Description
Created by a generous estate contribution by late Emeritus Professor and former Interim Chair of the University of Utah Department of Ballet Bené Arnold, the recently established Bené Arnold Endowed Scholarship Fund will provide vital scholarship support to ballet students in the U School of Dance.
We hope you will consider a gift honoring Arnold’s legacy of leadership while championing the success of future artists.
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Bené Arnold’s passion for ballet fueled countless dancers, teachers, and artists. Arnold’s career began with the San Francisco Ballet company, where she rose to the rank of Soloist, and continued in Salt Lake City where she studied ballet and education at the University of Utah. Willam Christensen, founder of the U’s ballet program and founding artistic director of Ballet West, invited Arnold to serve as Ballet West’s first ballet mistress. Arnold later returned to the University of Utah to teach and served as Interim Chair of the Department of Ballet from 2008-2011. She spent the remainder of her life in Utah where she continued to contribute in various ways to the ballet community.
Arnold’s career is marked with numerous awards, from the Utah Governor’s Award for the Arts to a Lifetime Achievement Award from CORPS de Ballet International. She was instrumental in creating Utah’s ballet scene and is a major figure in the learning lineage of many ballet dancers and educators in Utah and across the country.
When Bené Arnold received the College of Fine Arts Distinguished Alumni Award, she said, “Working in the professional ballet world, and The Department of Ballet at the University of Utah, gave me my biggest challenges and my greatest joy! I had lots of work, sometimes with a very small salary, but it was worth it because of the opportunity to keep learning from amazing artists and keen-minded people who challenged and broadened my mind by their intelligence and often fascinating ideas!”
Arnold’s drive and enthusiasm for ballet will continue to impact the School of Dance and the Utah dance world for years to come. “The U's School of Dance continues to benefit from Bene’s years of stellar stewardship,” Director Melonie Murray said. “I hope she would be proud of how we continue the legacy of excellence she left behind.”
Donations are applied to...
Scholarship support for ballet students in the University of Utah School of Dance
Personal Message
Thank you for honoring the legacy of Bené Arnold with your contribution to the Bené Arnold Endowed Scholarship. Your gift will provide vital scholarship support for ballet students in the U School of Dance.