Fifty years ago, as a young woman just out of college, Daria L. Wallach attended her first performance of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater at City Center. “They concluded, of course, with ‘Revelations,’” she said of the company’s best-known work. “That hooked me right away.”
On Wednesday, Wallach, the chair of Ailey’s board of directors, announced that she was giving $10 million to the Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation to endow the position of artistic director. It is one of the largest contributions in the history of the 68-year-old organization.
“Ailey really represents not only artistic excellence but also the power of art to move us emotionally, intellectually,” Wallach, 71, said in an interview. “So at this point in the company’s history, I wanted to make sure that this will continue.”
When Wallach, a retired leader in the financial services industry, raised the idea of making a large contribution to the company, Ailey officials suggested an endowment, rather than a flat contribution.
The company, with a $50 million annual budget, is in a relatively strong financial position. Two-thirds of the company’s budget comes from earned revenue, mainly ticket sales, and the rest from gifts.
But like most performing arts organizations, the company is wary of rising costs and shrinking audiences. The size of the gift is particularly noteworthy at a time when many cultural organizations have noted a drop in donations, with some foundations and individual donors giving instead to social action causes.
“The advantage of having an endowment is that you are guaranteed a steady source of funds in your annual budget that you can rely on,” said Bennett Rink, the executive director of Ailey. “It allows you to plan more. And in the arts, the idea of being able to do more long-term planning is very important.”
The gift was announced as the dance company, having finished its annual stand at City Center, set out on a 20-city tour.
Wallach, who was a managing partner of Lord, Abbett & Co., has been a member of the Ailey board since 2011 and its chair since 2014. She is also a former vice chair of the board of the New York Philharmonic.
The newly endowed director position will be named for both Wallach and her husband, Eric J. Wallach. Daria Wallach said she meant her gift to be a show of support for Alicia Graf Mack, who was named the fourth artistic director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in November 2024. The position was first held by Alvin Ailey, who died in 1989. Mack, a former dancer in the company, will be the first person to fill the endowed position.
The $10 million endowment is expected to produce $500,000 a year in income, to cover part of Mack’s compensation. Rink declined to disclose Mack’s salary.
“It seemed to me,” Rink said, “that this was an opportune time to signal a new era for Ailey and to endow the position, so we knew that it would be funded and allow us to fulfill her vision.”
Adam Nagourney is the classical music and dance reporter for The Times.
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