Gifts help send ballet abroad
When the Boston Ballet embarks on a six-week tour of Spain later this month -- its first engagement abroad in 16 years -- Pamela and John Humphrey will follow the dancers, attending just about every performance. The ballet can thank the Humphreys, along with other generous sponsors and philanthropists, for helping to launch the tour -- and so many other Boston Ballet programs.
In addition to the $2 million-plus the Humphreys have given to the ballet, John Humphrey has served as chairman of its board of trustees for 14 years. Founder and chairman of Humphrey Enterprises, a private equity business, he said he decided in the early 1970s that he wanted to help some Boston organizations, including the ballet and the Franklin Park Zoo. "I was dating Pam and she loved the ballet," he said. "I subsequently fell in love with it. It combined the educational culture with the excitement you see onstage. This exercised a different part of my mind."
Humphrey said he was able to bring his knowledge of training business leaders to a noncommercial enterprise such as the ballet company.
All three of the Humphreys' daughters went to the Boston Ballet School and danced in The Nutcracker. John Humphrey, meanwhile, was busy developing the school, helping to make it the largest in the world.
Among the ballet's activities of which he is most proud, he cites the Citydance program, which provides dance classes to inner-city children, and the Adaptive Dance Program, a cooperative venture between the ballet and the Children's Hospital Boston physical therapy department that provides innovative movement classes for children with Down syndrome.
"The ballet really has an impact on people; it's an enriching experience," said Humphrey.
He noted that "Citydance kids' grades went up after they took those classes. And the Adaptive Dance Program combines artistic excellence with community service. It demonstrates the power of not-for-profit organizations."
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