The Apogee Performing Arts Foundation

"We are delighted and honored to be able to partner with the good people of these regions, which span half the Earth’s circumference, in creating a legacy that will reverberate around the globe for generations to come."
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The Apogee Foundation, an international nonprofit dedicated to the development of human excellence in the performing arts, is rollling out new programs for world class performing artists in countries spanning half the world.

Apogee is now implementing Regional Awards across half the Earth's circumference

The above map shows in orange the geopolitical regions of the former Soviet Union for which Apogee is offering its new Regional Awards programs.

Click image to enlarge

New York, November 22, 2005 (eMediaWire, PRWeb, PressBox) - The Apogee Foundation today announced that it is making available five new Regional Awards to world class performing artists in the former Soviet Union. The awards are designated for recipients in the Cherkassy Region of Ukraine, the Republic of Tajikistan and three regions of the Russian Federation – the Republic of Buryatia, the Republic of Mari El, and the Chukotka Autonomous Region. These five awards, and others to be introduced shortly, will be made available on an annual basis in the form of scholarships provided to the top performing arts students identified in these regions based on criteria established for each award.

Mischa Elman as a child prodigy in Cherkassy, Ukraine at the turn of the last century

Elman exemplifies the type of extraordinary talent which can emerge from remote regions to achieve the apogee of human excellence in the performing arts on the world stage.

Click image to enlarge

The first award in the series, the “Mischa Elman Award”, will be made available to the most promising music students from the Cherkassy Region of Ukraine. The award is named in honor of the great violinist Mischa Elman, who emerged from a small town in this region to achieve the apogee of human excellence in the performing arts. Partnering with Apogee in implementing this award are the leading music training institutions within the Cherkassy Region and in the neighboring Odessa Region, as well as the municipal and regional governments of both.

The Regional Awards in Tajikistan, Buryatia and Mari El are designed to identify and foster the development of elite ballet talent. The Tajikistan award will be implemented in partnership with Russia's renowned Perm State Ballet School, which has a special program allowing talented students from Tajikistan to study and train there throughout the academic year. The awards designated for Buryatia and Mari El will be implemented in collaboration with the leading state ballet schools in the respective capital cities of these regions.

Mukhammad Azimov as a child prodigy in Perm, Russia at the turn of the present century

Azimov emerged from the town of Vakhdat in a remote region of Tajikistan to become a world class performing arts student and the first recipient of Apogee's Tajikistan Award for Excellence in Ballet.

Click image to enlarge

Additionally, the Foundation is making available an award entitled the "Governor's Award for Excellence in the Performing Arts" to extraordinarily promising performing arts students from the Chukotka Autonomous Region in the Far East of Russia. This award will be administered in collaboration with the Office of Governor Roman Abramovich, one of Apogee's most longstanding and valued benefactors. Leading instructors from both the Bolshoi Ballet Academy in Moscow and from the premier music training institutions in Odessa will assist Apogee in implementing this award.

Apogee President Kenneth Schneider said: “Our Foundation’s mission is to seek out, identify and foster world class talent wherever it can be found, and to assist those with such talent to achieve their fullest potential for the benefit of the entire world. We are delighted and honored to be able to partner with the good people of these regions, which span half the Earth’s circumference, in creating a legacy that will reverberate around the globe for generations to come.”

For more information on Apogee’s mission and its work around the globe, please refer to Foundation’s website: http://www.apogeefoundation.org.

To view this news release with full photographic content and to download printer friendly and PDF formats, as well as to obtain translations into other languages, please refer to the Foundation's website: http://www.ApogeeFoundation.org/awareness/2005-2006/regional_awards.php

About The Apogee Foundation ®
The Apogee Foundation began activities in Russia in 1997 and was incorporated in the United States in 2004 as a New York based not-for-profit corporation. Apogee is dedicated to the development of human excellence in the performing arts. It supports cultural institutions and individual artists, providing administrative, promotional, and financial support to help talented individuals achieve their full potential, and enabling this potential to be showcased to the world.

Achieving the Potential of Human Excellence in the Performing Arts

Contact
Kenneth Schneider, Apogee President
1001 Avenue of the Americas, 12th Floor
New York, NY 10018-5460 (USA)
+1.646.233.4350 or +1.888.APOGEE.8
Fax: +1.646.292.5101
www.ApogeeFoundation.org

Direct newswire links
eMediaWire: http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2005/11/emw313095.htm
PressBox (UK): http://www.pressbox.co.uk/detailed/International/Apogee_Introduces_New_
Regional_Awards_for_Elite_Performing_Artists_Throughout_the_Former_Soviet_Unio_69044.html