Facing many of the same issues that are confronting cultural and arts organizations the country over (aging audiences and decreased interest in ticket purchases during a recession among them), I’m impressed to see the San Francisco Ballet introduce a slew of great programs to build community interest. The Fridays at the Ballet evening performances aimed at young professionals and the Nite Out series for members of the LGBT community start with pre-show talks with choreographers and company members and close with cocktails at the War Memorial Opera House. The evening presentation of three brief works for $50 or $60 ensure that even if you don’t love one of the pieces, you and your friends are bound to find something that makes you want to do fouettés all the way home.
I’m excited about that the work the Ballet is doing not just because the theater is classic, the costumes and dancers are stunning, and I have repressed dance fantasies (fill disclosure: I never moved up from the part of rat in the Toledo Ballet’s Nutcracker, but I’m trying not to think about that too much anymore). I admire their efforts to reach students and educators with discounted ticket sales and their creation of multimedia content distributed via the SF Ballet YouTube channel and a dancer-contributed blog. I was surprised when one of the principal ballerinas started following me on Twitter after the Friday night performance I attended. Between the focused programming and regular online content updates, arts organizations the city (and country) over should take note.