Ballet shoes are the single most important tool of the ballet dancer, but they wear out quickly. Our ballerinas dance through approximately 2,160 pairs of ballet shoes in every season. In the same period of time, male dancers require approximately 1,600 pairs of soft ballet shoes.
Donate towards ballet shoes and you’ll make a significant contribution to our dancers’ ability to practice their unique profession.
For ballet lovers, supporting our dancers by donating towards their ballet shoes is a natural choice. One pair of our ballerinas’ pointe shoes costs between €38 and €120. The soft shoes worn by our male dancers are more economical, each pair costing €8 to €20. Young girls studying at the Ballet School of the Finnish National Opera and Ballet dance in soft shoes until approximately the age of 11, before moving on to pointe shoes.
You can also take part in creating the future of opera and ballet by donating towards the Opera Beyond project. Its aim is to make the Finnish National Opera and Ballet an international pioneer in its field in the use of new technologies. Read more about Opera Beyond.
Another option is to donate towards the fund of the Opera and Ballet Grant Foundation. The foundation awards stipends and grants to creative and performing artists as well as other opera and ballet professionals. Find out more about the fund.
Please note that donations to the ballet shoe appeal, Opera Beyond, and the fund of the Opera and Ballet Grant Foundation must be made as separate bank transactions.
Do you have a birthday or anniversary coming up, or would you like to leave a lasting legacy to opera and ballet arts for future generations?
For anniversary gifts, major gifts or legacy gifts, please contact us. We are happy to help you find your ideal way to donate.
Contact
+358 44 262 7699
lauri.pokkinen@opera.fi
The Finnish National Opera and Ballet Foundation has a fundraising permit RA/2021/342, granted by the National Police Board on 19 March 2021, valid for the time being in all of Finland, aside from Åland. The funds collected will be used for the foundation’s operations to advance the cause of opera and ballet arts.
Opera and Ballet Grant Foundation has a fundraising permit RA/2021/91, granted by the National Police Board on 28 January 2021, valid from 1 February 2021 in all of Finland, aside from Åland. The funds collected will be used to advance the cause of opera and ballet arts as well as for grants to individuals working in the field of opera and ballet.
The funds raised will be used for the operations of the non-profit foundation to advance the cause of opera and ballet arts. We are not raising funds for the endowment. Instead, the funds raised will be used immediately to fulfil a purpose laid out in the rules of the foundation as follows.
The funds raised are used to:
Support the artistic operations of the opera and ballet. The funds raised can be used for staging opera and ballet productions in ways that can be considered to support and add value to the productions, including hiring visiting artists, selected main stage productions, organising tours to improve awareness of the FNOB, covering the costs of free-to-view opera and ballet broadcasts and recordings, and other performance-related expenses.
To support audience outreach. This includes participatory artistic activities, performances and events directed at special audiences, and further studies for those already professionally employed in the field of audience outreach.
The funds raised cannot be used to support the basic education of the Ballet School or basic art education, nor to support or enable the foundation’s business operations permitted by the rules.
The funds raised are used to:
Grants and scholarships to creative and performing opera and ballet artists or other professionals involved in supporting the field of opera and ballet arts. The grants can be given in Finland and internationally.
Support the artistic operations of the Finnish National Opera and Ballet by purchasing valuable instruments for the orchestra members, to support the organising of opera and ballet tours in Finland or abroad, produce opera and activity workshops for children in Finland, pay for the visit of an internationally renowned guest artist, choreographer, conductor or another visitor, which would not be possible otherwise, to help create the sets and costumes of opera and ballet productions in ways that support and add value to the productions. In addition to this, the funds can be used to promote opera and ballet arts and to improve the appeal, attractiveness and awareness of the Opera House both nationally and internationally by purchasing art and other goods.