It’s the biggest fraud ever to hit Wall Street. Up to $50 billion in assets, gone, courtesy of Bernard Madoff, who was frankly, one of the most well-respected men in the financial world.
Bernard Madoff - Philanthropist, Donor, Thief and Scumbag
The question is, who will get hit? Madoff was a large contributor to City Center, and sits on its board, although we don’t expect him to hold that position for too much longer. But were other board members invested with Madoff? It seems likely that at least some had financial exposure to this fraud.
Sterling Equities is believed to have had $300 million invested with Madoff according to CNBC. Sterling Equities is run by Fred Wilpon, who through his foundation recently gave a large donation to Alvin Ailey. Other significant invested funds include Fairfield Greenwich and Kingate.
The bad economy and financial crisis has hurt the dance world in a number of ways, but mainly by bleeding it slowly through little cuts. This Madoff fraud, on the other hand, could directly result in the closure of several companies and organizations once the full reach is known.
More hits to the arts involved:
*Carnegie Hall board member J. Ezra Merkin has revealed that “substantially all” of his fund Ascot Partners’ $1.8 billion was invested with Madoff. (NYT, December 13, A13).
Tagged with: alvin ailey , bernard madoff , city center , fraud , fred wilpon
In a related story…
A theater in San Jose is closing due to the financial crisis.
From the press release:
“We received a telephone call a few days ago from our co-producer for `Tarzan,’ which was the Theater of the Stars in Atlanta, Georgia basically telling us that they had used all of the funds that we had paid them towards the production for other things,” said Michael Miller, CEO and executive producer of AMTSJ. “In essence, they cancelled the show without giving us any warning, and we discovered that the funds we had paid for `Tarzan’ were spent on another production of theirs, which lost a significant amount of money
Here’s the full story:
http://theatrenorthcarolina.typepad.com/theatre_north_carolina/2008/12/american-musica.html
We’ve only started to see the collapse.
Now’s the right time to start going digital.
It is essential that the U.S. government step in to preserve that which lies at the heart of our humanity – the arts – as it would be a catastrophe for our national psyche to watch such precious institutions (dance companies and conservatories, in particular) fold over lack of funds. Once these organizations are gone, they are rarely (if ever) able to come back.
All I hear about are directors cutting dancers…less performance opportunities…less touring. It’s heart breaking…I live in Chicago and the Illinois Arts Council recently cut 75% of their annual budget. Something good has to be going on out there!!!
I recently donated money to Oregon Ballet Theater….check this out. It all worked out.
“Oregon Ballet Theatre lives to dance another day”
by Barry Johnson
The Oregonian, June 18, 2009
The pas de deux that Oregon Ballet Theatre and Portland have been dancing the past 20 years will continue after all.
After a furious three-week fund-raising effort that included a spectacular gala performance last week, the ballet announced that it has surpassed its $750,000 target, the amount it needed to guarantee that it could continue beyond June 30.
By the end of the day Wednesday, the company had raised $853, 271.
“All of us at OBT are incredibly moved by how many people, not just here but all across the country, have overwhelmingly demonstrated that they care about the arts and the future of professional ballet in this city,” said artistic director Christopher Stowell
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The artists and the very special people that support us just need to stick together….