Date: 
Wed, 12/09/2020 - 7:00pm to 9:00pm

Victory Gardens Theater announces the Voices of Tomorrow: Their World on Stage fundraising event on December 9, 2020 at 7:00 p.m. The virtual event will showcase powerful and moving spoken word and artistic works created by CPS students in Victory Garden’s Drama in the Schools program, performed by professional Chicago actors.

Registration for the free event is available at https://victorygardens.org/event/voices-of-tomorrow-their-world-on-stage/. Sponsorships are also available for the event. For more information, contact Kelly Carr, Development Associate, at kcarr@victorygardens.orgAll donations from the evening will support StudentsFirst, VG’s program serving Chicago youth through immersive arts education.

The Host Committee for the event is Anu Behari, Penny Brown, Chanel W. Coney, Brienne Letourneau, Kate Tillotson, and Sue E. Wallace.

Sue E. Wallace is the Amplifier Sponsor for Voices of Tomorrow: Their World on Stage.

Chicago students have experienced a year unlike any other, between the 2019 teacher's strike, COVD-19, and social movements in response to systemic racism and police brutality. Utilizing skills learned from VG’s Drama in the School curriculum, students will use their artistic voices to addressever-changing world around them, create societal change, and tell their own stories.

“Victory Garden’s work with students in our CPS partner schools and organizations has always been vital to our mission and annual programming. With our theaters quiet due to the pandemic, we have a unique opportunity to direct more of our focus to bolstering the voices of tomorrow. Given everything that is going on in our city, our nation, and the world, it is critical that we help  students lift their voices, and that we listen to them," comments Acting Managing Director Roxanna Conner. "We know that today’s students are tomorrow’s leaders, and it is vital that they know that we are listening—especially in these moments of uncertainty. VG is doing all that we can to provide our students with the tools to process the world around them and empower them to steer us forward." 

All students participating in VG's StudentsFirst education programs are invited to submit their work to be presented in this showcase. Students whose pieces are selected for the showcase will each receive a $500 scholarship prize and have their work performed by professional actors at the Voices of Tomorrow event. Participating schools include Harlan Community Academy (Roseland), Simeon Career Academy (Chatham), Kenwood Community Academy (Kenwood), Senn High School (Edgewater), Alcott College Prep (North Center), Lincoln Park High School (Lincoln Park), Prosser Career Academy (Belmont Cragin) and Dunbar Vocational Career Academy High School (Douglas). 

Victory Gardens Theater receives major funding from the Joyce Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Shubert Foundation, Wallace Foundation.

Additional major funding comes from Crown Family Philanthropies, Lloyd A. Fry Foundation, the Illinois Arts Council Agency, Polk Bros. Foundation.

Major funders also include: Allstate, Alphawood Foundation, Paul M. Angell Family Foundation, Arts Work Fund Arts for Illinois Relief Fund (at the Chicago Community Foundation),  City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, Edgerton Foundation, Exelon, Ralla Klepak Trust for the Performing Arts, The Harvey L. Miller Supporting Foundation, David Rockefeller Fund, The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, The Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation, Venturous Theater Fund of the Tides Foundation.

Additional funding this season Robert and Isabelle Bass Foundation Inc., Charles H. and Bertha L. Boothroyd Foundation, Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation, Coffman Law Offices, ComEd, Nathan Cummings Foundation, Golden Country Oriental Foods, Goldman Sachs, John R. Halligan Foundation, Illinois Humanities Council, ITW, MacArthur International Connections Fund, MAP Fund, Mayer Brown LLP, The Robert R. McCormick Foundation, The McVay Foundation, Metropolitan Capital Bank and Trust, National Endowment for the Arts, Roberta Olshansky Charitable Fund, Origin Ventures, Pauls Foundation, PNC Financial Services Group, The Poetry Foundation, Prince Charitable Trusts, Pritzker Pucker Family Foundation, Pritzker Traubert Foundation, Charles and M.R. Shapiro Foundation, Wrightwood Neighbors Foundation, William H. Weiss Foundation.

In-kind support is provided by: Italian Village Restaurants, Suite Home Chicago, and Whole Foods Market.

Capital improvement support from Landmarks Illinois, Barbara and Thomas Donnelley Preservation Fund, the Performing Arts Venue Fund at the League of Chicago Theaters, with funding from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the Service Club of Chicago; and Capacity Building support by Compass-Chicago.

About Victory Gardens Theater

Victory Gardens is dedicated to artistic excellence while creating a vital, contemporary American Theater that is accessible and relevant to all people through productions of challenging new plays and musicals. Victory Gardens Theater is committed to the development, production and support of new plays, which has been the mission of the theater since its founding, set forth by Dennis Začek, Marcelle McVay, and the original founders of Victory Gardens Theater.

Victory Gardens Theater is a leader in developing and producing new theater work and cultivating an inclusive Chicago theater community. Victory Gardens’ core strengths are nurturing and producing dynamic and inspiring new plays, reflecting the diversity of our city’s and nation’s culture through engaging diverse communities, and, in partnership with Chicago Public Schools, bringing art and culture to our city’s active student population.  

Since its founding in 1974, the company has produced more world premieres than any other Chicago theater, a commitment recognized nationally when Victory Gardens received the 2001 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre. Located in the Lincoln Park neighborhood, Victory Gardens Biograph Theater includes the Začek-McVay Theater, a state-of-the-art 259-seat mainstage, and the 109-seat studio theater on the second floor, named the Richard Christiansen Theater.

For more information about Victory Gardens, visit www.victorygardens.org.  Follow us on Facebook at Facebook.com/victorygardens, Twitter @VictoryGardens, and Instagram @victorygardenstheater.