heart (1946), Circe (1963), and The Owl and the Pussycat (1978), which will include André Leon Talley (Editor-at-Large of Vogue magazine) as guest storyteller in his stage debut. Tickets are available by calling 212.581.1212 or online at www.citycenter.org.

In 2005, the Martha Graham Dance Company will be featured in the new major program of the National Endowment of the Arts, “American Masterpieces: 300 Years of American Genius.”

The Martha Graham Center has defended itself successfully in legal challenges brought against it in 2001 by its former artistic director, who claimed ownership and use of Martha Graham’s name and all of her dances. Throughout the lawsuit, the New York State Attorney General has acted as Defendant-Intervenor, working with the Martha Graham Center to protect and help it retain its assets for the benefit of the public. In the trademark dispute over ownership of Martha Graham’s name, the Martha Graham Center was represented by O’Melveny & Myers; the trademark matter has been concluded with the Center owning Martha Graham’s name for all purposes related to dance performance, dance education and fundraising. Concerning copyright, the United States District Court determined in August 2002 that the majority of Martha Graham’s dances and all sets, costumes and related properties are owned by the Martha Graham Center. An appeal of this decision was heard in January 2004, and the Appeals Court ruling is pending. The law firm Cravath Swaine & Moore represents the Martha Graham Center on copyright matters on a pro bono basis.