By James Cunningham
Grand Rapids Ballet is expanding the ways it supports dancers beyond the stage with the launch of a new Professional Development Program that began in summer 2026. Underwritten by a generous grant from the Daniel and Pamella DeVos Foundation, the program is designed to help dancers build practical career skills, explore new professional pathways, and prepare for long-term success both within and beyond the performing arts.
The program combines paid internship opportunities for company dancers with seminar experiences open to company dancers, apprentices, trainees, school students, and select teachers and staff. Seminar topics for the 2026–27 season will include nutrition, injury prevention, sports psychology, and personal finance, reflecting a holistic approach to supporting dancers as artists, athletes, and professionals.
Coordinated by James Cunningham, a professional dancer with 18 years of experience, including seven seasons with Grand Rapids Ballet, the initiative brings together mentorship, hands-on learning, and organizational collaboration. Cunningham also serves on the faculty of Grand Rapids Ballet School and is working with leadership across the organization to create meaningful opportunities for dancers to learn from staff members in administration, marketing, advancement, education, and production.
“I’m excited to be an engineer of this new professional development program at Grand Rapids Ballet,” Cunningham said. “I’m proud to be part of an organization that is beginning to invest in its dancers and help set them up for success beyond their performing careers.”
The inaugural internship cohort highlights the many directions a dancer’s professional skills can lead. Natalia Garcia, serving as an administrative intern, will work with CEO Leah Voigt and members of the administrative team on projects connected to the Board of Directors, school leadership, artistic administration, and community impact. Garcia said the experience will help her better understand “the behind-the-scenes work of an arts organization” and how ballet connects with the broader community.
Marketing and communications internships will give Wade Mesecar and Nigel Tau hands-on experience in audience engagement. Mesecar is helping organize social media systems, plan content, and highlight new company dancers, while Tau is contributing to website modernization and accessibility. Tau described the program as “a stellar opportunity to pick up skills we otherwise might not have while simultaneously giving our staff some sorely needed breathing room.”
In advancement and engagement, William Wisneskey is working with Senior Director Chris Jabin on donor outreach, subscriber renewal, and research for recurring giving. With experience in accounting, data, statistics, and programming, Wisneskey sees the internship as a way to support the art form he loves while exploring future opportunities in arts administration and development.
Other internships deepen artistic, educational, and production skills. Talia Lebowitz is working in wardrobe and costuming with costume shop manager Ronald Altman, learning sewing and wardrobe techniques while supporting costume builds for the company and school. Yuka Oba-Muschiana and Rowan Allegra are serving as artistic and Grand Rapids Ballet School interns, drawing on performance, teaching, and choreographic experience to support students.
Together, these internships mark a meaningful expansion of how Grand Rapids Ballet invests in its artists. The Professional Development Program recognizes that dancers bring discipline, creativity, collaboration, resilience, and curiosity to every part of the organization—and that those strengths can open doors to careers in administration, marketing, advancement, education, production, wellness, and leadership.
By building career readiness into the company experience, Grand Rapids Ballet is helping dancers prepare not only for the next performance, but also for the next chapter of their professional lives.
