DDP RELEASES NEW DATA BYTE HIGHLIGHTING RECENT INTERNATIONAL ARTISTIC DIRECTOR CHANGES AND VACANCIES

DDP today announces the release of the Artistic Director Leadership Changes 2021+ Data Byte. This mini-report is an extension of the research completed for DDP’s recent Global Ballet Leadership Report. Delivered in an easily digestible format, DDP’s Data Bytes capture useful, dense data that no one else is talking about.

DDP’s most recent Data Byte provides a breakdown of artistic director transitions at ballet (and some contemporary) companies globally, noting the gender of both the predecessor and the newly appointed artistic director for the organization, for 2021 and beyond. Vacant positions, with no announced successor, are also catalogued.

DDP Research Lead Michayla Kelly comments, “DDP’s research on global ballet leadership has shown that men occupy twice as many artistic director roles as women (66% to 33%). In 2022, we see open artistic director positions at major US ballet companies, including American Ballet Theatre, San Francisco Ballet, and Cincinnati Ballet. Currently, Oregon Ballet Theatre, Charlotte Ballet, and Orlando Ballet are all operating with interim ADs, further adding to a system in flux.”

Says DDP Founder and President Liza Yntema, “DDP will continue to closely watch artistic director transitions and push to see both more transparency and accountability in the search process, and ultimately more women in ballet leadership.”

She notes, “In the cases of both ABT and San Francisco Ballet, two of the largest ten ballet companies in the US, whoever assumes these roles will have a substantial say in where the dance world is headed for decades to come, training an entirely new generation or perhaps more than one generation of leaders. However, we don’t know what the job description is without an online digging expedition, which search firm has been retained, or who is on the search committee. What is extraordinary is that there has been zero daylight into the process for the public, whom these companies serve as not for profits.”