The Rudolf Nureyev Foundation began life in 1975 as the Ballet Promotion Foundation, established by Nureyev during his lifetime with an eye to the future and his long-term legacy. His original intention was that the Foundation should promote the artform of ballet, support the next generation of talent and perpetuate his memory.
Fulfilling Nureyev’s wishes
Before his death in 1993, Nureyev bequeathed all his European assets to the Foundation, charging the trustees to act as his executor and to identify a final resting place for his body. The Russian Cemetery of Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois was chosen and a magnificent mosaic memorial commissioned to mark the grave.
In line with Nureyev’s wishes, the Foundation identified permanent homes for his archives: the Nureyev Film Archive in the New York Public Library and the paper archive in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris.
Nureyev had also expressed a wish for a permanent exhibition to perpetuate his name. A Lieu-de-Mémoire was created in partnership with the Centre national du costume et de la scène in Moulins, featuring costumes, artworks, photographs and artefacts donated by the Foundation.
Nureyev charged the Foundation with protecting his personality and performance rights as well as the rights to all his choreographic works. It is the ongoing popularity of these ballets that enables the Rudolf Nureyev Foundation to continue to fulfil the wishes of its founder: to support talent, advance dancers’ health and, through these actions, ensure his legacy lives on.
The first 50 years
Over its first 50 years – chaired first by Jeanette B Thurnherr, followed by Lord Rothschild, Sir John Tooley, Dr Claude Blum and now Baroness Deborah Bull – the Foundation distributed funding to a series of beneficiaries: family members specified in his will and a vast number of dancers, dance festivals, competitions, dance medicine organisations and researchers as well as exhibitions. The Foundation commissioned an authorised biography from Julie Kavanagh, later to be produced as a major film, The White Crow, directed by Ralph Fiennes.
The Foundation today
In late 2023, the forthcoming 50th anniversary inspired the board to reconsider how best to deliver Nureyev’s original vision in a world that has changed so much since the Foundation was established in 1975.
A refreshed mission, values and funding priorities have been defined and a series of partnerships set in place with schools, companies, networks and organisations that align with our mission and bring our priorities to life. Streamlined systems and processes ensure more of the Foundation’s resources are directed to its core purposes. The Foundation continues to work in partnership to license Nureyev’s ballets to companies around the world and to protect his personality and performance rights.
The Rudolf Nureyev Foundation has evolved over its 50 year history, but its original, fundamental purpose stands: to perpetuate the memory of one of the 20th century’s greatest artists by meeting the needs of dance and dancers today.
If you are interested in donating to support the work of the Foundation, please contact us.