Ballets Russes Arts Initiative is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization that fosters creative exchange and projects in the visual and performing arts and film. The organization was inspired by the example of Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, an international performing company that toured Europe and the US between 1909 and 1929, bringing together creatives from Eastern and Western Europe and even the US to creative innovative and impactful productions that revolutionized dance, music, visual art and film. BRAI presents collaborative, creative, and educational programming by building institutional partnerships with museums, performing companies, universities, and individual art-makers. One of its areas of focus has been on the post-Soviet States and Eastern Europe (which we describe together as Eurasia). Based in Boston, Massachusetts, it carries out public programming and outreach events throughout Massachusetts, New England and the East Coast, as well as internationally. Its BR360 Membership program also offers exclusive experiences in the Boston area.

To foster creative exchange and connect communities in the United States and Eurasia through the arts that embodied the creativity of the Ballets Russes: visual and performing arts and film.

Inspired by the innovative and international legacy of the original Ballets Russes performing company, BRAI strives to connect American audiences to the widest range of challenging, thought-provoking, creative and educational programs and events, and to foster partnerships regionally, across the USA and internationally.

Executive Director, Anna Winestein
Chairman, Raoul Alcala
Nirjhar Chatterjee
Treasurer, George Gagliardi
Stephen McCarthy
Chairman Emeritus, Peter Rand
Kent dur Russell
Jeffrey Sexton
Bronson de Stadler
Maria Yulikova

Director of Community Engagement:
J. Andrés Ballesteros

Artist In Residence:
Paulius Pancekauskas

The inspiration behind BRAI is a legendary performing company with roots in the Russian empire (not just Russia itself, but Ukraine, Belorussia, Poland, Georgia and elsewhere) that flowered in Europe and became a unique example of international collaboration and cultural exchange, transforming the aesthetic environment of modern life. Between 1909 and 1929 this troupe loosely based in France crossed aesthetic and national boundaries, awakening audiences to a new artistic vision, spurring innovation in various art forms and helping build up ballet companies, schools, and audiences all around the world.

In May 2009 the Ballets Russes Cultural Partnership (as BRAI was then known) presented the Ballets Russes 2009 festival, which honored the artistic innovations and lasting influence of the Ballets Russes on Western culture. The only festival of its kind in the US, it explored all of the art forms influenced by the Ballets Russes, and brought together in Boston participant institutions such as Boston Ballet, the Boston Pops, Boston University, New England Conservatory, the Somerset Club and more, as well as individuals from throughout the Northeast as well as Europe, Russia, Lithuania and beyond. The program of events included dance and musical performance, exhibitions, films, an academic conference, a ball and other activities. The festival was incubated within Boston University and spun out as an independent entity in March 2009, when it became clear that it would be viable to continue beyond the original project as a sustained organization. It received 501 (c) (3) status from the IRS in 2011. Since 2010, BRAI has continued to present events in Boston and elsewhere in the US, including film festivals, chamber music concerts, dance and theater performances, panel discussions and more, and has carried out several exhibitions at museums and universities.

BRAI aspires to be a broker of innovative collaboration between arts institutions and audiences in the independent states created out of the former Soviet Union, and in the US (as well as other countries), leading to exchange of ideas and developing greater cultural understanding between people. In facilitating international projects in the visual and performing arts, BRAI strives to enrich the arts and disseminate novel ideas and approaches that lead to cultural flowering and harmonious international dialogue. Inspired by the innovative and international aesthetic legacy of the Ballets Russes, BRAI was founded in 2007 to broaden the cross-border sharing of cultural riches by addressing two challenges that hinder successful engagement: underdeveloped institutional and personal relationships, as well as arts institutions that are burdened with multiple objectives. BRAI serves the general public as well as students, scholars and seniors, focusing its energies not only on major metropolitan but satellite communities.

50 Milk St, 16th Floor, Boston, MA 02109