About us
Who are the Friends?
The Friends of the Australian Ballet New South Wales Limited was established as a charitable organisation in 1976. The aims of the Friends are:
- assist The Australian Ballet, financially and in other ways
- broaden the appreciation and experience of ballet in the community
- facilitate communication between The Australian Ballet and its audience
- provide scholarships and bursaries for promising performers
- further ballet, musical theatre and other performing arts, and promote new work
What do the Friends do?
Each year the Friends host a series of regular and special events to raise funds for The Australian Ballet. Your participation is a tangible expression of your support for Australia’s national ballet company.
In addition to regular financial support, the Friends provide scholarships to dancers of The Australian Ballet: the Kelvin Coe Award for Excellence and The Friends of The Australian Ballet Scholarship. The Friends support the new dancers who join the company each year with a financial contribution towards shoes, practice clothes and make-up.
The Friends also provide two annual scholarships of $1,500 each for students of The Australian Ballet School.
In 2007 the Friends donated $200,000 to The Australian Ballet to support their tour of Europe performing Graeme Murphy’s Swan Lake. Other large donations include $40,000 which was donated towards the Ballets Russes programme.and $5,000 towards The Australian Ballet’s Education Programme.
An interesting titbit from our history
Just prior to the opening of the Sydney Opera House, Lady (Mary) Fairfax AC OBE was invited by The Australian Ballet to become the first President of the NSW Friends of The Australian Ballet and to lead a very special event. It would be the world premiere screening of the Australian Feature Film “Don Quixote” starring Rudolf Nureyev, Lucette Aldus and The Australian Ballet.
It would be the first time anyone had seen the inside of the Opera House and this was to be a glittering event attended by the then Governor of New South Wales and other dignitaries.
Floral groups arranged the flowers inside the Concert Hall, the armed forces provided the trumpets on the steps of the Opera House to herald the arrival of the Governor is a open Barouche ( an open carriage with escorts front and rear ) and distinguished guests.
This event almost did not happen. On that day Sydney was experiencing power shortages and blackouts which affected the power supply at the Sydney Opera House. This almost disastrous situation was averted as Lady Fairfax along with Bill Akers arranged for a Royal Australian Navy battleship to draw alongside to supply the power so the event could go ahead.
It was from this event that Lady Fairfax agreed to continue as the President of the newly formed Friends of The Australian Ballet in NSW.
