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In Your Words
A Beacon for
the Arts Community
Remembering Dianne Kipnes
Philanthropy is driven by deep connections to meaningful causes, and
Edmonton Community Foundation (ECF) shares many. Dr. Dianne Kipnes,
who passed away in December, leaves a remarkable legacy alongside
her husband Irv. As one of Edmonton’s most influential philanthropists,
she helped transform the city through endowments at ECF, supporting
Edmonton Opera, the Edmonton Jewish Charitable Community Foundation,
Nina Haggerty Centre for the Arts and Ballet Edmonton.
Dianne Kipnes
DIANNE’S LEGACY IS one of leadership, passion and humanity. She led the way for
others to become part of Edmonton’s philanthropic community through ECF.
I admired Dianne. She shared wisdom and encouragement that had a
significant impact on me. I first met her back in 2004. A few years later, she
and I chatted about how Lynn Mandel had roped me into helping a small,
Edmonton-based ballet company, Citie Ballet, now Ballet Edmonton.
The Dianne and Irving Kipnes Foundation’s philanthropy is the reason Ballet
Edmonton exists. In 2012, with the support of several people, the little pre-
professional company became a fully professional, resident ballet company
for Edmonton. Irv and Dianne hosted a fundraiser where I told a crowd of their
friends about the vision for our city to have its own ballet company.
Fast forward to 2017 and the company was growing, becoming known as
a company to watch. But cash was not keeping up. One February morning, I
gathered up the courage to email Dianne to ask if she and Irv could help. She
phoned me immediately. Within days she made arrangements for a cash gift
which she described as an advance on what they planned to give over the next
few years. It saved the company.
In March 2023, Ballet Edmonton was presented to the nation at the National
Arts Centre in Ottawa. As I walked to the theatre for the performance that
evening, I looked up at the Kipnes Lantern. There on the screen was a message
welcoming Ballet Edmonton to the stage. All of this, because Dianne believed in
the arts. And she believed in people.
Her passing is such a big loss for her family and for our city. But Dianne’s
positive, generous impact on so many people will live on. Of that, I am sure.
Trudy Callaghan
Chair, Board of Directors, Ballet Edmonton
Trudy Callaghan is the chair of
the board of directors of Ballet
Edmonton. Established in 1998
as Citie Ballet, the company
was able to become a fully
professional, contemporary
ballet company in 2012 with
a social impact investment
from ECF through its Social
Enterprise Fund. Over the years,
the dance company has also
been the recipient of several
ECF project grants. Further,
with the assistance of ECF staff,
Callaghan worked with Ballet
Edmonton staff and other board
members when local donor
and supporter Charles MacKay
came forward to help establish
an ECF endowment fund for
Ballet Edmonton.
Have you seen an act of generosity in the ECF philanthropy community you’d like to share?
Contact us at info@ecf.ca and we can help share your story of charitable giving.
6 Together we thrive