A DECADE IN MOTION

CELEBRATING THE FOTHERGILL'S 10 SEASONS OF TRANSFORMATIVE LEADERSHIP

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There are periods in the life of an arts organization when growth can be measured easily through larger audiences, more artists, greater revenue and expanded programming. Then there are periods when something more consequential happens, when an organization fundamentally changes its understanding of what it can be. For Ballet Arkansas, the past decade has been such a period. As Michael and Catherine Fothergill celebrate their tenth season with Ballet Arkansas, the organization they lead bears little resemblance to the company they inherited. What began as a small professional company operating from a single studio with 11 modestly paid dancers and a budget of just over $400,000 has become an increasingly prominent cultural institution, with as many as 17 professional dancers, two studios, administrative offices, full-time administrative staff, an annual operating budget approaching $1.9 million and an endowment of approximately $1 million. Those numbers are remarkable, but the story behind them is considerably more so. When the Fothergills arrived, Ballet Arkansas had more than $50,000 in debt and outstanding obligations for future productions, with less than $6,000 in the bank to meet them. Pointe Magazine would later describe the organization they inherited as financially in the red, with an inconsistent performance record and no affiliated school. What followed was not simply a change in leadership, but a reinvention of what Ballet Arkansas could be.

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Little Rock was itself a choice. Before accepting Ballet Arkansas, the Fothergills had several competing opportunities, each with a larger organization in a larger metropolitan area. They chose Little Rock for its charm, its people and, perhaps most importantly, its promise. They believed something distinctive could be developed and made here. They also arrived with relationships extending well beyond Arkansas, among choreographers, musicians, repetiteurs, stagers, trusts, educators and arts organizations in the United States and abroad. Michael had already developed a reputation as a nonprofit arts consultant, work he continues today, studying organizational structures, personnel, efficiencies, audiences and the operational models that allow arts institutions to thrive. Catherine frequently assisted with and supported that consulting work, giving the pair a perspective on arts leadership formed not only in studios and theaters, but through close examination of how organizations function. They brought that knowledge to Ballet Arkansas and applied it with unusual breadth, choosing not to strengthen one area at a time, but to address the art, finances, programming, governance, education, community engagement, infrastructure and public identity simultaneously.

 

The pace of change was evident almost immediately. Michael assumed primary responsibility for fundraising while leading the company's artistic and administrative direction, cultivating donors and sponsors and personally recruiting, at one point, approximately 72 percent of Ballet Arkansas's sitting Board of Directors. Catherine worked alongside him across artistic, educational, marketing and operational areas. Within their first year, Ballet Arkansas moved from what had historically been approximately three to five programs annually to a complete season of five performance bills accompanied by outreach, school programming, collaborations with visual artists, civic partnerships with the Cities of Little Rock and North Little Rock and Motion on Main, a special events series at Ballet Arkansas's downtown headquarters. The question guiding the work was not how Ballet Arkansas could resemble a company somewhere else, but what a world-class professional ballet company could look like if it were created specifically for Little Rock and Arkansas.

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Their first public image as directors announced that intention before a curtain ever rose. Rather than introducing their Ballet Arkansas with a conventional classical image, the company's website featured Zeek Wright, a six-foot-eight Black Company Artist, bare-chested and suspended in a powerful split jeté against the white tile of the Arkansas Repertory Theatre. Captured by photographer Jeff Smithwick, the image was striking, contemporary and unexpected. Smithwick himself described Wright as a “larger-than-life presence.” It immediately signaled that a new Ballet Arkansas was emerging, one prepared to reconsider how ballet could look, whom it could represent and how boldly it could present itself to its community. The image attracted attention and support because it did not ask Little Rock to look backward. It invited the city to imagine what might come next.

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That instinct has remained central to the institution the Fothergills built. Ballet Arkansas would be artistically ambitious without becoming inaccessible, respectful of classical tradition while embracing contemporary voices, and professional without becoming distant from the community surrounding it. During their tenure, the company has commissioned more than 30 celebrated choreographers while creating opportunities for Ballet Arkansas Company Artists to choreograph and ensuring that its repertoire reflects a broad range of voices, including significant representation by women, minorities and choreographers of color. Classical productions were introduced and expanded in scale, contemporary programming grew, original works were developed and live music became an increasingly important presence within Ballet Arkansas performances. The company cultivated relationships with musicians, stagers and creative artists who brought repertory and expertise to Arkansas that might otherwise have remained inaccessible to a company of its size. The result has been more than a larger repertoire. It has been the development of a recognizable artistic identity built around range, theatricality, curiosity and the conviction that exceptional dance belongs in Arkansas.

