As a tireless supporter of several cultural, philanthropic and civic endeavors, Joan H. Weill commits a great deal of her life to public service and education.
Mrs. Weill joined the Board of Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation in 1994 and has served as its Chairman since 2000. Under her leadership, the Board has developed key priorities to help the organization reach its programmatic goals and maintain a strong financial standing.
Joan, along with her husband Sandy, was instrumental in the building of the Ailey organization’s permanent home, which is named in her honor, The Joan Weill Center for Dance. The building, completed in 2004, is the largest dedicated to dance in New York City, the dance capital of the world. The Weills continued their leadership roles as co-chairs of The Next Step: The Campaign to Build Ailey’s Endowment to commemorate Ailey’s 50th anniversary in 2008 and secure the future of the organization.
Mrs. Weill has worked with great enthusiasm and heart to advocate, promote and garner support for the Ailey organization, most especially for Ailey’s innovative Arts In Education programs that reach more than 100,000 underserved youth across the country each year.
In addition, Mrs. Weill is the most recent Chair of Paul Smith’s College of the Adirondacks, having spearheaded the College’s transition from a 2-year to 4-year institution. Paul Smith’s excels in forestry, culinary arts, hospitality and life sciences, among other curricula. Mrs. Weill is Co-Chair of the Advisory Committee of the Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall, which promotes music education in classrooms around the world.
Mrs. Weill’s dedication to women’s health issues led to her appointment as Co-Chair of the New York Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center’s Women’s Health Symposium. Long an advocate for the elderly, Mrs. Weill is also an Honorary Board Member and President Emeritus of Citymeals-On-Wheels.
Mrs. Weill’s personal commitment to public service also extends to many of the activities in which Mr. Weill is involved, including the National Academy Foundation (NAF), Weill Cornell Medical College and the New York Presbyterian Hospital, where she serves on the Executive Committee of their Lying-In Hospital.
Mr. and Mrs. Weill are recipients of the 2009 Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy Award in recognition of their philanthropic efforts. Mrs. Weill is a graduate of Brooklyn College with a bachelor’s degree in elementary education.
NEW YORK, NY, October 19, 2017 — At a festive ribbon-cutting, celebrated on the evening of October 18, leaders of the Ailey organization joined with dancers, students, donors, and friends from New York City’s dance community to open The Elaine Wynn & Family Education Wing, a 10,000-square-foot expansion of Ailey’s permanent home, The Joan Weill Center for Dance.
The Board of Trustees of Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation and Executive Director Bennett Rink today announced that more than $40 million has been raised to date to cap the tremendous legacy of retiring Chairman of the Board Joan H. Weill. The unprecedented gift, led by the generosity of Sanford I. Weill, inaugurates the Campaign for Ailey’s Future to support the expansion of Ailey’s building and the extension of Ailey’s artistic and educational initiatives.
Joan H. Weill, Chairman of Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation, Inc., informed the Board of Trustees and announced today that she intends to retire at the end of this year. Mrs. Weill joined the Ailey Board in 1994, was named Chairman in 2000 and is widely acknowledged as a driving force in the growth of the entire Ailey organization over the past two decades.
It was 1994, and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater was onstage at the Apollo Theater. Backstage, word was spreading.
Joan H. Weill is going out with a bang. After her 14 years as chairwoman of the Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation and 20 years on its board, the company on Thursday evening planned to announce that more than $40 million had been raised in honor of her retirement.
On any given evening, some of the nearly 38,000 registered nonprofits in New York City - sometimes it feels like all of them - stage benefit dinner-dances, concerts, auctions, art shows, poetry readings, theater performances...