“Dance for Every Child.” Catching Up With Educator, Advocate and Philanthropist Jody Gottfried Arnhold

Jody Gottfried Arnhold

In 2013, acclaimed dance educator and philanthropist Jody Gottfried Arnhold had an idea. She wanted to bring dance education back to her alma mater, Teachers College at Columbia University, an institution that has played a pioneering role in dance education in the U.S. dating back to the early 1900s.

Conversations with college leadership led to the creation of a task force and a faculty committee to develop what became the nation’s first doctorate in dance education. “We decided to start a doctorate program because I knew that there was no opportunity for dance educators to go on past a master’s degree,” Arnhold told me.

The program was approved by the college in 2016. That same year, Jody and her husband John announced a $4.36 million gift to launch the program and advance Jody’s goal of placing a certified dance teacher in every public school in New York City. New York State accredited the program two years later.

Fast forward to the present day. The program at Teachers College, which is still believed to be the country’s only doctoral program in dance education, will welcome its fifth class this fall. But there’s just one problem. “We have a tiny little studio,” Arnhold said. “We needed more space.” And so, in early June, the Arnholds and the Arnhold Foundation announced a $5 million donation to create a new dance education research studio, bringing the couple’s combined dance-related support of Teachers College to $15 million. 

The gift’s back story serves as a reminder that big donations rarely appear like a bolt of lightning in a clear blue sky. Instead, they’re usually the byproduct of years of careful deliberation based on changing conditions and emerging needs. The Arnholds’ announcement also suggests that donors committed to cultivating and legitimizing the historically underfunded field of dance often adhere to a unifying theme to tell a larger and more cohesive story — and, in Arnhold’s case, embrace a sense of mission.

“I don’t think of myself as a philanthropist,” Arnhold said. “I think of myself as a dance educator and an advocate, and I’m most interested in organizations that advance my mission: dance for every child.”

“We’ve been able to make a dent”

The oldest of four children, Arnhold graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1965 and went on to teach dance in New York City public schools for over 25 years. In 1995, Arnhold cofounded the 92nd Street Y’s Dance Education Laboratory (DEL), a program designed to train the next generation of dance educators. 

Arnhold is the honorary chairwoman of Ballet Hispánico, which has recently netted high-profile grants from the Ford Foundation and MacKenzie Scott, and she also chairs the board of the 92nd Street Y. In 2019, the Arnholds gave the Y $5 million for an expansion project to create more studio space. 

Jody’s husband, John, is the son of banker and philanthropist Henry H. Arnhold, who established the Arnhold Foundation in 1988 and passed away in 2018. “I like to build bridges, and I saw my father-in-law do that,” Arnhold said. “I learned from him the importance of connecting people and organizations for lasting impact.”

Also in 2019, three years after establishing the doctoral program in dance education at Teachers College, the Arnholds donated $6,085,000 to the college to launch the Arnhold Institute for Dance Education Research, Policy and Leadership. Three years since the institute’s inception, Arnhold said, “We’ve been able to make a dent in the dearth of dance education, and help to raise children who are able to think critically and are compassionate and caring citizens. It’s been just the most satisfying thing that you could possibly imagine.”

Teachers College doctoral students are also making their mark. Arnhold noted that Michelle Parkins, who entered the program in 2019, was recently appointed at the University of Wisconsin-Madison to create and direct the school’s undergraduate dance education program. “When I see who’s there [at Teachers College] and what they’re doing, I have a lot of confidence in the field,” Arnhold said.

Community engagement and flexible support

By now, it should be evident that Arnhold defines dance education broadly. “It means an educator in every school,” she said, “but it also means partnerships with cultural organizations, studio and materials, and support from school leadership.”

Arnhold came to appreciate the community outreach component during her 15-year tenure teaching dance at PS 75 on the Upper West Side, and specifically cited the school’s enduring partnership with Ballet Hispánico. The troupe “appealed to me because it wasn’t just a company,” she said. “It was also a school, and it had a very important community engagement program, so that became an important model for me.”

Over time, she got to know Ballet Hispánico’s dancers and its founder, Tina Ramirez, and began providing support to the troupe. It started innocuously enough when she purchased two raffle tickets for a fundraiser many years ago. “Who knew that one day I’d be chairman of the board?” she mused.

Ballet Hispánico is currently a partner with the Teachers College doctoral program as well as the Arnhold Institute for Dance Education Research, Policy and Leadership. Looking ahead, Arnhold said that “engagement is going to happen on a whole new level” at the new 5,000-square-foot space she’s funding at Teachers College, and cited the “great support” she received from Teachers College President Dr. Thomas Bailey and Provost Dr. Stephanie Rowley for the project and the doctoral program.

Since Ballet Hispánico received an unrestricted $10 million gift from Scott and husband Dan Jewett last June, our chat inevitably turned to the issue of general operating support. Looking back on the infusion of flexible support across the performing arts field in 2020, Arnhold said it was “important for funders to realize that organizations knew how to manage that money.” She said she provides flexible funding to organizations in addition to programs that align with her interests.

“I have to be optimistic”

During our conversation, Arnhold reeled off a set of challenges that will sound depressingly familiar to anyone attuned to the dance field. “Coming back from COVID is a big challenge for everybody,” she said. “The pandemic forced organizations to rethink their business model and take a good, long look at decades of underinvestment.” 

The sector also needs a stronger pipeline for the next generation of administrators and leaders. “The pandemic caused a huge turnover, and if you are an emerging choreographer or a small organization of color, you have less access to experienced art administrators that can support your work,” Arnhold said.

Dance troupes are also grappling with retention issues as income-strapped dancers dip in and out of the field to make ends meet. As a result, “organizations are being forced to constantly restart,” Arnhold said. At the same time, she says, funders need to redouble their efforts to give artists the opportunity to “work in a supportive environment that encourages experimentation.” 

If there is a faint silver lining to the pandemic, its’s the extent to which the crisis has forced organizations to embrace remote learning and programming. But the flip side is that as audiences, students and teachers become accustomed to the Zoom experience, organizations must maintain a robust virtual presence while simultaneously pivoting back to the analog world. “The technological demands are enormous now,” Arnhold said.

Despite a formidable set of obstacles, Arnhold remains bullish on the state of the field. “I have to be optimistic because I really believe that the arts are our soul, and we have to invest in our children and through dance education,” she said. “There is no dance without dance education, and I want everybody paying attention to it.”