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The Fothergills have been equally willing to reconsider where and how a ballet organization presents itself. One of their earliest galas placed Ballet Arkansas not in a ballroom, but inside a Dassault Falcon Jet hangar, where guests could board and preview a new aircraft while experiencing the company's artists and its ambitions in an unexpected setting. The event captured something that would become characteristic of their approach: structure itself could be reconsidered. A ballet could inhabit a museum, a plaza, an educational campus or a hangar. A gala could become an experience. A performance could incorporate film, projection, surround sound, visual art or live music. A professional company could be serious about its craft without becoming predictable in its presentation. BroadwayWorld later captured that evolution in headlines and reviews, declaring that Ballet Arkansas's Dracula “Takes Ballet to the Next Level Through Multimedia Effects,” describing BRAVO! as a “feast for the eyes, ears, and heart,” and calling the company's 2026 world premiere of Cinderella a “triumph for the company and for Arkansas's cultural community.” 

 

Perhaps the least visible part of the Fothergills' contribution is the extraordinary breadth of what they have personally done to make that growth possible.

 

For much of their tenure, Michael and Catherine have managed virtually every dimension of Ballet Arkansas between them. Their responsibilities have extended across artistic direction, choreography, rehearsal, fundraising, education, marketing, finance, human resources, production, contracting, school administration, audience development, facilities, governance, community engagement and strategic planning. Michael, working with Cranford Co., forged the organization's current visual identity and logo and has managed its website, branding and much of its public-facing content. Catherine has led major areas of education, outreach, school operations, community programming and marketing. Between them, budgets have been built, contracts negotiated, artists recruited, employees hired, policies written, donors cultivated, productions scheduled, community casts organized, partnerships developed, advertising created, facilities managed and board members recruited. Then, after doing those things, they have walked into the studio to teach and rehearse the dancers. Ballet Arkansas's artistic and administrative identities did not develop separately during this decade. They were built together, frequently by the same two people.

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That commitment carried a personal cost rarely visible in an institutional history. Michael and Catherine postponed starting a family as Ballet Arkansas demanded more of their time, increasingly regarding the dancers and the organization itself as an extension of their family. Outside engagements were postponed or declined. Michael, a longtime figure in the Japanese dance community who had spent years performing, teaching, adjudicating and developing professional relationships there, halted regular trips to Japan so that his attention could remain concentrated on strengthening Ballet Arkansas. Their decision was not simply to manage what they inherited, but to stay long enough and work broadly enough to change its trajectory. The organization became intertwined with their lives because they believed its potential justified the sacrifice. Even after ten seasons of growth, both remain focused on what has not yet been accomplished and on how much further Ballet Arkansas can go.

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The financial transformation provides one of the clearest measures of that trajectory. An organization facing growing debt and questions about its future, eliminated its debt, expanded revenue, established an endowment of approximately $1 million and grew an operating budget of $1.9 million. One studio became two studios and offices. The professional company grew from 11 dancers to as many as 17, while three full-time administrative positions created organizational capacity that had not previously existed. In 2022, Michael and Catherine co-founded the Ballet Arkansas School for Dance, creating an affiliated training institution that connected professional performance, education and the development of future dancers under one organization. The company also added comprehensive benefits for its professional artists, a significant investment in the people whose bodies and careers make the work possible. Pointe Magazine documented this transformation nationally in its feature, “With Steady Growth, Ballet Arkansas Is Making Its Presence Known in Little Rock and Beyond,” noting the elimination of debt, expanded budget, larger company, improved compensation and benefits, residencies, affiliated school and the family atmosphere cultivated within the organization.

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As Ballet Arkansas strengthened at home, its reach expanded beyond Arkansas. Touring created new audiences and generated demand for Ballet Arkansas programming in neighboring states, while national and international recruitment broadened dramatically. During the 25|26 season alone, more than 1,800 dancers from more than 20 countries auditioned for the company, the largest applicant pool in its history. That same season produced the best-selling fall and spring productions Ballet Arkansas had presented, even as reduced staffing required Michael and Catherine to absorb additional production responsibilities themselves. Catherine assumed technical execution of major productions, while Michael handled set and prop design, music editing and additional production management alongside his existing responsibilities. The season also included the company's first out-of-state tour, expanded cultural partnerships and its largest mixed-bill program to date, whose costs were negotiated to approximately 42 percent below standard industry rates while maintaining competitive compensation structures.

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The company's growing reputation became visible on a global stage when Ballet Arkansas was selected to participate in World Ballet Day, the international celebration created by The Royal Ballet, The Australian Ballet and San Francisco Ballet. Ballet Arkansas was among a select group of companies in the Americas featured in the festivities and was one of the smallest professional organizations represented alongside major international institutions. For audiences around the world, the event opened Ballet Arkansas's studio doors digitally, offering access to Company Artists in class, coaching and rehearsal. Ballet Arkansas was no longer simply watching the international ballet world from Little Rock. The international ballet world was being invited to watch Ballet Arkansas at work. More than 60,000 viewed over the course of a single day. 

