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For Immediate Release: February 27, 2004
Contact:
Nancy Farrar
nancyh829@aol.com
(817) 937-1557
Executive Director Announces Departure
David Mallette will leave Texas Ballet Theater in June 2005
Fort Worth, TX — David Mallette, executive director of Texas Ballet Theater (formerly Fort Worth Dallas Ballet), announced today that he will leave his post with the Company at the end of his contract term on June 30, 2005. The announcement was made to the management committee at 10:30 a.m. during a regularly scheduled monthly meeting. Immediately following the management committee meeting, Mallette informed a gathering of the board of directors at a scheduled luncheon.
“I am incredibly grateful for the fourteen years I have spent with the Ballet. This is an appropriate time for me to transition: the Company has secured Ben Stevenson, one of the finest artistic directors in the world; we have merged into one entity; we have a stellar staff; we have a committed board with members from across North Texas; and, most importantly, we have a remarkable performing company.”
“I will work closely with the board and senior staff to create a smooth transition,” Mallette continued. “Notifying the board of my intentions a full year in advance allows the organization to make strategic decisions with the executive director still in place.”
“David Mallette has been a tremendous asset to this ballet company over his fourteen year tenure,” stated Elaine Agather, board chairman of Texas Ballet Theater. “He has helped to lay the foundation for the future and has accomplished a great deal. The future is bright for Texas Ballet Theater and we wish David all the best.” Stated Ben Stevenson, artistic director of Texas Ballet Theater, “David Mallette was instrumental in bringing me here to North Texas to build and grow this wonderful company, and for that I am very grateful. Much has been done and we have much still to do to continue building a world-class ballet company. David's vision and inspiration have set the tone for the future and on behalf of the dancers and myself, I wish him well.” Mallette has emphasized increasing the Company’s onstage presence through regional and national touring, tripling the number of performances for the Company. Under his administration, the Company has secured tours in New York City, Chicago, Washington DC (its Kennedy Center debut), and nearly 30 Texas cities, including an annual residency in San Antonio. In 2001, Mallette was responsible for the Ballet’s New York City premiere at the Joyce Theater, a major dance presentation venue. In 1993, Mallette was asked to join the board of directors of Dance/USA, the national service organization for non-profit professional dance companies. He currently serves as chairman of the board of Dance/USA after having been previously elected as its treasurer and vice-chair. His term as chairman ends in June of 2004. Mallette has also served on numerous grants panels, including two years on the Texas Commission on the Arts dance panel (one year as chairman), the Fort Worth Arts Council’s medium and small grants panels, and Mid-America Arts Alliance. He has served on the boards of Business Volunteers for the Arts and Imagination Celebration.
About Texas Ballet Theater (formerly Fort Worth Dallas Ballet)
Texas Ballet Theater is the premier resident professional classical Ballet Company of North Texas. Under the direction of new artistic director, Ben Stevenson, OBE, the ballet brings unprecedented talent, beauty and artistic expression to the stages of Fort Worth's Bass Performance Hall and Dallas' Music Hall at Fair Park. Season sponsors include the Star-Telegram, NBC5, the Dallas Morning News, TACA, the City of Dallas and the Texas Commission on the Arts, American Airlines, and the Arts Council of Fort Worth & Tarrant County. For more information, go to the TBT website. |
