The Richmond Ballet

What it reported doing in 2024

Professional company performances - after a twenty-plus year career as a principal dancer and resident choreographer for tulsa ballet, ma cong joined richmond ballet as associate artistic director in 2019 and became artistic director in 2024. Ma has brought a vitality and enthusiasm to the company that is rooted in his history - a chinese-born naturalized citizen with a passion for humanity and the arts. During 2024 2025, richmond ballet reached a record-breaking 86,000 people through all programs.the 2024-2025 season included a final repertory performance at the richmond ballet studio theatre. This finale featured val caniparoli's provocative what's going on and a world premiere ballet by ma cong, enchalant. December of 2024 featured 17 performances of family-favorite the nutcracker. This production saw record attendance, and approximately 600 patrons were admitted free of charge, sponsored by "ballet for all" a program designed to diversify our audience. After the major success of ben stevenson's dracula in the prior year, richmond ballet presented his version of cinderella, in february of 2025, to audience and critical acclaim. Both of these full length story ballets were performed at the dominion energy center, a large traditional theatre in downtown richmond, accompanied by the richmond symphony.in the spring of 2025, richmond ballet moved the remainder of its repertory series to the newly renovated leslie cheek theatre inside the Virginia museum of fine arts ("vmfa"). The move doubled our audience capacity and allowed the ballet to schedule performances over a two-week period, permitting more options for attendance in a more accessible and populated location in richmond. As a part of the renovation, the leslie cheek theatre stage was renamed, "the armstrong family stage in honor of richmond ballet." newly named the "moving art" series, the inaugural performance, moving art one, featured three bold works, all of which were Virginia premieres: ma cong's pentaptych, christopher wheeldon's after the rain, and val caniparoli's lambarena. To close out the season in may, moving art two featured joshua l. Peugh's slump, stoner winslett's echoing past, and yury yanowsky's world premiere fading creatures. Touring continues to be a priority for richmond ballet. On october 18, 2024, richmond ballet brought the iconic carmina burana to the gaillard center stage in charleston, South Carolina. The richmond ballet studio company performed tours and lecture demonstrations at various schools and localities throughout the commonwealth of Virginia reaching an estimated 25,000 students and 4,000 community patrons.

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 86%; rating input score 86
• Program expense ratio: 84%; rating input score 84
• Fundraising efficiency: $7.53 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: Limited
• Foreign activity oversight: Limited
• Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
• Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
• Related-party transparency: Scored; rating input score 0

Accountability

• Independent voting board: 97%; rating input score 97; 26th percentile among comparable filings
• Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
  • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
  • Whistleblower policy: Pass
  • Document-retention policy: Pass
  • CEO compensation review process: Pass
  • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Pass
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

• Operating margin: -1.8%; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.89; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.19; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 6.6%; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 2.8% per year; rating input score 100; 26th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 0.2% per year; rating input score 100; 12th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 5% per year; rating input score 100; 35th percentile among comparable filings