Document Type

Case Study

Publication Date

2020

Interviewee

D. David Brown; Denise Bolstad; Peter Horvitz; Jane McConnell

Editor

Susan Kunimatsu

Abstract

In the fall of 2001, Pacific Northwest Ballet (PNB) School’s Eastside location was bursting at the seams. PNB leadership had been looking for a new location to accommodate growing enrollment, but the right location proved difficult to find and the company was in the midst of a huge capital campaign to build Marion Oliver McCaw Hall at Seattle Center. Yet when a former Gold’s Gym suddenly became available, PNB School leapt at the opportunity, taking on the challenge to simultaneously raise $5.5 million dollars and build a new state-of-the-art dance school, eventually named the Francia Russell Center (FRC), to serve the Eastside community. They overcame significant challenges to build a school that met both their own needs and those of the community, in just one year. A story emerges of Kent Stowell and Francia Russell’s singular vision to provide the same excellence in dance education to the Eastside that existed in Seattle. This vision, supported by a strong board, experienced staff leadership, and a demographic market ripe for expansion, was key to the project’s success.

Organization or Event

Pacific Northwest Ballet

Form of Entity

Nonprofit

Area of Activity

Producer, Presenter, Arts Education

Artistic Discipline

Dance

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