For Immediate Release

Oakland Ballet Company Wins National Grant from Bank of America
Neighborhood Builder Award Recognizes Company's Contribution to the Community

OAKLAND, Calif. (November 10, 2008) – The Oakland Ballet Company announced today that it has been selected to receive one of Bank of America’s coveted Neighborhood Builder Awards. The national award includes a grant of $200,000 over a two-year period and a nonprofit leadership development program.  Part of the Bank of America Charitable Foundation’s Neighborhood Excellence Initiative, this award recognizes organizations that have made significant contributions to their local communities.

“We are honored to be one of the recipients of this prestigious national award,” said Ronn Guidi, Artistic Director of the Oakland Ballet Company. “This grant will enable us to continue our artistic journey, especially in bringing back to the stage timeless works of art that speak to the heart of the human condition. Again, I am most grateful for this grant.”

In making this grant, the Bank of America Charitable Foundation noted Oakland Ballet’s 2009 planned celebration of the 100th Anniversary of Serge Diaghilev's Ballet Russes, upon which the international reputation of the Oakland Ballet was built.

“Oakland has an incredible richness and diversity of arts organizations, and the Oakland Ballet in particular has a long artistic legacy, as well as a long history of giving back to the community,” said Emily Shanks, East Bay Market President, Bank of America. “The Oakland Ballet Company provides thousands of free tickets to the underserved and to children, and it always partners with other community organizations like the Alameda County Community Food Bank.”

The bank committee that selected Oakland Ballet, comprised of bank and community leaders, also recognized that the company is leading a resurgence in the East Bay arts scene. Like Brooklyn, which became the new creative hub of the New York area in the new century, Oakland has emerged as the place to start a new gallery, host an exhibit, start a new band, and build a monthly art happening like the highly successful Oakland Art Murmur. 

An entirely new arts and entertainment district has emerged, roughly between the newly restored Fox Oakland Theater, which opens in 2009, and the Paramount Theatre, the art deco masterpiece where the Oakland Ballet and Oakland East Bay Symphony perform. The bank committee acknowledged this new arts district, and signaled that Oakland Ballet is playing a key role in building this new neighborhood.

On a more personal level, the bank committee acknowledged a monumental comeback – that of Ronn Guidi.

Guidi retired in 1999 after leading the company for 33 years. A decline of the ballet company followed, and Oakland Ballet closed its doors in 2006.

When Guidi decided to return in 2007, he was 72 years old and had endured a hip replacement. The Oakland-born and raised artist knew the company needed a rebirth, and knew he would have to return from retirement to bring back the supporters who made the ballet great.

Guidi began the meticulous process of reviving the ballets that had won the company international acclaim. He purchased the contents of the previous company’s warehouse, including costumes, backdrops and sets, helped line up philanthropic support with the assistance of the Ronn Guidi Foundation Board, and re-engaged the Oakland East Bay Symphony Orchestra to perform live music for the dancing.

“Ronn knows everyone in the East Bay who has ever supported the performing arts,” said Roz Perazzo, Ronn Guidi Foundation Board member. “They know and trust him, and they believe he has both the artistic vision and the right community spirit to pull the Oakland Ballet together.”

Bank of America reaffirmed its continuing support for the arts and other community organizations. “Our philanthropic giving is stable and secure,” said Bank of America’s Shanks. “In fact, we will be announcing some major new community grants in the coming weeks because giving is important now more than ever. We hope to inspire others to step up and contribute, at whatever level they can, to help our communities out.”

She noted that after the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco, Bank of America founder A.P. Giannini personally secured the deposits of the bank while the city burned around him, and then set up a table on the destroyed Embarcadero where he greeted dazed residents and handed out loans. “We have always supported our communities and right now is no different,” Shanks said.

• Ronn Guidi’s Nutcracker: December 18-24, 2008, Paramount Theatre
• Ronn Guidi’s Secret Garden: May 23-24, 2008, Bankhead Theatre, Livermore
• Oakland Ballet Company Celebrating Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballet Russes 2009 100^th Anniversary: Les Biches, La Boutique Fantasque, Afternoon of a Faun, Le Train Bleu, Le Spectre De La Rose, and more

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