Memphis-based contemporary ballet company receives an unexpected gift
Known for thrilling audiences with the excellence of their artistry and socially aware repertoire (e.g. Rise, Trilogy, and Flack) Collage Dance Collective recently received a $3M gift from MacKenzie Scott, billionaire philanthropist, and ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. (scroll down for more details)
In a June 16 post published on her Medium page, Scott announced she donated more than $2.7 billion to 286 organizations.
“Because community-centered service is such a powerful catalyst and multiplier, we spent the first quarter of 2021 identifying and evaluating equity-oriented non-profit teams working in areas that have been neglected,” Scott wrote. “The result was $2,739,000,000 in gifts to 286 high-impact organizations in categories and communities that have been historically underfunded and overlooked.”
Collage Dance Collective, a Binghampton-based [a suburb of Memphis] ballet company, is among those community-centered organizations Scott deemed a “powerful catalyst and multiplier.”
“We provide a platform for our professional dancers of color to really help diversify the broader ballet landscape,” said Collage executive director Marcellus Harper. “We also work in tandem by being proactive about engaging young people of color with classical ballet training to hopefully increase the pool of dancers of color that are technically proficient and able to compete competitively.”
Collage moved from New York to Memphis in 2007 and opened a ballet school in 2009. In addition to serving about 500 students, Collage has a professional touring dance group.
Collage moved to a new facility at the corner of Tillman Street and Sam Cooper Boulevard in 2020. The move was during in the middle of the pandemic was a time when many live performance venues struggled with shelter-in-place orders. Collage generates a large portion of its revenue from live performances.
Then, after a rough year, Harper said he was surprised to learn someone was interested in helping Collage.
“We were originally notified there was an anonymous funder that was potentially interested in investing in Collage,” Harper said. “Through the vetting process, we didn’t know who the funder was or any parameters of the grant. Then, not that long ago, we got a call saying we were being awarded a grant.
“What was really great is that we learned (the grant) was going to be unrestricted. We could do with the money what we want to do with the money. To say the least, that’s probably the best news a nonprofit leader can receive.”
Harper said Collage is in the middle of a strategic planning process, following a fundraising campaign that raised $11 million to build its new facility. Harper wants to take time to consider the best way to spend the unexpected grant to expand Collage’s mission.
“Right now, we are taking the time to do a deep dive in terms of the plan to get Collage to the next level and to materialize that vision,” Harper said. “We are definitely going to use the money to continue growing the school. We expect our enrollment to grow over 50% this year, and we expect to be able to offer more scholarships, which is something we are always working towards.”
After divorcing Bezos, one of the world’s wealthiest people, Scott publicly pledged in 2019 to donate the bulk of her vast fortune, estimated at $36 billion at the time.
Scott has given away billions, but her fortune has only grown during the past year due to her share in Amazon stock.
For Harper, the steps taken by Scott to support and highlight his work only fill him with gratitude.
“It was a major honor,” Harper said, “that our work is being recognized like this, and that people are talking about it in spaces that have obviously gotten to MacKenzie Scott. It’s really an amazing thing (Scott) has allowed for.”
