September 14, 2006 | Read Time: 7 minutes
When Andrea Dillenburg, marketing director at the Nashville Ballet, followed her husband to his new job and moved to Atlanta in 1999, she figured she’d see Music City again only as a visitor.
In the years that followed, Ms. Dillenburg, now 44, worked as a fund raiser at the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and the Alliance Theatre, but she kept in touch with the ballet by donating money and occasionally driving four hours each way to watch performances.
Ms. Dillenburg’s continued interest in the now 21-year-old company partly stemmed from her relationship with several of the ballet’s founders, whose dedication she admired.
“It wasn’t just a place to work; it was their place to work,” she says. “That kind of heart you almost cannot define in terms of caring.”
In July, Ms. Dillenburg started work as the ballet’s executive director, a job that has given her a chance to rejoin the close group and head her own staff. She takes charge of an annual budget of $2.5-million, and will be expected to help raise $1.8-million over the next several years for a new Nutcracker production.
The organization plucked Ms. Dillenburg from a line of 15 applicants because of her respect for the company’s artistic director, Paul Vasterling, and her experience raising money, says Claire W. Tucker, president of the ballet’s board and a senior vice president of FirstBank, in Nashville.
“In Nashville there are many, many hands out in terms of the cultural community and the philanthropic opportunities one has to give,” says Ms. Tucker. “We had to have someone comfortable in that arena, and she knows the story we have to tell.”
Ms. Dillenburg, who says her salary is around $80,000, attributes her smooth transition to her past experience there and the fact she stayed abreast of personnel and other changes at the organization. Such knowledge has enabled her to act quickly: She has already hired two new staff members (bringing the total to six employees) and found a trustee to help refine the board’s nomination process.
While Ms. Dillenburg says her new job is “like coming home,” a career managing arts groups was not her original plan. Growing up in Krookston, Minn. (population 9,000), she sang in the school choir and played several instruments, including cello and piano.
“It’s cold up there,” she says. “You’ve got to have hobbies.”
But the arts remained a hobby while she considered law school. Disenchanted after an internship at a law firm, Ms. Dillenburg abandoned her plans and enrolled in a master’s program at American University, in Washington, that trained her to be an arts administrator. She later worked for a handful of arts groups, doing a wide range of tasks, such as payroll accounting and raising money from big donors.
At every step throughout her career, Ms. Dillenburg says, she has learned something she will put into practice at the ballet.
For example, at Ford’s Theatre, in Washington, where she promoted the institution and its plays to large groups such as schools and civic organizations, she gained an appreciation for customer service, racing to pick up the phone when it rang. At the ballet, Ms. Dillenburg hopes to hire an employee to personally answer the phone — service is currently automated for calls to the main number — and interact with subscribers and donors.
“People really do want human contact,” she says. “It’s about letting people know they are important to us.”
In addition to making patrons and donors feel appreciated, Ms. Dillenburg hopes to do the same for her small staff, which has a big challenge in reaching the ballet’s goals.
She plans to emulate one of her mentors, Allison Vulgamore, president of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, who comes to work crackling with energy and motivates her employees in positive ways, says Ms. Dillenburg. And her own broad experience in arts administration gives her perspective on how time-consuming many seemingly simple tasks can be, she says.
“Having done their jobs at some point, I understand it’s never just a letter, it’s never just a phone call,” she says. “I can acknowledge that and give them adequate time and notice and it makes for a better environment to work in.”
In an interview, Ms. Dillenburg spoke about her new position:
Are you knowledgeable about ballet?
I subscribed to the Nashville Ballet the year before the marketing job at the ballet came open because I didn’t know anything about ballet. Now I could tell you what a pretty foot looks like — one with a beautiful arc that creates a lovely line with the leg when the dancer is on pointe. I am by no means an expert. But that is not what my job requires. My job requires that I believe in the ballet and the mission we have here.
Is it hard to build support for dance in a country-music town?
I bet if you talked to any ballet company, they’d say it’s really hard to build an audience for dance no matter where you are. A lot of people in their lives had experience playing an instrument, singing, maybe acting in a school play. Dance is the rarest opportunity for people to learn in terms of having grown up with it, having a dance program at your school. People also think they need to know more than they really do in order to enjoy dance. You don’t need to know anything about dance to come and enjoy it. We do collaborate with local songwriters here. This winter we are doing two ballets set to live country music.
Do you think it will be difficult to raise money for the ballet?
We have some amazing supporters out there. I would like to concentrate on getting more gifts under $1,000 and I’m looking into hiring a telefundraising company I worked with at the Alliance Theatre for that. But being a music city means people have a great appreciation of music of all kinds, and dance is part of that. We’ve been pretty successful. It’s a healthy company.
What are your goals for the ballet?
I’m still in the evaluating stage. I would like to grow the school, which is affiliated with the ballet and offers training for children and adults, because it provides a foundation for consistent income. I’d like to work on board development and leadership. On my wish list is hiring two more people, one for annual giving and another for bookkeeping at the school. I’d also like to broaden our base of donors and sell more tickets.
Do you miss anything about working at a large arts group?
I’m glad I had an opportunity to work at those large organizations. You can see what you might be aspiring to at a smaller one. But at a small organization, it’s tighter-knit. It’s a stronger personal commitment to the institution as a whole.
ABOUT ANDREA DILLENBURG, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE NASHVILLE BALLET
Education: Graduated with bachelor’s degrees in economics and music from Gustavus Adolphus College, in St. Peter, Minn. Completed studies toward a master’s degree in performing-arts management from American University, in Washington.
Previous experience: Served as director of development at the Alliance Theatre, in Atlanta, from 2002 to 2006 and director of corporate relations at the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, from 1999 to 2002. Ms. Dillenburg was marketing director at the Nashville Ballet from 1997 to 1999, and previously worked as the sales and promotions manager at the Tennessee Repertory Theatre, in Nashville, and for several cultural groups in Washington, including Ford’s Theatre, where she held ticket-sales and marketing jobs.
Favorite ballet: Serenade, by George Balanchine
Favorite country music artists: Alison Krauss, Jo Dee Messina
What she’s reading: Snakes in Suits: When Psychopaths Go to Work, by Paul Babiak and Robert D. Hare
