Trusts and Foundations

Northern Ballet is the UK’s widest-touring ballet company, bringing the joy of the arts to hundreds of thousands of people every year on stage, and to millions through our digital work who otherwise would have limited opportunities to benefit from attendance and participation.

Northern Ballet is a registered charity and our latest audited accounts are available to view here.

Our primary aim is to promote the joy of dance to as wide an audience as possible and we strive to break down barriers and engage diverse audiences through our outstanding productions and wide-ranging educational and outreach activities. Through our Academy we train and nurture the dancers of tomorrow.

Trusts and Foundations support makes a huge difference to many areas of our work and without this support many of our innovative and inspiring projects could simply not got ahead. Areas that attract Trusts and Foundations support include:

Productions – Help us create exciting new large-scale work, mixed programmes featuring the work of new choreographers, enchanting children’s ballets and enable us to revamp and revive existing pieces from our repertoire.

Digital - We launched our digital platform in 2019 which marks our commitment to increasing the reach of our audience and developing creativity within the Company. Thanks to the support of key funders, to date we have created award winning digital short films, filmed and distributed full length productions for television and cinema and produced full seasons of diverse digital content.

Accessibility – Last year our Learning Team worked with over 18,000 people from a wide range of backgrounds. Projects include:

• Dance for Parkinson’s - with support from two key Trusts and Foundations we were able to deliver a successful pilot year of this project in 2018 which offers those living with Parkinson’s an opportunity to take part in high quality ballet classes with the aim of improving physical and mental health. With ongoing support from Trusts and Foundations, this project is now part of our core inclusive dance programme.
• Rise – Northern Ballet’s education project Rise focuses on health and wellbeing in schools. Currently in the pilot phase, the project is being delivered in five primary schools across West Yorkshire and we are working with University of Leeds to examine the benefits to pupils’ resilience, body confidence, communication, and self-expression skills.
• Touch Tours and Audio Descriptions - Led by ex-Premier Dancer Pippa Moore MBE, our dancers, stage management and an audio describer, our Touch Tours offer people with a vision impairment an opportunity to learn more about our productions and learn basic ballet technique. Our live and digital Audio Descriptions are also written by Pippa who danced with the Company for 20 years.

Find out more about our learning projects.

• Academy of Northern Ballet – Our purpose-built home in Leeds City Centre also houses the Academy of Northern Ballet, the leading centre of excellence for dance in the North of England. The Academy plays an instrumental role in inspiring the next generation of dancers through providing talented young people from the ages of 9 to 22 with access to the highest quality training. Programmes include our Spotted! workshops, which are delivered for free in schools all over Yorkshire to identify raw talent.

We work closely with the many Trusts and Foundations who choose to support our work, offering opportunities to come and see supported projects and providing robust reports throughout the grant period.

Get in touch

For more information on how your Trust or Foundation can support the work of Northern Ballet please contact:

development@northernballet.com | 0113 220 8000