SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y., Aug. 17 (UPI) -- The New York City Ballet's financially struggling summer residency program at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center has been extended another year.
Bernadette Castro, commissioner of the New York State Parks Office, said studies were under way on how the ballet program, established in 1966, can be extended indefinitely. The arts center is a state institution built on stage land and leased to the arts center.
"We believe that the New York City Ballet has been a very important part of the cultural programming of the arts center," Castro said Monday. "We can't lose the ballet. It's part of the creative legacy of the center."
Herbert Chesbrough, the center's president and executive director, said a non-profit group, Save the Ballet, has raised more than $40,000 toward the ballet's 2005 summer season and $300,000 in state matching funds have been pledged providing the center raise $600,000.
Even before the New York City Ballet concluded three week's of performances July 24, the arts center said it could not afford to continue the ballet unless ticket sales increased. The center also is the summer home of the Philadelphia Orchestra, which will remain in residency.
