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20th Birthday Celebration Campaign

June 1 through Aug 3, 2024

Synapse Arts celebrated the 20th Anniversary on August 3,
but you can still make gift to Synapse Arts
AND
get your donation matched!

Make a Birthday Gift
HERE

Thank you for coming!

Event registration page here

Access and location
information here

Learn more about the Birthday Bash below

Synapse Arts is a small but mighty Northside nonprofit that has been making dance a part of your day for two decades. We’ve overcome many challenges since that special founding day in 2004. Since then, Synapse Arts has continued to deepen our roots, managing three programs that are vital for Chicago communities:

  • Professional Presentations: dance performances indoor, outdoor, site-specific, theatrical, and onscreen.

  • New Works: artist mentorship, dance artist support and creative development.

  • Dance with Synapse: affordable and high quality weekly classes & residencies.
    Synapse Arts is an Arts Partner in Residence with the Chicago Park District; the company is also a vendor with Chicago Public Schools.

Help us raise $20,000
for our 20th Anniversary!

When you give a birthday gift to Synapse, you not only celebrate our 20 years of dance, you invest in a committed and respected organization that raises the quality of life for children and communities all over Chicago.

The funds raised from this campaign will:

  • Pay a network of professional artists to provide performances for neighborhood communities in Chicago
  • Build our popular classes program, expanding opportunities for young dancers to learn and perform
  • Open more spots in our sought-after New Works program that supports the careers of the next generation of artists

Right now your contributions can haveDOUBLE the impact:

donations to this campaign are part of our 20th Anniversary 20K Match!

PLUS, when you donate,
you can add a special experience to your day during our Aug 3rd Birthday Bash!

What is the Birthday Bash?

The Birthday Bash is a celebration of Synapse Arts in a welcoming, festival-type environment. All attendees will have access to our open events and get a cupcake. But when you donate at one of the levels below, you can add some additional flair to your Birthday Bash experience, including a Interactive Museum tour, pre-registration for classes, and more!

📅  Saturday, August 3
🕓  12PM - 4PM
📍  Berger Park Cultural Center

When you donate, you'll receive instructions on how to register for your additional options in your email.

  • Donate any amount and get access to all our open events, a cupcake, and a link for our livestream hosted by comedy musician Matt Griffo
  • Donate $20 or more and get open event access and the livestream link PLUS one pre-registration spot for limited-space events like the Modern Workshop with Kristina Fluty
  • Donate $40 or more and and get all open events access PLUS an Interactive Museum tour through 20 years of Synapse led by a Synapse artist - available until June 30 only! ($50 thereafter)
  • Donate $100 or more OR sign up for a monthly donation of any amount and get all of the above PLUS a 20th Anniversary Synapse Passport AND on demand access to all Synapse videos shown at the event

    Note: You choose how to use your over $20 donation perk:
    Modern Workshop with Kristina Fluty
    OR
    seat at the Studio Series Showcase! Read the detail's of each activity below, and make a choice!

More details about Birthday Bash activities

- MODERN WORKSHOP WITH KRISTINA FLUTY: 12pm - 1:15pm & 2pm - 3:15pm

Kristina Fluty has been teaching and dancing in Chicago for the last two decades. Her main creative home since 2003 is Molly Shanahan/Mad Shak, and she is currently completing the inaugural Spiral Body Techniques teacher certification with Shanahan. She is an Associate Professor at The Theatre School at DePaul, where she teaches movement to actors. Her dance class prioritizes pleasure and honoring/embracing how you move right now. It is also anchored by Fluty's certification in Laban/Bartenieff Movement Analysis and her many years of Feldenkrais personal study.

Class will likely begin on the floor with gentle developmental movement phrases, then evolve out into dancing with delicious complexity, spatial clarity, and ease.

Please note this class takes place up 3 flights of stairs with no elevator access. Fully accessible events will be marked on the event schedule. See the WAYFINDER for more details.

- STUDIO SERIES SHOWING: 1:30pm - 3pm

Studio Series Showing is open for everyone - space permitting. Save a seat and enjoy the performance comfortably!

To kick off our 20th-anniversary celebration, we invited past collaborators of Synapse to our studios, hosting different artists every month throughout 2024. Each artist spent their time in the studio as they wished — researching, remaking, creating, and engaging in conversations with peer artists. A stipend was provided to support their process.

At the Birthday Bash Studio Series you will see works by:

* Chrissy Martin
* IS/LAND Performance Collaborative
* Reign Drop
* Camila Rivero Pooley

- SYNAPSE SIGNATURE PERFORMANCES: Textile Dance, Crosswalk Dances, and a BIG Freeze Dance Game! Plus, a very special showing from Synapse Arts Performance Troupe. Open for everyone!

- INTERACTIVE TOURS: 1:15pm - 2pm, 2:15pm - 3pm & 3:15pm - 4pm.

Join us for a fun tour through 20 years of Synapse Arts at our interactive museum event!
Led by a Synapse Artist.

The "Gunder House" is the North Mansion on the Berger Park grounds, which is separate from the community center that most patrons will be familiar with.
Guests must navigate 4 stairs to access the building - see the WAYFINDER.
The Gunder House includes all-gender restrooms.
A full playground, cafe, and lakefront path are all directly outside the building.

- DANCE FILMS ALL AFTERNOON!
With historic and premiere works by Maggie Bridger, Rahila Coats, Rachel Damon, Aaron Greer, Jones College Prep residency students, Jordan Kunkel, Jean Paul Masuda and more!Full screening schedule will be available soon.

- POLAROID PHOTO BOOTH

Feeling a bit nostalgic?

We’re preparing a Polaroid Photo Booth at the Birthday Bash! Strike a pose with your friends, try fun costumes on, smile and get yourself a photo to remember that you were a part of our special celebration! ($5 minimum donation)

Thank you to the Birthday Bash sponsors!

We can't wait to celebrate together!