It is the mission of the Scripps Ballet Theatre to provide pre-professional ballet dancers with the opportunity to perform original classical and contemporary works while educating young audiences throughout their local community about the strength, tenacity and relevance of ballet in the 21st century.

While dancers from any school are welcome to audition for The Scripps Ballet Theatre, the official school of the Scripps Ballet Theatre is The Scripps Performing Arts Academy (SPAA). The Scripps Performing Arts Academy is a training facility that offers comprehensive training for dancers of all ages. Selected SPAA students are often invited to participate in Scripps Ballet Theatre productions. SPAA and SBT work together twice a year to put on The Nutcracker and the All School June Performance. The carefully designed curriculum of SPAA provides all serious dance students with the skills they need to be successful young people, whether they desire to dance professionally or not.

Formally organized in August 2010, Scripps Ballet Theatre is a Non-Profit 501(c)3 organization.