Struggling Orlando Ballet Hires Former Kennedy Center President

The former president of the Kennedy Center is now on board to help save the financially struggling Orlando Ballet.

The Orlando Sentinel reports Michael M. Kaiser began consulting with the ballet earlier this month. He left Kennedy Center in August and is also the chairman of the DeVos Institute of Arts Management at the University of Maryland.

Sibille Pritchard, a former ballet board chair who is leading the turnaround effort, says they're confident he'll help the organization.

Before Christmas, the ballet cut back on performances of ``The Nutcracker'' and severed ties with interim director James Cundiff, its sixth leader in six years.

Kaiser oversaw a major renovation at the Kennedy Center.

Pritchard declined to say how much Kaiser's institute was charging the ballet, or how it would be paid.