A tireless champion of emerging choreographers, he creates an environment in which they can exercise their craft. In 1992 he established the Diamond Project, a showcase of new works that followed in the tradition of such celebrations as the 1972 Stravinsky Festival. The now acclaimed Diamond Project, presented again in 1994 and 1997, remains a prominent feature of NYCB programming. The Spring 2000 season contains no less than nine new Diamond Project ballets. NYCB must keep creativity at its core, enough to risk failures as well as create successes.
Creativity is expensive, but the alternative is a prescription for stagnation and mediocrity.
The Campaign for New York City Ballet will maintain NYCB as a creative leader through programs such as the Diamond Project and will allow it to launch initiatives to foster new talent. The Choreography Institute is a new project that will provide choreographers with uninterrupted time and necessary resources to experiment, explore, and develop new choreographic ideas. The focus will be on the process leading to the creation of new work, without the pressure of public performance. For 50 years, New York City Ballet has been committed to the vision of founders George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein that ballet, a living art form, is best nurtured through the process of choreographic exploration. Today NYCB premieres, on average, four ballets annually.