Kerfuffle! 2023 Event Program

APRIL 27, 2023 - MORGAN MFG

LETTER FROM THE CHIARTS FOUNDATION PRESIDENT Welcome to Kerfuffle! On behalf of this year’s co-chairs and the Foundation Board of Directors, I thank you for joining us as we celebrate access to arts education in Chicago.

We believe novice talent should have access to the opportunity and training necessary to thrive, no matter their previous exposure to arts education or income. With support from Chicago’s philanthropic community, ChiArts remains a catalyst for change and a creative home for hundreds of diverse emerging artists. It is a place where aspiring dancers, writers, actors, musicians, and visual artists uncover their potential as creative opportunities ignite passion, inspire self-discovery, and illuminate possibilities.

Your support makes it possible for ChiArts to provide tuitionfree, pre-professional arts training to over 600 students every year. You also help ChiArts provide professional development to students, post-secondary planning programs, and meaningful professional and creative opportunities for ChiArts alums.

This evening you will experience presentations by talented scholar-artists and alums from ChiArts’ Creative Writing, Dance, Theatre, Music, and Visual Arts conservatories. Tonight we are also honored to pay tribute to ChiArts founding board member, Susan McKeever, for her dedication and commitment to dance and arts education.

Thank you again for taking part in our mission to provide access to arts education and professional development opportunities for current, future, and former students of The Chicago High School for the Arts. Enjoy!

Sincerely,

José Ochoa ChiArts Foundation President Founding Executive and Artistic Director of The Chicago High School for the Arts

2023 CO-CHAIRS

Arnett Faulker & Amisha Rigia SPECIAL TRIBUTE

Susan McKeever ChiArts Founding Board Member

PROGRAM OF EVENTS 5:30 Cocktails & passed hors d’oeuvres Featuring: ChiArts Jazz Combo, Poems While You Wait, Live Mythical Portraits & ChiArts Alum Art Auction 7:00 Dinner & Program in Skylight Dining Room - Arnett Faulkner & Amisha Rigia, 2023 Kerfuffle! Co-chairs - Tina Boyer Brown, ChiArts Artistic Director - ChiArts Music, Theatre, Dance, & Creative Writing Performances - Mirja Spooner Haffner, ChiArts Foundation Board Chair - José Ochoa, ChiArts Foundation Board President & ChiArts Alums - Tribute to Susan McKeever 8:45 Post-dinner Celebration & Dessert 10:00 Bars Close Thank you for joining us!

MENU First Course Four Compartment Salad (gf) Shaved Fennel & Napa Cabbage with Avocado, Watermelon Radishes, Orange Supremes dressed with Citrus Vinaigrette Prawn Remoulade, Julienne of Celery Root with Fresh Lemon Zest & Parsley Spring Pea & Asparagus Soufflé, Roasted Red Pepper Coulis, Frizzled Leek Sliced Gourmet Cheeses, Spiced Roasted Almonds, Quince Paste, Figs & Dried Apricots Garnished with a Rice Cracker & Edible Logo

Entrée Choices Parmesan Chicken & Roasted Red Pepper Mousse Roulade Sliced & Fanned, Napped in a Vidalia Wine Velouté, Frizzled Leeks Grilled Vegetable Batons with Olive Oil & Fresh Herbs Potato Dauphinoise with Crème Fraiche

Teriyaki Glazed Salmon Bok Choy & Jasmine Rice, with Fried Lotus Root Garnish

Roasted Cauliflower Steak (v) Roasted Fennel, Apple, Cilantro & Spicy Romesco Petite Mushroom Charlotte & Grilled Vegetable Batons

Passed Wines Block Nine Cabernet Sauvignon Koha Suavignon Blanc Please enjoy specialty dessert stations, cocktails, and coffee and tea after dinner in the Concrete Bar and Staircase Lobby.

