Harris Theater for Music and Dance

Championing Chicago ArtistsFounded specifically to serve Chicago's vibrant community of small to midsize performing arts organizations and support culturally relevant programming in Chicago, HT has served as a home for over 55 local arts and humanities organizations. The current 30 Resident Companies perform in a wide variety of genres and cultural traditions and represent the wide diversity of arts and culture organizations in Chicago. We subsidize by more than 60% all rental, production, and marketing costs for our Resident Companies as well as provide them with professional development and training opportunities. Our work supports these small to midsize companies and ensures their longevity in an ever-shifting arts ecosystem.In the 2022/23 Season, 16 Resident Companies presented 42 performances on the HT stage, including are several for the first time, including Mandala South Asian Performing Arts and Chicago Jazz Philharmonic.

Generating Lasting Community Impact Woven through each aspect of the Theater's work are Community Engagement programs that ensure our multicultural programming reaches as many Chicago community members as possible. Our Mix at Six and Family Series break down barriers for patrons to experience the arts in an inclusive environment for all ages and abilities. Our free Arts Education Partnerships build pathways for youth to study the arts via internships, masterclasses, and artistic residency initiatives. We also partner with local community organizations to make programming accessible to patrons of all income levels through the Access Tickets program. Above all, our commitment to DEIA principles permeates our vision to make HT truly inclusive and accessible to our community.In addition to the two accessible concert series, HT provided ten free community engagement and educational activities throughout the 2022/23 Season, including an artist residency with dancers from The Rite of Spring / common ground[s] performance at Red Clay Dance Company and an instrument petting zoo at the Family Performance of Leaping Leopold! HT distributed 666 free tickets to community partner organizations during the season.

Presenting Diverse VoicesIn addition to the support we offer to our Resident Companies, our own Harris Theater Presents (HTP) series brings the highest caliber artists from every corner of the world to Chicago to tell stories of human experiences from a multitude of perspectives. Representing over 32 countries across six continents, HTP brings ambitious international projects, new commissions, and co-productions to the HT stage, the rooftop, the iconic Pritzker Pavilion, and the HT Virtual Stage. The 2022/23 Season welcomed to the stage some of the most prolific artistic voices of our time and featured a diverse range of artists and genres from around the world.The Theater produced 24 HTP performances during the 2022/23 Season. Highlights include a performance of Deep River, Alonzo King's new work featuring Grammy Award-winning vocalist Lisa Fischer; a historic co-production of The Rite of Spring/common ground[s] with the Pina Bausch Foundation, cole des Sables, and Sadler's Wells; and the return of Beyond the Aria, HT's series featuring opera luminaries and rising talent from the Ryan Opera Center (ROC) after a pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic.