The National Ballet of Canada Volunteer Committee Wins a June Callwood Outstanding Achievement Award for Voluntarism

Hope Muir, Joan and Jerry Lozinski Artistic Director of The National Ballet of Canada, today announced that The National Ballet of Canada Volunteer Committee has been awarded a June Callwood Outstanding Achievement Award for Voluntarism. Presented by the Ministry of Citizenship and Multiculturalism, Province of Ontario, the award recognizes the Volunteer Committee's 70 years of outstanding service in support of The National Ballet of Canada.

In 1951, Sydney Mulqueen, Pearl Whitehead and Aileen Woods had a vision to create Canada's very own ballet company. Together, they galvanized a community of like-minded individuals and raised funds to bring the company's Founder and first Artistic Director Celia Franca from England to Toronto. This growing group of community-based committees flourished as the National Ballet Guild, with 12 active branches. The volunteers provided grassroots support to sell tickets, handle advance publicity and raised funds to bring the company to their communities. In many cases, they also provided lodging and hospitality for company members. While the network of the guilds did not survive, the Toronto branch rewrote their Constitution to become The Volunteer Committee, The National Ballet of Canada in 1972. A great debt is owed to thousands of volunteers who donated their time and talent as members of the Committee in all its guises over the past seven decades.

"I can only imagine how proud Sydney, Pearl and Aileen and the early volunteers would be of the company that they helped build and how proud the company is to have the support of this dedicated group of over one hundred individuals who truly reflect the diversity of Toronto and Ontario today," said Diana Reitberger, Director of Development. "They are the unsung heroes of the National Ballet and continue to innovate, adapt and thrive with the changing times."

One of the most important achievements of The Volunteer Committee has been the raising of funds to support the development of new productions. The first production they supported was Sir Frederick Ashton's La Fille mal gardée in 1977. To date they have funded 54 productions through their Build-a-Ballet Fund, raising a total of over $7.4 million through their Ballet Boutique for the past 47 years and up to 2014, through their shop Paper Things in Yorkville, which existed for over 50 years.

In addition to their monetary support, The Volunteer Committee has run education programmes in schools before there were staff for this function, acted as ushers at the O'Keefe Centre (now Meridian Hall) to save the company money and held numerous fundraising events in support of the company.

The entire National Ballet family congratulates every member of The Volunteer Committee, past and present, on receiving this award.