THANK YOU TO OUR 2023 SPONSORS

PRESENTER ($50,000)

Jim & Kay Mabie Family

DIRECTOR ($10,000) Betsy & Arthur Holden Gary Metzner & Scott Johnson Denis & Martha Pierce Amisha Rigia & Adam Caplan The Collens Family Peter Fidler & Kate Grossman Mirja Spooner Haffner John Hart & Carol Prins

PATRON ($2,500) J.R. & Katie Berger Marc Brooks and Liza Cruzat Robert Cook Clayco Lois & Steve Eisen

Helyn Goldenberg & Michael Alper Susan Feibus & Tom Geoghegan Riley Safer Holmes & Cancila LLP Chardai & Rashod Johnson Anne Kaplan

Sponsors as of 4.21.23

ARTISTIC VISIONARY ($25,000)

Elissa Hamid Efroymson & Adnaan Hamid Klaff Family Foundation Tim Schwertfeger & Gail Waller

STAR ($5,000) Bluhm Family Charitable Foudation Deloitte Arnett & Greg Faulkner Lori Gray Faversham Christine & Greg Gallagher William & Anne Goldstein Ron & Marilynn Grais Sandra & Jack Guthman

Loop Capital Robin & Eric Maddix Sylvia Neil & Dan Fischel Peoples Gas Community Fund Trice Construction Neal Zucker & Marko Iglendza

Mesirow Michael Perlow Jonathan & Robin Plotkin SHVO Lisa Simmons & John Street

WVON 1690AM Susan & Bob Wislow

CHIARTS FOUNDATION MISSION ChiArts Foundation was established in January 2021 to support arts education opportunities for, and inspire and nurture current, future, and former students of The Chicago High School for the Arts. The Foundation’s key objectives are to provide annual support for ChiArts’ arts conservatories, support outreach through partnerships, develop marketing and public relations activities, and increase engagement and build community through alumni support.

ABOUT CHIARTS The Chicago High School for the Arts (ChiArts) is Chicago’s first public high school for the arts. With disciplines in creative writing, dance, music, theatre, and visual arts, ChiArts provides its scholar-artists with a tuition-free, preprofessional arts training program paired with a college preparatory academic curriculum. ChiArts opened its doors in 2009 and has graduated ten classes of scholarartists at a rate between 92-100% each year. ChiArts is the only public arts high school in the nation that actively recruits novice-level students.

EVERY STUDENT - G R A D U AT E S W I T H -

2,500 HOURS

OF ARTS TRAINING

2022-2023 HIGHLIGHTS August Wilson Monologue Competition

Read about how scholar-artists from ChiArts’ five conservatories have made the most of their arts classes, performing opportunities, and community partnerships!

THEATRE

VISUAL ARTS

MUSIC, INSTRUMENTAL

Juan Popoca, ChiArts Acting ’24 placed third at the August Wilson Monologue Competition Regional Finals. Juan will be moving on to the National Finals on April 29 through May 2 at the Goodman Theatre.

Led by the Visual Arts Curatorial Fellows and Visual Arts Student Reps Board, Visual Arts now has opportunities to specialize in curation and zine production.

Scholar-artists, Jacob Cornejo, Gio Ibarra, Ben Lopez, Fabrizio Milcent, Leo Milano, and Sofia Villanueva represented ChiArts at Illinois Music Education Conference (IMEC) also known as “All-State.”

CREATIVE WRITING

DANCE

MUSIC, VOCAL

Scholar-artists received five Gold Keys, seven Silver Keys, and 20 Honorable Mentions, bringing home a total of 32 Scholastic Art and Writing Awards.

The conservatory premiered new productions such as: A Not So Nutcracker, Nutcracker, Moving Voices (a cross-conservatory collaboration), and shared their production of ROOTED with local elementary schools.

This year, ChiArts vocalists performed for Michelle Obama, were featured in Millennium Park’s Holiday Sing-Along, and scholar-artists placed at Chicago’s National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) Competition.

SCHOLAR-ARTIST SPOTLIGHT Tyra Outlaw, Dance ’24 has been named a YoungArts 2023 Merit Winner for Dance in the Modern/Contemporary category. YoungArts will support Tyra with creative and professional development opportunities throughout her artistic career!

PERFORMANCES & PRESENTATIONS CREATIVE WRITING

MUSIC

Visit a typewriter station for ‘Poems While You Wait’ and receive an original work created by our brilliant creative writing scholar-artists. The dinner reception will also feature a poetry reading from Creative Writing Senior, Gael Granados.

The evening will showcase music from ChiArts’ Jazz Combo, guitarists, vocalists, and the ChiArts Wind Quintet.

We will end the night with a dance party, hosted by ChiArts’ Afro-Caribbean Percussion Ensemble, “Ritmo di ChiArts.”

DANCE

MEET ALUMS

Dancers will present a selection from their sold-out spring production ROOTED, a tribute to the origins and creativity of Black dance.

We encourage you to engage with ChiArts alums at tonight’s event and learn about the impact of ChiArts and their current creative and professional endeavors.

THEATRE

VISUAL ARTS

Theatre scholar-artists will perform a show-stopping medley from ChiArts’ 2023 production, LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS.

Visual Artists will have select pieces on display to admire. Throughout the evening, the conservatory will also be creating one-of-a-kind “Mythical Portraits” for guests to receive as a keepsake.

TEXT-TO-DONATE “CHIARTS” TO 801801 CHIARTS’ FIVE ARTS CONSERVATORIES ARE 100% FUNDED BY THE CHIARTS FOUNDATION THROUGH INDIVIDUAL, CORPORATE, AND FOUNDATION CONTRIBUTIONS. KERFUFFLE! IS A VITAL COMPONENT OF OUR ANNUAL FUNDRAISING EFFORTS.

THE SUSAN MCKEEVER CHIARTS DANCE FUND

SPECIAL TRIBUTE TO SUSAN MCKEEVER ChiArts Founding Board Member Dancer - Attorney - Philanthropist

The ChiArts Foundation is honored to pay tribute to Susan McKeever, in celebration of her remarkable commitment to dance, arts education, and The Chicago High School for the Arts. Susan is one of the school’s founding board members and a former professional dancer. In many ways, ChiArts students are a reflection of Susan and her journey in dance. She began seriously training in dance in college, which is considered late by all accounts, but persevered and became a professional dancer with esteemed companies such as Bill T. Jones and Urban Bush Women, which is a remarkable achievement.

2023 marks the 10th anniversary of ChiArts’ inaugural graduating class of 2013. We are so incredibly proud of all the accomplishments of our students and alumni. In 10 short years, ChiArts’ Dance alums have made a mark in the professional world as they performing with professional dance companies worldwide, including Alvin Ailey II, Dayton Contemporary, Dallas Black Dance Theatre, New Jersey Ballet, and Colorado Ballet, while others have been members of NBA dance teams. Alums have been seen on Legendary (HBO Max), Pose (FX), national commercials, and even this year's Super Bowl.

In honor of Susan’s incredible impact on ChiArts and Chicago’s young artists, we are honored to pay tribute to Susan and her incredible love and passion for the arts by establishing the Susan McKeever ChiArts Dance Fund. We hope that through this fund, we will be able to continue to ensure every dance student at ChiArts has access to all the opportunities that are important in a young artist’s life. Susan’s family has generously given a gift to help launch this fund, and we invite you to join them in supporting the next generation of dancers. Through her own personal journey, Susan McKeever shows us that with determination and opportunity, all is possible.

65%

OF SCHOLAR-ART ISTS C O M E T O C H I A R T S A S N OV I C E S - WITH LITTLE TO NO TRAINING -

CHIARTS FOUNDATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS Mirja Spooner Haffner, Chair Gary Metzner, Vice Chair Erin Clifford, Secretary Christina Huizar, Treasurer Dana Berkowitz Steven Collens Elissa Hamid Efroymson Arnett Faulkner Lori Gray Faversham Ronald B. Grais Christine Gallagher* Sandra Guthman John Hart Betsy Holden Tom Hurvis Pamela Johnson Avril Klaff Marshall Lindsey Samera Ludwig David Mabie Michael McIntosh Sylvia Neil Jonathan Plotkin Cynthia Plouché* Amisha Rigia John Yonover Neal Zucker *Ex-Officio Directors

CHIARTS SCHOOL BOARD OF DIRECTORS Duffie Adelson, Interim Chair Warren Chapman, Secretary Christine Gallagher, Treasurer Carlos Azcoitia Lesley-Ann Brown-Henderson Inger Burnett-Zeigler Janette Cortes-Duewel Deirdra Donahue Michelle Farid-Pierre* Peter Fidler Karen Fishman Bill Gerstein Angela Kiefer* Kay Mabie John McCambridge Cynthia Plouché *Parent Representatives and Ex-Officio Directors

SCAN TO DONATE

@ChiArtsHS #Kerfuffle2023 chiartsfoundation.org PO Box 772076 Chicago, IL 60677-2076