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Physical growth has been accompanied by an equally important expansion of Ballet Arkansas's cultural footprint. The Fothergills forged residency and institutional partnerships with UA-Pulaski Technical College's Center for Humanities and Arts, the Robinson Center and the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts, giving the company important platforms through which to create, perform and connect with audiences. Through the generosity of the John & Robyn Horn Foundation, Ballet Arkansas also acquired the region's only transportable semi-sprung performance stage. The acquisition allowed professional dance to move outside the theater and directly into public spaces throughout Little Rock, North Little Rock and communities across the state. Over its years of use, that stage has provided the foundation for Ballet Arkansas to serve more than 7,000 Arkansans through free professional dance experiences. Instead of always requiring audiences to come to the ballet, Ballet Arkansas gained the ability to bring ballet to them.

That accessibility has become one of the defining qualities of the Fothergills' Ballet Arkansas. Professional artists share productions with children and adults from the community. Students encounter dancers not simply as distant figures on a stage, but as teachers and mentors. Community members participate in productions, audiences meet artists, performances move among theaters, museums, educational institutions and public spaces, and collaborations cross artistic disciplines. A child might first encounter Ballet Arkansas at a free community performance, participate in an educational program, join a community cast, train at the School for Dance and ultimately see professional artists working only a studio away. The community is not simply asked to watch Ballet Arkansas. It is invited to belong to it.

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The model is deliberately different from company environments that exist elsewhere. Michael and Catherine have resisted the assumption that growth must create distance between leadership and artists, artists and audiences, or an institution and its community. Their Ballet Arkansas is ambitious but accessible, increasingly national in artistic outlook while deeply Arkansan in identity. It does not need to imitate New York, Chicago, San Francisco or Houston to demonstrate its importance. Its strength comes from understanding the place it serves and believing that Little Rock deserves exceptional dance on its own terms. World-class standards and community intimacy are not opposing ambitions within this model. They strengthen one another.

The critical response has increasingly reflected that ambition. During Ballet Arkansas's 45th anniversary season, its return of the full-length Swan Lake to Robinson Center after a two-decade absence became the company's highest-grossing production outside The Nutcracker Spectacular. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette marked the occasion with “Ballet Arkansas ‘Swan Lake’ marks the company's 45th Anniversary” and followed with a dance review whose headline delivered an unusually concise verdict: “Ballet Arkansas aces ‘Swan Lake.’” The company's own season report described the production as a milestone that deepened its relationship with Robinson Center and the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra. Other reviews followed the same trajectory. BroadwayWorld called Wonderland: Alice's Epic Adventure an “inventive masterpiece,” while its review of Cinderella observed that Ballet Arkansas continued to affirm its place as a cornerstone of Arkansas's cultural landscape. The language surrounding the company had changed. Ballet Arkansas was increasingly being discussed not for what it hoped to become, but for what audiences and critics could already see.

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Recognition followed. Catherine was named one of Arkansas Money & Politics' Power Women in 2020 and has since been recognized among the state's notable women leaders and professionals, including Little Rock Soiree's Women to Watch in 2026. Michael was named among Arkansas Money & Politics' Top 100 Professionals in 2020 and its Influencers of the Year in 2022, was recognized by Little Rock Soirée as a Man on a Mission in 2023 and was named among Arkansas's 250 most influential leaders by Arkansas Business Publishing Group in 2025. Together, Michael and Catherine were named 2025 Visionaries in the Performing Arts by At Home in Arkansas. In 2026, the Arkansas Arts Council presented Michael with the Governor's Arts Award for Arts Community Development, specifically citing his transformation of Ballet Arkansas into a nationally recognized institution, expansion of its repertoire, co-founding of its school, elimination of organizational debt and substantial budget growth. The honors matter not simply as personal accolades, but because they reflect how widely the transformation of Ballet Arkansas has come to be recognized beyond its own walls.

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Ten seasons later, the scale of that transformation is unmistakable. Yet Michael and Catherine's most consequential contribution cannot be reduced to any of those measurements. Over ten seasons, they changed the scale of what seemed possible for Ballet Arkansas. They brought relationships, experience and an understanding of how arts organizations function, then committed a significant part of their professional and personal lives to proving what could be built here. They demonstrated that artistic excellence does not belong exclusively to America's largest cities, that organizational sophistication does not require sacrificing warmth, and that substantial growth can make an arts institution more connected to its community rather than less. They built Ballet Arkansas production by production, dancer by dancer, student by student, donor by donor, board member by board member, partnership by partnership and season by season. They shaped its repertoire, forged its identity, raised its money, strengthened its governance, built its infrastructure, taught its artists and expanded its reach. Ten seasons later, their work is visible not simply in how much Ballet Arkansas has grown, but in what it has become: a professional ballet company of increasing national stature that remains personal, accessible and unmistakably connected to its home.

 

There is still much more that Michael and Catherine want to build, which may be the most appropriate measure of their first decade. Their work was never about arriving. It was about creating an institution capable of going further, a Ballet Arkansas that belongs to Arkansas and an Arkansas ballet company increasingly capable of belonging on any stage in the world.