Carlisle Project

Pennsylvania Ballet Company founder Barbara Weisberger founded the Carlisle Project in 1984 as a center for the professional development of choreographers and dancers. Based in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, the project's national program paired choreographers and dancers together in a relaxed, supportive environment designed to nurture creativity in choreography, especially in classical ballet.

According to their 1993 brochure, the Carlisle Project sought to answer "the need to provide a commercially unpressured environment in which service to the creative aspects of the art form and the development of artists are the paramount concerns." The project saw its primary responsibility to "provide time, resources, and mentorship to gifted, committed choreographers and dancers," which was accomplished through workshops, resident choreographer fellowships, and showcases of works-in-progress.

The Carlisle Project suspended its operation in 1996, but retained its status as a nonprofit organization. At that time the organization was entrusted to its founder and artistic director, Barbara Weisberger.

From the guide to the Carlisle Project records, 1984-1998, (The New York Public Library. Jerome Robbins Dance Division.)