From: Kent Stowell and Francia Russell
September 21, 2006
Skip Rowley
Chairman, Board of Directors
Performing Arts Center Eastside
PO Box 828
Bellevue, WA 98009-0828
Dear Skip:
Many years ago we were first approached with the idea of building a performing arts center on the Eastside. Pacific Northwest Ballet knew then that the Eastside was important to the Company's future. Over time we offered our counsel and ideas and grew hopeful that this cultural facility would rise. With the PACE $100 Million Capital and Endowment Campaign underway you are close to achieving the early dreams we shared with so many people.
We are often asked what we feel most proud of after 28 years of devotion to Pacific Northwest Ballet. Of course, the Company, with its talented dancers and its diverse repertory, comes immediately to mind. But, of equal importance to us are the other goals of PNB's mission: outreach and education.
Because of budget cuts, children in the Puget Sound region have had little exposure to arts education, and organizations like PNB have stepped in to fill the needs that schools cannot. PNB's DanceChance program, which provides free classical ballet training to talented children from Bellevue and Seattle Public Schools, regardless of background, is a program close to our hearts. BravoBallet, now called Eyes on Dance, is program we nurtured and which has brought thousands of school children into McCaw Hall for fully staged ballet performances, complete with live accompaniment by the PNB Orchestra.
In providing a central Eastside home for arts education, PACE will play a vital role in expanding children's access to expert, caring instruction in the arts. Through the music, dance, theater and opera performances it presents, PACE will have a far reaching effect on generations of children, who may come to this theater for their first live performance. Studies suggest that for young children, students from economically disadvantaged circumstances, and students needing remedial instruction, learning in the arts may be uniquely able to advance learning success in other areas. The impact PACE will have on our community's future strength is virtually incalculable.
PACE will be the great new facility we have looked forward to for many years. With PACE, PNB and other cultural organizations will better serve the large constituency of students, subscribers and donors on the Eastside in ways that have not, before now, been possible. We support PACE enthusiastically and wish you the best of luck.
Sincerely,
Kent Stowell and Francia Russell
Founding Artistic Directors, Pacific Northwest Ballet