Presidio Performing Arts Foundation

Presidio Performing Arts Foundation

Formation	1998
Founders	Judy G. Bretschneider; Robert C. Leefeldt; Nancy Johnson; Jeanne Shimmon
Type	Nonprofit arts-education organization
Focus	Dance education; youth development; cultural diplomacy
Location	San Francisco, California, U.S.
Key people	Sherene Melania (executive and artistic director); Shauna L. Marshall (board chair)
Website	https://presidiodance.org/

Presidio Performing Arts Foundation (PPAF) is a nonprofit arts-education organization in San Francisco, California, that uses dance to provide arts education and youth development for underserved young people in the Bay Area. Founded in 1998, the foundation runs a free after-school dance program called DanceOut! and, since 2005, a performance company and school, Presidio Dance Theatre (PDT), through which it is widely known; the company is recognized for a style it calls ethno-classical ballet that blends classical dance with folk traditions from many cultures. The organization frames its work around social justice and cultural diplomacy, and it is led by executive and artistic director Sherene Melania.

History

The Presidio Performing Arts Foundation was founded in 1998 by arts patrons Judy G. Bretschneider, Robert C. Leefeldt, Nancy Johnson, and Jeanne Shimmon, who saw arts education as a way to address disadvantages faced by underserved children. It began as an after-school arts-enrichment program in partnership with the San Francisco Unified School District. According to Melania, her mother, Bretschneider, resolved to start the nonprofit while undergoing treatment for breast cancer, after a nurse's singing lifted her spirits.

In 2005, Bretschneider's daughter, Sherene Melania — a ballerina and choreographer who trained at the San Francisco Ballet, the Kirov Academy in Washington, D.C., and in St. Petersburg, Russia — established Presidio Dance Theatre as the foundation's primary performance company and school. Melania worked alongside her mother until Bretschneider's death in 2018. Over the years the organization has faced setbacks common to arts nonprofits; the San Francisco Chronicle reported that it lost its longtime space in the Presidio amid the Doyle Drive reconstruction, leading to a lengthy legal dispute and a contraction of its annual budget, and that the COVID-19 pandemic forced its classes online.

Programs and performances

The foundation's outreach program, DanceOut!, provides free, culturally focused dance-based after-school education at schools and community sites in San Francisco, in partnership with the school district and the YMCA. The organization has said its programs, including its annual Children's Day performances at the San Francisco War Memorial Opera House, have reached large numbers of Bay Area students; a 2021 account put the figure at about 120,000 children, while the foundation later reported more than 280,000. The foundation also states that a large majority of DanceOut! students are the first in their families to attend college.

Presidio Dance Theatre, the foundation's adult and youth company, performs original productions in what it describes as an ethno-classical ballet style and has toured internationally, including on Sister City exchanges on behalf of San Francisco, to countries such as Ireland, Greece, France, Russia, and Italy. Its New Works Series emphasizes women's stories and social-justice themes; for its 25th-anniversary season in 2023, the company presented a program honoring the women of Iran, reflecting Melania's Iranian heritage, and it has regularly built its children's programming around Norouz, the Persian New Year. In 2026, the foundation announced a new initiative, the Global Institute of Justice Through Arts, combining creative training, leadership development, and workforce preparation for youth locally and internationally.

Leadership

Sherene Melania is the foundation's executive and artistic director. Of Assyrian and Armenian heritage with family from Iran, she trained as a dancer in the United States and Russia, holds a bachelor's degree from the University of San Francisco and a master's in education from Harvard University, served as a San Francisco Arts Commissioner for 12 years, and in 2019 was named founding president of the Western U.S. chapter of UNESCO's International Dance Council. The foundation's board is chaired by Shauna L. Marshall, a law professor emerita, and its advisers have included former San Francisco mayor Willie Brown, a longtime supporter of DanceOut!. The organization has received recognition including being named San Francisco Weekly's best dance company and a U.S. State Department award for cultural diplomacy through dance; its co-founder Judy Bretschneider received a Jefferson Award for public service.