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The Joan and Jerry Lozinski Artistic Director
January 1, 2022

“As we’ve become more involved with the National Ballet, we have enjoyed a powerful feeling of engagement that comes from knowing we belong to something important. We wanted to make a gift that would allow the company to realize its artistic goals and continue to inspire audiences with the power of dance for generations to come.”
Joan & Jerry Lozinski

The role of Artistic Director of The National Ballet of Canada has been endowed for the first time in history thanks to a landmark gift from our close friends and supporters, Joan and Jerry Lozinski. Their generosity ensures that the National Ballet has secure funding for its most influential, forward-facing role and will continue to attract exceptional individuals to lead us into the future. Hope Muir's arrival coincides with this historic gift and she will be the first in the position to bear their name: Joan and Jerry Lozinski Artistic Director.

Joan and Jerry are committed and passionate donors to Canadian arts and culture and have been associated with the National Ballet for nearly four decades. In 2006, they made a significant leadership gift to the Endowment Foundation that planted the seed for the largest fundraising initiative in the company’s history, the Soaring Campaign. That initial investment, followed by their matching gift to close the campaign, inspired an incredible 890 donors to give $104 million to build the company’s artistic capital and Endowment.

Helping to care for dancers and nurture their careers has been enormously important for Joan and Jerry. In addition to being Dancers First sponsors of Principal Dancer Siphesihle November, they are actively involved with Canada’s National Ballet School, Fall for Dance North and the Dancer Transition Resource Centre. In 2018, Dance Collection Danse recognized the Lozinskis’ contribution to the dance community by inducting them into the Encore! Dance Hall of Fame.

With their gift, the National Ballet becomes the only performing arts organization in Canada with an endowed Artistic Director and one of a few ballet companies in North America with this distinction. It is a fitting testament to Joan and Jerry’s deep involvement with the company and advances their wish to leave a powerful legacy for future generations of ballet lovers. We are ever grateful for their commitment and vision.

Get to Know Hope Muir