Search Nonprofits

We are a non-profit performing arts organization committed to gradual and sustainable growth in order to remain true to our core mission: to produce exciting professional live music, theatre and humanities events rooted in strong social values.

Manitou Music Foundation (MMF) is a musician guided, community-based foundation supporting the Manitou Music scene. We promote MMF musicians, promote local venues along with state and national locations. Provide communication and social media.

To preserve the historic Island Theatre complex and maintain it as a socially-welcoming facility providing enriching and entertaining experiences in the performing, cinematic and visual arts, while also offering educational and community services and drawing residents and visitors to the Main Street downtown area.

We will provide a safe and nurturing environment where children will develop musical, social, and academic skills, enabling them to explore limitless opportunities. Our goals are to: improve the life trajectories of students, encourage pride and hope for their families, and foster good citizens for the greater community.

Dance To Be Free (DTBF) is a 501(c)3 that is changing the lives of incarcerated women through the healing power of collective dance. Through our DVD and Teacher-Training program, DTBF uses cathartic choreography and emotional music as the healing vehicles for addressing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder symptoms. During our teacher training inmates gain confidence as they experience leadership skills for perhaps the first time in their lives. As the training progresses their self-awareness increases through emotionally expressive movement. Our students also respond to journal prompts throughout the training that deepen their experience.

Reflected in Lewis Carroll's achievement is the mission of the Lookingglass Theatre Company. Through theatre, which invites, even demands, interaction with its audience, our goal is to fire the imagination with love, to celebrate the human capacity to taste and smell, weep and laugh, create and destroy, and wake up where we first fell — changed, charged and empowered. The Lookingglass Theatre Company combines a physical and improvisational rehearsal process centered on ensemble with training in theatre, dance, music, and the circus arts. We seek to redefine the limits of theatrical experience and to make theatre exhilarating, inspirational, and accessible to all.

Opera Parallèle presents compelling performances of contemporary operas with high musical and dramatic standards, embracing modern aesthetics, creative use of technology, and social relevance as essential to the future of the art form. Opera Parallèle’s interactive educational programs are dedicated to engaging increasingly diverse communities.

The mission of the School of Acrobatics & New Circus Arts (SANCA) is to improve the mental and physical health of children of all ages and abilities by engaging them in the joyous creativity of acrobatics and circus arts. SANCA offers experiences that are physically challenging, socially enriching, encourage participation in the arts, and reach youth of all ages and abilities who have the least access and opportunity to participate in healthy, creative, physical arts activities. SANCA gives youth a safe, social, constructive environment to be physically active, to learn physical literacy, and to learn physical creativity and performing arts. Our programs create opportunities for young people to explore their interests and build positive relationships with peers and adults.

The mission of New Britain Youth Theater is to enrich the lives of children and young adults by encouraging creative thinking and collaborative teamwork, fostering self-confidence and self-esteem, and developing social, emotional, and academic skills through involvement in high-quality, low-cost programs in the performing arts.

The Afro Latin Jazz Alliance (ALJA) performs, educates about, and preserves the music of all the Américas, emanating from African and indigenous roots, through the entry point of jazz. ALJA embraces its mission with a commitment to social justice, equity, inclusion, and the equality of all cultures worldwide.

Camp Fircom is a remote summer camp for children, youth and families. We strive to provide positive and supportive camping/outdoor experiences for all people, regardless of their ability to pay. We have a focus on creating a strong social atmosphere, and providing youth with transformative experiences of responsibility and leadership.

Storycatchers Theatre guides young people to transform their traumatic experiences into powerful musical theatre, inspiring them to develop the courage and vision to become leaders and mentors. By creating support for youth within the criminal justice system, Storycatchers prepares them to change their lives and emerge successfully from court involvement. Storycatchers was founded in 1984 to create and perform original musicals inspired by the stories of middle and high school students. In 1990, the company began developing its immersive residential program model for system-impacted youth at the Cook County Juvenile Detention Center. It was at this time that the methodology expanded to incorporate the youth into the full process of writing and performing as a way to explore and begin to move beyond past trauma. Storycatchers initiated a remarkable partnership with the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice in 2002 when the company moved into the Illinois Youth Center-Warrenville, where Storycatchers established its nationally recognized, award-winning process of delivering creative youth development programs through a trauma lens. Storycatchers has been conducting year-round residential programs in three separate facilities since 2010. In 2014, the company expanded into post-release support with the Changing Voices performing arts jobs program for young people ages 17-24 returning to Chicago.Storycatchers amplifies and elevates the voices of youth impacted by the carceral state, empowering them to envision and pursue productive post-release futures of their choosing.