FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


DIABLO BALLET RECEIVES LESHER FOUNDATION GRANT

$150,000 Grant to Support 2006 - 2007 Performance Seasons


Walnut Creek (June 21, 2006) - The Dean & Margaret Lesher Foundation has awarded Diablo Ballet a $150,000 title support grant for the 2006-2007

Thirteenth Anniversary Season and the 2007-2008 Fourteenth Anniversary Season. Artistic Director Lauren Jonas remarked, “The generosity the Foundation has

shown us over the years is astonishing. Words can not express the enormous gratitude we owe them for encouraging and inspiring Diablo Ballet to thrive.”

Kathleen Odne, Executive Director of the Dean & Margaret Lesher Foundation said, "The grant from the Lesher Foundation is an affirmation of the wonderfully

creative and talented artistry of the Diablo Ballet. We feel so fortunate that we have such a strong ballet company right here in Contra Costa County.”



The Dean & Margaret Lesher Foundation, established in 1989, provides grants to nonprofits in Contra Costa County in the areas of education and the visual and

performing arts and programs for children and families.


Diablo Ballet’s 2006 – 2007 season opens on November 17th at the Dean Lesher Regional Center for the Arts with the World Premiere of Nikolai

Kabaniaev’s The Tale of Cinderella, a one act ballet based on Perrault's classic fairy tale and set to the brilliant score by Sergei Prokofiev



Diablo Ballet was founded in 1994 to present innovative dance to Bay Area audiences. Diablo Ballet is especially known for recruiting principal dancers

throughout the world and for performing ballet classics as well as original contemporary works. Diablo Ballet performs at major performance locations, including

Zellerbach Hall at U.C. Berkeley, the Dean Lesher Regional Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek, and the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco.



David Hicks
Marketing Manager
www.diabloballet.org