Enhanced Capital is proud to help Collage Dance Collective (“Collage”) grow by providing an investment through federal New Markets Tax Credits to build a new state-of-the-art facility. Collage is a Black-owned ballet company and dance school in Memphis, TN, that has dramatically impacted children’s lives through professional ballet training since its founding in 2006. Collage’s programs teach children from all socioeconomic backgrounds ballet through a unified curriculum inspired by various classical techniques.
Completed in December 2020, the new Collage Center is 22,500 sq feet. The new facility is ten times larger than the former facility and doubles the on-site training capacity, making it the largest Black-owned ballet school in the South and one of the country’s largest. Collage aims to position itself as a cultural anchor for the community by offering accessible ballet instruction, celebrating diversity, hosting engaging events, and housing the city’s first professional full-time ballet company of color. Collage expects to create 31 full-time jobs, and 60% of those jobs will go to low-income persons. The construction and development of the building will create nearly 80 temporary full-time jobs.
“We are honored to play a role in a project dedicated to building relationships between artists, students, and communities,” said Catherine Blume, Vice President at Enhanced Capital. “Collage is an exceptional organization that will improve Memphis’s historic Binghampton community through revitalization and enriching programs for the arts and for those affected by systematic poverty issues.”
Of the estimated 245,000 children in the Memphis area, nearly half of them are without access or exposure to the arts. Half of Collage students receive some level of scholarship, of which 80% are children of color, and 40% are children from low-income families. Through its inclusive training program, company performances, and community-based initiatives, Collage strives to build stronger communities and lasting impact.
“We are humbled by Enhanced Capital’s partnership on this project and their support of the communities we serve. This monumental, groundbreaking first-of-its-kind facility will not only enhance our city but will be a national leader in making ballet and the fine arts more diverse and accessible,” said Marcellus Harper, Executive Director and Co-Founder of Collage.
The new Collage Center can hold an array of exciting events and expects to welcome the public in the summer of 2021.
About Collage Dance Collective, Inc.
Positioning itself as the largest Black-owned ballet company in the South, Collage Dance has worked to inspire the growth and diversity of ballet by showcasing a repertoire of relevant choreography and world-class dancers representative of our community. The professional company, Collage Dance Collective has presented eleven full-length seasons in Memphis, plus national and international touring presenting a diverse range of classical and contemporary choreography. Its institutional arm, the Collage Dance Conservatory, trains more kids of color in a classical art form than any other non-profit in Memphis or the Mid-South. In December 2020, Collage opened a 22,000 sq. ft. state-of-the-art facility to expand its programming, training and impact. The work of Collage Dance Collective has been featured in media outlets including Huffington Post, Allure, Yahoo!, The Commercial Appeal, Afropunk, Dance Magazine and Pointe Magazine.