For Susan and Jeff Campbell, supporting the Vail Valley Foundation represents the intersection of lifelong passions for dance and music, community connection, and transformative philanthropy. As longtime donors to the VVF, with a particular focus on the Vail Dance Festival and Vilar Performing Arts Center, the Campbells believe that giving back means far more than sustaining beautiful performances. It means building bridges across a diverse community, exposing new audiences to life-changing experiences, and ensuring that world-class dance and music thrives.
A Family Home and a Passion for the Arts
The Campbells' connection to the Vail Valley began 20 years ago when they purchased a house in Beaver Creek. As life subsequently took them from Dallas to London, San Francisco, and New York City, their Vail Valley home remained the one constant.
"Through all of those moves, every holiday and free minute was spent with the family skiing and mountain biking in the Vail Valley," Jeff recalls. "If you were to ask our three now-adult children, they would all say this is really the family
home."
Their love for the mountains runs deep and began early. Jeff’s family had a small and remote mountain cabin in Southern Utah where he would listen to Dan Fogelberg and John Denver sing of the magic of the Colorado mountains, dreaming he might one day live there. Susan’s father worked as a National Park Service naturalist in Big Basin, Big Sur and Kings Canyon National Parks, with the family living in the parks in the summers. When Jeff retired in 2024, making the Vail Valley their permanent home was a natural choice.
What drew them here initially was the landscape and recreation, but what kept them connected was the arts. Susan's passion for dance — particularly ballet and choreography — began as a young girl and has remained steadfast throughout her life, while Jeff worked professionally as a musician in his early adulthood. When they met in San Francisco in their late 20s, both older students finishing college, they bonded over their shared alternative journeys, beginning a romance that would ultimately lead them to become deeply involved in supporting the arts in the Vail Valley and across the country.
Discovering the Vail Dance Festival
Nearly two decades ago, Susan attended the Vail Dance Festival for the first time. The experience was revelatory.
"Everything about the festival was amazing,” Susan reflects. “I was just blown away. I couldn't believe that we had such great dance in this small mountain community."
Susan was so moved by the experience that, after returning to her then-home in San Francisco, she began donating to the Festival. When she returned the following summer, she says the VVF's development team helped broaden her circle of friends amongst the many patrons of the Dance Festival. Susan’s passion for and knowledge of dance across the country soon brought her on to the Vail Dance Festival Committee, and then to the role of Chairing the Dance Committee.
Susan views the role as a transformative opportunity to bring together and support the many dance communities she built as she moved from city to city.
The impact has extended far beyond the Vail Dance Festival. The Campbells now support philanthropic causes nationwide: Susan sits on the Board of the New York City Ballet in addition to the VVF; and Jeff sits on the Board of The Julliard School in addition to his various corporate board roles. They give to the VVF and many organizations across the Vail Valley.
A Deep Appreciation for Dance
The Campbells believe the Vail Dance Festival's distinctiveness lies in its innovative approach to programming. Rather than presenting companies performing their standard repertoire, the Festival takes a collaborative approach that assembles the world's best dancers in unexpected combinations, pushing the dancers and helping them to grow.
"Not only do they get the best dancers anywhere, but they bring them together in different ways," Susan says. "At most festivals, a company just comes and performs what they always perform, but here you get to see newly choreographed pieces, and you get to see dancers performing all kinds of work they've never done before."
For Susan, supporting dance goes beyond personal passion; it is about ensuring the art form's survival. "My goal is to keep ballet relevant and moving forward," she says. "I try to give to organizations that I feel will grow the audience for ballet and dance in general, so it won't die out. And the Vail Dance Festival is really doing that.”
The Campbells are equally committed to making dance accessible to everyone through the Festival’s Community Arts Access program, which provides free and discounted tickets throughout the Festival, as well as free performances such as Dancing in the Park in Avon and Dancing in the Streets pop-ups in Vail.
"The arts are transformative in people's lives. They're uplifting and they bring us together because no matter what your beliefs are, everyone can access and relate to them," Susan says. "Being exposed to things that you don't normally get exposed to can be life altering."
Beyond Ballet: A Force for Community Connection
Beyond the artistic excellence, the Campbells have found that their involvement with the VVF has woven them into the fabric of the Vail Valley in unexpected and meaningful ways.
"It has provided us with community," Susan says. “You go to all these events, and you meet people, and then you see them over and over.”
While the Campbells' primary passion is the arts, they appreciate that the VVF's impact reaches every corner of the valley. Jeff sees the organization playing a crucial role in addressing one of the valley's greatest challenges: bridging divides.
"Resort communities worldwide struggle with trying to create communities across the range of tourists, second homeowners, and people who live and work there full time," he says. "The Vail Valley Foundation is very unique for its multiple tentacles into the community and its culture of seeing itself as a convener across a lot of organizations. Whether you're a 22-year-old living here because you want to ski, or a second homeowner who shows up 10 days a year, the VVF is trying to bridge those two worlds and keep them benefiting from the existence of the other as opposed to being at odds."
For the Campbells, this work—and their role in supporting it— offers profound fulfillment. "Whatever your passion or interest is, it gives you community. It gives your life meaning and purpose,” Susan says.
Through their leadership and generosity, Susan and Jeff Campbell are helping ensure that the VVF continues to enrich lives across Eagle County—bringing world-class artistry to the mountains, creating access for all, and building the kind of vibrant, connected community where everyone, from year-round residents to occasional visitors, can find their place.
