Christopher Nourse at an ‘Ashton Rediscovered’ masterclass. ©Frederick Ashton Foundation, 2024.
The Frederick Ashton Foundation today announces that Christopher Nourse, a co-founder with Tony Dyson and Jeanetta Laurence of the Foundation, and its first Executive Director, is to retire at the end of the year, bringing to a conclusion a 50-year career in dance administration. He will then join the Board of Trustees. Christopher set up the Foundation in 2011, having been asked by The Royal Ballet to explore how the Ashton Trust might more effectively deliver its mission to safeguard the legacy of Frederick Ashton. Under his leadership, the Foundation has become the ‘go to’ organisation for all matters relating to Frederick Ashton and his ballets, and it now manages all but seven ballets in the Ashton catalogue.
Sarah Eliot-Cohen, former Royal Ballet School Head of Development, is appointed as the new Executive Director of the Foundation. Sarah is currently a Trustee of the Foundation and will transfer from the Board of Trustees to work alongside Christopher until the end of the year, becoming Executive Director on 1 January 2025.