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The Apogee Foundation is an international non-profit organization dedicated to the development of human excellence in the performing arts. It supports cultural institutions and individual artists, providing administrative, promotional and financial assistance to help the world's most talented people achieve their full potential and to showcase their achievements on the world stage. The Foundation's President, Kenneth Schneider, established the Foundation in 1997 while working in Moscow as an international financial attorney in response to the implosion of financial and human resources in the former Soviet Union's performing arts training systems occurring at that time.

As an organization created by an American lawyer working in Russia, the Foundation developed a particular focus on East-West dynamics. It describes these dynamics as "synergizing the cultural genius of the East with the economic ingenuity of the West and the human potential of the emerging world with the technological dynamism of the developed world." Following its first five years of operations in the Soviet-American context, the Foundation incorporated in New York as a 501(c)(3) public charity and expanded its geographical coverage to all of Eastern Europe and Asia on the one hand and to Western Europe and the Americas on the other. During its tenth year of operations, Apogee also formed a strategic partnership with Aurience Limited, an international media & technology firm, to promote excellence in the performing arts through film and television, interactive technologies, recorded media and live event productions.

Apogee now operates from three regional headquarters in New York, London and Tokyo which oversee the Foundation's work in 14 performing arts capitals throughout America, Europe and Asia.

Apogee provides Excellence Awards, Regional Awards and Performance Awards to performing arts students, professionals and instructors who are deemed capable of achieving "the apogee of human potential" in their fields. Awards include various levels of financial and promotional support, as well as opportunities to participate in Apogee branded training and performance programs around the world (see below).

• Excellence Awards are the Foundation's most prestigious form of recognition. They are awarded to individuals who have proven themselves to have extraordinary talent in achieving or enabling others to achieve "the apogee of human excellence" in the performing arts.

• Regional Awards are awarded to performing arts students from designated geo-political regions in order to promote local awareness and development of performing arts training and to offer high potential candidates opportunities for international support and recognition.

• Performance Awards are provided at international performing arts events to provide recognition and support for participants whose talents and conduct manifest "the apogee of human excellence" in the performing arts.

Through its Artists in Residence program, Apogee also promotes composers, choreographers, authors, directors and designers, commissioning them to develop original performance art for Foundation programs.

Once beneficiaries are identified and selected through Apogee's awards programs, the Foundation also makes available training, performance and promotional opportunities to assist them in fulfilling their potential on the world stage. These include:

• Apogee Artists programs, including performing arts events held around the world and production of original performance art by the Foundation's Artists in Residence
• Apogee Academy programs, including the Foundation's Fusion Programs and Synergy Programs.
  • Apogee's Fusion Programs are designed to integrate world best methodologies from the arts and sciences to help performing artists achieve their fullest potential. They are implemented in two divisions: Artistic Development and Peak Performance
    • The Artistic Development division employs professionals in the arts and education to help performers expand their capacity for artistic awareness and expression
    • The Peak Performance division employs professionals in the physical and mental sciences to help artists maximize their performance abilities
  • Apogee's Synergy Programs are designed to offer artists from cultures which have experienced conflict the opportunity for mutually empowering collaboration. The contexts in which Synergy Programs have been developed and run include East-West political conflicts such as Soviet-American collaborations, as well as East-West religious conflicts such as Muslim-Jewish collaborations
• Inventory Programs which provide elite performing artists and the institutions responsible for furthering their careers with the instruments and costumes as well as training, health and administrative materials, supplies and equipment necessary for gifted performing artists to achieve their full potential.

Apogee also makes grants available to institutions to further the following aims:

• Sponsoring the creative work and development of high potential beneficiaries by providing Student Scholarships, Artist Fellowships, Instructor Masterships, and Institutional Partnerships
• Promoting training and performance opportunities as well as facilities and technologies which can be expected to provide a high yield of return in "achieving the potential of human excellence in the performing arts"
• Commissioning and supporting advances in methodologies and management as well as research and reform activities conducted within the Foundation's spheres of interest

The Foundation also assists public and private sponsors of performing arts institutions to maximize the value and impact of their funding through its Apogee Consulting division.

• Official website of The Apogee Foundation
• Official website of Apogee World Scholar laureate Vadim Muntagirov: an example of a website maintained by the Foundation for its student beneficiaries
• Official website of Apogee Rising Star Award laureate Roman Zavarov: an example of a website maintained by the Foundation for its artist beneficiaries
• Official website of Apogee Achievement Award laureate Nikolai Dokukin: an example of a website maintained by the Foundation for its instructor beneficiaries
• Official website of Apogee's media & technology partner Aurience Limited