In May 2018, the American Ballet Theatre (ABT) announced the launch of its ABT Women’s Movement, a multi-year initiative supporting the creation of new works by female choreographers. Yntema, along with the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation and Rockefeller Brothers Fund, was an initial principal sponsor for this initiative and continues to support its development.

Yntema is also an underwriter of Boston Ballet’s ChoreograpHER, where she serves as lead sponsor, and Pacific Northwest Ballet’s girls choreographic initiative, New Voices. In addition, she has underwritten ballets for Sacramento and Pacific Northwest Ballets, Chicago’s Joffrey Ballet and Hubbard Street Dance Company, and Philadelphia’s BalletX. Along with her husband Mark Ferguson, Yntema supports other arts and youth services organizations, with a focus on the Chicago area. 

Her expansive footprint gives her a unique perspective into a dance sector where women are underrepresented and paid less than their male counterparts. “I’m not Melinda Gates,” she told me. “I have much less money. I have to be careful and count every penny. I analyze and see why the industry is like this, and I ask, ‘can it change?’ and ‘can I make a difference?’”

Yntema believes that a key to progress is for donors to push harder for change. If donors decide to make funding contingent on an organization’s commitment to equity across key operational and administrative areas like staffing, production and HR, then philanthropy can close the gap. “These problems can be turned around,” Yntema said. “We can do better.”

Read the full article on Inside Philanthropy.

Own Your Power: Elizabeth Yntema on Gender Equality in Dance

1. What do you wish you had known when you started out in your profession?

I wish I had had a female mentor, and she had reassured me that success isn’t defined by a linear path. I have been a corporate attorney, a lobbyist, worked as the Director of Governmental Affairs of the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, was employed part-time as a consultant, opened an art gallery and, with three small children, focused on volunteering for a time. Now, I use every single one of my experiences and skills acquired over the decades. 

When starting my own nonprofit in 2018, it would have been so great to know that it’s lonely and a bit terrifying to lead rapid, serious change. No matter how much is written about  “disrupting the status quo” or “strategic paradigm shift,” in reality, those in power are scared to death when they see someone creating that shift and challenging norms. You will hear, “No,” over and over, or, “It can’t be done,” or, “You aren’t qualified to do this.”

I never thought of myself as running a start-up, because I was so focused on helping women artists achieve leadership and pay parity. Some of the best counsel and insight came from listening to podcasts by entrepreneurs. The particular product or field doesn’t matter– it’s about the experience of putting yourself way out in front of the curve and forcing everyone to catch up.

2. What is your current greatest professional challenge?

There aren’t enough hours in the day. I try and read at least four or five newspapers a day, including several foreign publications, as well as blogs, long-form journalism and business publications, in addition to running my team, which is dispersed throughout the U.S. We have done an incredible job on a very tight budget. DDP will have produced eight studies in less than a year and gained national media attention through NPR, Forbes and The New Yorker, to name a few. But the question is always where best to devote my time and DDP’s resources? Should I do more speaking, work on networking, reach out to foundations, pursue academic partnerships, travel more to meet ballet companies or attend conferences? And of course, the answer is yes, to all.

3. What inspires you most about your work? 

That is easy: Pretty much everything. Whether it is more than one female artistic director saying, “I had no idea how bad things really were, thank you so much for opening my eyes,” to the classes of young dancers I meet. By the way, it’s not just the girls or young women, but the boys who come up to me and say, “This is ridiculous! I hate that my girl friends are treated like they don’t matter — totally unfair.” But, frankly, I am also inspired by the negative; the men, and some women, who dismiss women’s desire for leadership, or equal pay; those in positions of power, who have so terrified their students or company members that the entire industry is scared to speak up. Someone has to help, and I guess, it turns out, that person is me. I want to be worthy of that trust.

Read the full interview on Philanthropy Women.

By Kameron Schmid

13 December 2019

…

“We can approach classical art forms with contemporary sensibilities,” Seiwert said. “In a lot of versions of The Nutcracker, Marie is considered this perfect little girl … she’s an archetype but not a human.”

The ultimate goal was to give audiences, especially children, a different message to walk away with after seeing how Marie, the main character, approaches the obstacles put in her path.

“So many kids come to see The Nutcracker. For so many people, it’s the first ballet they see,” Seiwert said. “To be able to show them, ‘You can do hard things. You can walk through a hard situation,’ to put that image out there was very important to me.”

Seiwert is one of the most prominent female ballet directors and choreographers in the nation. As she points out, there aren’t many to begin with.

Her production of The Nutcracker was the only full-length world premiere created by a woman for the 2018-2019 season in the country, according to the Dance Data Project.

“There is a serious lack of women creating ballet,” Seiwert said. “There’s starting to be a shift in that dynamic. I don’t think it’s because women can’t choreograph ballet, it usually has to do with opportunity.”

In the second year of producing Seiwert’s version of The Nutcracker, Sacramento Ballet has over 22 professional dancers in residence and will feature them in the show, as well as approximately 100 children per performance, according to Seiwert.

Read the full article in The Sacramento Bee.