Apogee Marks Banner Year in Build Out of Worldwide Operations and Fulfillment of its Mission to Foster World Class Excellence in the Performing Arts

New York, January 18, 2006 (PRIMEZONE, RNWire and PressBox) – The Apogee Foundation, an international nonprofit organization dedicated to the development of human excellence in the performing arts, marks a banner year in rolling out new facilities and programs furthering its mission around the world.

Expanding Programs and Partnerships throughout the former Soviet Union

Apogee provides Regional Awards programs for excellence in the performing arts which span half the Earth's circumference The above map shows in orange the regions in which Apogee is now implementing its Regional Awards programs. Click image to enlarge

During 2005, Apogee expanded each of its existing programs supporting the development of world class excellence in the performing arts throughout Russia and the C.I.S., where the Foundation’s work began a decade earlier. Apogee reinitiated its full slate of award and grant programs in collaboration with the Bolshoi Ballet Academy (formerly the Foundation’s largest single beneficiary) and the Perm Ballet Academy following management changes at both institutions. Apogee also continued to expand beyond these areas of historic strength, leveraging successful relationships with national, regional and local governments and sister NGOs to identify and develop world class artistic talent throughout Eastern Europe and Asia. Most notably these partnerships enabled the Foundation to launch Regional Awards programs spanning twelve time zones which are designed to foster and promote excellence in the performing arts wherever it may be found. These combined programs resulted in more than 50 awards and grants to elite students, artists, instructors and institutions in the course of the year, a number expected to increase in 2006 and beyond.

For more information:
http://www.apogeefoundation.org/awards/excellence.php
http://www.apogeefoundation.org/awareness/2005-2006/artist_prizes.php
http://www.apogeefoundation.org/awareness/2005-2006/student_scholarships.php
http://www.apogeefoundation.org/awareness/2005-2006/ukraine_programs.php
http://www.apogeefoundation.org/awareness/2005-2006/regional_awards.php

Expanding Programs and Partnerships throughout the Western World

To successfully synergize the profound value of Eastern cultural and human assets with the dynamism of Western economic and technological resources, the Foundation also continued to develop unique forms of collaboration with leading cultural and academic institutions in Western Europe and the Americas. In 2005, Apogee

Boston Conservatory instructors Diane Noya and Tommy Neblett developing the modern dance component of Apogee's Fusion Program They are shown working in collaboration with Apogee in Boston Click image to enlarge

completed a cycle of programs with the training arms of each of the premier ballet companies in the Eastern Americas, including those of New York City Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, Boston Ballet and American Ballet Theatre. To continue building on these successes, further collaborations with the other premier institutions in the Western Americas and Europe were already being implemented by year end.

Apogee likewise continued to fulfill its mission through important collaborations with leading academic and research institutions during the year, commissioning its first policy study by members of Harvard University’s School of Government, implementing its Synergy Program with members of Boston University’s Department of International Relations, and developing its Fusion Program with faculty from the Boston Conservatory. Policy studies are commissioned by Apogee to insure that the Foundation applies the highest level of professional expertise on behalf of its clients in administering its programs around the world. Apogee’s Synergy Program is designed to offer artists from cultures which have experienced historical conflict the opportunity to transform their differences into collaborative empowerment. The Foundation’s Fusion Program combines all available methodologies to enable artists from Eastern training backgrounds to expand their artistic awareness and expressive skills into, through and beyond contemporary Western modes of thought and performance.

For more information:
http://www.apogeefoundation.org/awareness/research.php
http://www.apogeefoundation.org/programs/synergy.php
http://www.apogeefoundation.org/programs/fusion.php
http://www.apogeefoundation.org/awareness/2005-2006/abt_education_grant.php
http://www.apogeefoundation.org/awareness/2005-2006/anti-corruption_ussr.php

Achieving the Potential of Human Excellence in the Performing Arts

Apogee Merit Scholars Vladislav Lantratov and Maria Vinogradova Apogee identified and fostered the development of these world class artists from the first years of their training. Vinogradova became one of six Apogee laureates who won major prizes in the 2005 Moscow International Ballet Competition. Click image to enlarge

As a result of Apogee’s decade-long efforts to foster human excellence, the Foundation’s beneficiaries lit up the world’s stages throughout the year: making debuts in premier venues such as the Bolshoi Theatre, Covent Garden and Lincoln Center, and earning major prizes at the world’s top international competitions such as the Moscow International Ballet Competition, where Apogee beneficiaries swept the prizes in some divisions and placed highly in all of them.

As the Foundation continued to develop innovative methods of fostering world class excellence throughout the career cycles of its beneficiaries, Apogee introduced scholarships, fellowships and masterships to enable world class artists to train and work with the institutions best able to benefit from their talents, and also created its Artists in Residence program to promote the work of gifted composers, choreographers, authors, directors and other elite professionals by commissioning performance art to be debuted by Apogee’s elite performers to thus showcase their combined talents.

For more information:
http://www.apogeefoundation.org/people/beneficiaries.php http://www.apogeefoundation.org/awards/residence.php http://www.apogeefoundation.org/programs/artists.php

Expanding Apogee’s Spectrum of Capabilities and International Reach

To complement the successful expansion of Apogee’s programs and partnerships within the Foundation’s traditionally strong regions, during 2005 Apogee began a period of concerted international expansion by appointing regional representatives and attracting professional specialists in nine of the world’s leading performing arts centers spanning the entire Northern Hemisphere. Thanks to the success of these efforts, by year end Apogee’s activities around the world were being serviced by a team of professionals having expertise in each major region and field relevant to fulfilling the Foundation’s mission. The size and scope of Apogee’s international client base and the Foundation’s potential for fruitful international and intercultural collaboration now are likewise expanding to match this enhanced spectrum of capabilities.

For more information:
http://www.apogeefoundation.org/contact/index.php
http://www.apogeefoundation.org/awareness/2005-2006/regional_representatives.php

Apogee Foundation President Kenneth Schneider Both a performing artist and a performance studies scholar, Kenneth Schneider has worked for over a decade to build an institution capable of fostering the apogee of human excellence in the performing arts around the world. Click image to enlarge

Apogee President Kenneth Schneider said: “We are extremely proud of all those who have participated in our movement during this landmark year for the awe inspiring talent and dedication they have invested in fulfilling the Foundation’s mission. We look forward to ever greater levels of success in each sphere of our activities in the coming years, as we continue to build on these accomplishments to achieve the potential of human excellence in the performing arts around the world.”

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/banner_year.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.

© The Apogee Foundation ® 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

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in_Build_Out_of_Worldwide_Operations_and_Fulfillment_of_its_Mission_to_Fost_69455.html