DDP: The basis of your company was built upon the Green Bay Ballet Festival. Tell us how it was to build a company from a festival. 

Sarah-Gabrielle Ryan, Co-Artistic Director: “We launched Green Bay Ballet Festival from the ground up in May of 2024 with support from the Weidner Center of Performing Arts as a way to give back to the community where Kyle’s dance training began. Northeast Wisconsin has no professional ballet company, so we brought in dancers from all over the world and collaborated with the Weidner Philharmonic to present our ‘Beer & Ballet’ performance. The audience response was electric, which made us feel it was the right time to plant roots for a permanent ballet presence in the community, so we decided to rebrand the festival as Green Bay Ballet Theater. The festival allowed us to get a feel of what the community was looking for. Many people were excited about beer and realized they liked ballet! Having the  festival as a precursor to our company helped us get to know the community so that we can better serve them as art leaders.”

DDP: What strategies have you found most effective for funding your projects or seasons?

Sarah-Gabrielle Ryan: “Honestly, we both live by the idea that the worst anyone can say is no. Our festival started as an idea we pitched to Kelli Strickland of the Weidner Center, and she trusted our plan and was intrigued enough by our mission to support us. Sharing ideas and dreams can feel really vulnerable. Still, as we’ve continued to fundraise, we’ve found that if you can effectively express why your project is important and why anyone should care, most of the time, people want to support the expansion of arts and future arts leaders.”

DDP: What lessons have you learned about entrepreneurship that the dance world doesn’t often discuss?

Sarah-Gabrielle Ryan: “We both feel so grateful to have such wonderful mentors who have prepared us for this big step. Kyle has spent months shadowing our wonderful Executive Director of PNB, Ellen Walker; our incredible Artistic Director, Peter Boal, took us on a fundraising trip where we learned how to do donor asks in real time; we have a lovely relationship with many members of the PNB board who have given us great insight into the part of non-profit organizations that usually feels hidden from artists. Similar to the worst anyone can say is no. Over the years, we’ve allowed ourselves to be curious enough to ask the questions that aren’t typically discussed. That being said, doing it on our own—without the larger team that established organizations have—has been a really fun learning experience. For our festival, we acted as directors by programming and casting repertoire, managers by writing the artist contracts, production directors by creating the stage schedules, and lighting designers for the performance, all while still performing ourselves. The first thing we did when we got home was buy a book that was basically Technical Theater for Dummies. Another valuable lesson we learned, in real time, was navigating interpersonal relationships as ‘boss figures’ and mitigating unexpected conflicts. Anyone passionate about their work is bound to have a great sense of personal pride, artistic pride, and may even have a hint of ego. Not everyone sees art, the distribution of art, or the implementation of art in the same way. Discovering how to keep differing passions ignited and funneled towards our chosen goal was a skill we learned on a steep curve, and we will likely continue learning how to do more effectively for the rest of our careers in leadership.”