Hartford Business Journal

HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | August 1, 2022 19 year, but will have room for potentially several hundred at the new Farmington location. The biggest room in the new facility is large enough for in-studio productions, said Manning, who joined NEBT as a dancer during its inaugural season but was open to running the school because she's always been passionate about teaching. "I love teaching and training the next generation, so we started and ran with it," Manning said. "We're really trying to reach all ages and make ballet a lot more accessible for everybody." Gnatowski said dance companies like NEBT rely on grants and donations to put on their shows — ticket sales don't cover all expenses. While it's a nonprofit, NEBT pays all its professional dancers, choreographers and others associated with the productions, on top of renting venues. "That's why a lot of nonprofits have a school attached — hopefully some of the revenue that you make from the school can go back into those big productions," Gnatowski said. NEBT's Development Manager and Costume Director Fiona Connolly handles grant writing, fundraising and business outreach sponsorship efforts. She is also a costume designer. "That money is always going into making our shows bigger, to make the costumes better, to buy set pieces, backdrops, or hire guest choreographers," Connolly said. "It's always to make our productions and school offerings bigger and better." Connolly also makes all of the outfits used in the productions, another unique element at NEBT. The new costume shop will provide a place to create her designs, she said. "It's definitely been a lot, starting like a brand new company with pretty much nothing in the costume closet, but it's been super exciting for me to just be able to start from scratch and whatever my vision is for a particular part in a particular show, I can just make it happen," Connolly said. Connolly, who is also a performer, said it was never in her initial plan to get into costume design, but she fell in love with the craft while studying at Butler University. "It's pretty unique that we have a costume shop — not every company gets to have one of those," Gnatowski said. The nonprofit also plans to hire a community outreach coordinator. More dancers and administrators could be brought on down the road. "That's the next focus as things start to open up — we definitely want to develop the community outreach side more," Gnatowski said. bankatpeoples.com From smarter cash flow solutions to local bankers and decision making, we find ways to simplify business for customers. Business banking just got less complicated. Member FDIC/Member DIF Purchase a group subscription for your team or entire organization. Get access to HBJ for your entire team! EMAIL>> CIRCULATION@HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM FOR MORE INFORMATION

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