Posted February 3, 2012
Dayton, OH (February 3, 2012) – Leadership of the Dayton Ballet, Dayton Opera, and Dayton
Philharmonic announced today the planned merger into a new, non-profit performing arts organization
that spans the three separate, but related art forms.
The new organization will be called, “Dayton Performing Arts Alliance.”
“The merger of the Ballet, Opera, and Philharmonic represents some of our best collaborative thinking
as a community,” said Dick DeLon, Dayton Philharmonic Board Chair. “We are planning for future
success by creating a single management structure and business operating unit, while preserving and
promoting the integrity and identity of each of the participating arts groups. We believe this will be the
first alliance of this kind in the nation.”
According to Greg Robinson, Chairman of the Dayton Opera Association Board, the boards and
management were methodical in their approach to merger discussions and planning. “We know that
merger discussions and mergers are complicated endeavors so we took extra care in how we dealt with
each other and dealt with the merger concept,” Robinson said.
Jeremy Trahan, President of the Dayton Ballet Association Board, described both the importance of
maintaining the individual identity of the arts organizations while seeking new opportunities for artistic
collaboration. “In our planning process, we recognized that a single, stronger governing body could also
facilitate artistic collaboration in a way that had not been fully explored in our community, or even
nationally. We have the foundation now for very forward thinking in performing arts.”
Earlier this week, the merger agreement was approved individually by each of the arts organization’s
respective governing boards. The merger agreement will also be voted upon by the Dayton Ballet and
Dayton Opera associations’ memberships, per those organizations’ by-laws, at the yet-to-be-scheduled
membership meetings.