CLEVELAND, April 3, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Verb Ballets is pleased to announce that Artistic Director Hernando Cortez of Verb Ballets was selected from a nationwide pool of arts leaders to participate in a two-week intensive leadership advancement program called the Executive Program for Nonprofit Leaders - Arts (EPNL-Arts). Fifty arts leaders will attend the program June 24-July 6, developed and presented by National Arts Strategies (NAS), a national nonprofit organization dedicated to strengthening the arts and culture sector through leadership education, and The Stanford Graduate School of Business Center for Social Innovation (CSI).
"We are thrilled that Hernando was selected in this highly competitive process," commented Verb's Executive Director Margaret Carlson. "This is an opportunity for Hernando to exchange ideas with his creative peers from all over the world, and benefit from exposure to members of the business community and Stanford faculty. Not only will Hernando stand to benefit hugely from this multi-disciplinary approach combining the arts and management, but so will we -- the Verb Ballets and the cultural community of Northeast Ohio."
Each year, National Arts Strategies selects fifty outstanding arts and culture leaders to participate in EPNL-Arts through a competitive process based on nominations from leading foundations, corporations and individual arts patrons. Participants will spend two weeks on the Stanford University campus learning new management approaches, and sharing insights with their peers in all disciplines. They will acquire additional skills and knowledge that will increase their impact on their organizations, their communities and their disciplines. The curriculum integrates conceptual knowledge with the participants' own experience to generate powerful and practical insights about leadership. Learning stems from a variety of activities including classes, small group discussion and individual study.
National Arts Strategies created this program with the CSI in 2001 in response to the lack of investment in senior-level professional development designed specifically for arts leaders. Since then, more than 250 arts and culture leaders from the U.S., Australia, Britain, Canada, Hong Kong, Israel and Singapore have completed the program.
"This executive program has created a national community of arts leaders who are having a dramatic impact on arts and culture in America," said Russell Willis Taylor, President and CEO, National Arts Strategies. "We are excited about the outstanding quality and diversity of the 2007 class, and look forward to an ongoing relationship with each of them. Their continued contributions to the arts and cultural scene will be worth watching."
About National Arts Strategies
National Arts Strategies (NAS) is a national nonprofit that creates executive education programs for the arts and culture sector. Founded over 20 years ago by the Ford, Rockefeller, and Mellon Foundations, NAS helps strengthen communities of arts organizations and helps bring new approaches into the field. Their leadership development programs allow arts executives to explore the toughest challenges facing organizations today and to learn from some of the top business and graduate school faculty in the U.S. NAS seminars have been presented to over 2,000 executives, board members, and staff from over 750 arts and cultural organizations in the U.S. and overseas. For more information, visit www.artstrategies.org.
Verb Ballets
The Company is now in its fifth season under the leadership of artistic director Hernando Cortez, executive director Margaret Carlson, supported by an energetic staff and board of trustees, who together have established Verb as Cleveland's premiere dance repertory company. Verb has been named as one of "25 to Watch in 2004" by Dance Magazine, the country's leading news magazine covering dance. Verb Ballets discovers, collects, interprets and stages choreography that matters to the region and to the world of dance. As a curator of expressive movement that is globally connected and nationally respected, Verb Ballets has a mandate to support and foster emerging talent, present excellence in contemporary choreographers, and revive and honor modern dance classics.
Verb Ballets sponsors are: AHS Foundation, Eva L. and Joseph M. Bruening Foundation, The Cleveland Foundation, The George Gund Foundation, Kulas Foundation, The Laub Foundation, Lubrizol Foundation, The McGregor Foundation, John P. Murphy Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts and Ohio Arts Council. Other sponsors are: Baumgarten & Company LLP, Cedar Hill Communications, Clear Channel Communications, Cedar Hill Communications, computer-works.com, JAKPRINTS.COM, PrimeNewswire, and WVIZ/WCPN Ideastream. Individual sponsors are: Charles & Sandy Abookire, Millie L. Carlson, Chuck & Ann Ennis, Norma & Jeffrey Glazer, David R. Pierce & Philip Cucchiara, Robert M. Shwab and Aldona Titus. DANSKIN is the official 2006-2007 sponsor of Verb Ballets.