Joedy Cook, Founder and CEO
Joedy Cook, a Quad Cities native, has served as the CEO of Ballet Quad Cities since the company’s founding as a professional organization in 1996. Under her dedicated leadership, Ballet Quad Cities has grown into a regionally-renowned organization that boasts over thirty performances a year, a talented cohort of artistic and support staff, fifteen professional dancers from across the United States, and countless partnerships with community and arts organizations in Iowa and Illinois.
Ms Cook’s professional accomplishments as CEO are many and varied. She has initiated and sustained partnerships with Orchestra Iowa, Figge Art Museum, Quad City Symphony Orchestra, and The Outing Club. She has developed educational outreach programs for people of all ages and abilities including DREAMS Achieved through Dance, Dance for Life, The Ugly Duckling: A Message of Acceptance Told hrough Dance, Dance Me a Story: Exploring Literature through Ballet, and most recently, LEAP! Dance as Conversation. Favorite projects include From the Pages of a Young Girl’s Life (2004), based on the diary of Anne Frank and presented with the Jewish Federation of the Quad Cities, and One River Mississippi (2007) and All Things Dance (2008), presented with Quad City Arts.
Ms. Cook was awarded Honorary Citizen of the Year in Rock Island, IL for Education programs in Rock Island Schools. She is the recipient of the 2006 Hospitality Award from the Quad Cities Convention and Visitors Bureau and 2007 Eddy Award for Art for her involvement in “One River Mississippi. In the past five years she has been honored with awards from the Bi-State Literacy Council, Reaching Out Award; Iowa Cultural Alliance for Outstanding Partnership with Orchestra Iowa; Rock Island Organization of the Year; Royal Neighbors Nation of Neighbors Breaking Traffic; Eddy Award for The Ugly Duckling: A Message of Acceptance Told Through Dance; and the Hard Hat Celebration Award for exemplary vision, unwavering commitment and constant leadership. Currently, she sits on the board of the Holocaust Education Committee of the Quad Cities, and she was appointed to the Rock Island Art Commission by Mayor Mike Thoms.
One of her greatest pleasures is overseeing the costume and set design for each ballet.
309-786-3779