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w.HarrisTheaterChicago.org
Harris Theater for Music and Dance:
A Partner to Chicago’s Performing Arts
Community
Opened on November 8, 2003,
the Joan W. and Irving B. Harris
Theater for Music and Dance in
Millennium Park was the first multi-
use performing arts venue to be
built in the downtown Chicago area
since 1929. Today, the non-profit
theater features the most diverse
offerings of any venue in Chicago,
hosting the city’s most acclaimed
music and dance institutions as well
as world-renowned national and international artists and ensembles
through its
Harris Theater Presents
series.
A core component of the Harris Theater’s mission is to partner
and collaborate with an array of Chicago’s emerging and mid-sized
performing arts organizations to help them build the resources
and capacity necessary to achieve artistic growth and long-term
organizational sustainability. In addition to providing subsidized
rental, technical expertise and marketing support, the Harris Theater
also offers ongoing professional development opportunities to its
resident companies, including the innovative Learning Lab Initiative,
which was recently endorsed by the National Endowment for the Arts
with an
Access to Artistic Excellence
grant.
In just nine seasons, the Theater’s original group of 12 resident
companies has grown to include 40 diverse and exceptionally talented
performing arts organizations. Through these partnerships, the
Harris Theater has earned national recognition as a unique model of
collaboration between the philanthropic community, a performance
venue, and its artistic community in residence.
Through the
Harris Theater Presents
series, the Theater has
achieved widespread recognition as a vital cultural anchor in the city.
The Paris Opéra Ballet, Renée Fleming, Daniel Barenboim, the San
Francisco Ballet, Stephen Sondheim, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Lang Lang,
the New York City Ballet and many other world renowned artists and
ensembles have all graced the Harris’ stage through this series. The
Harris Theater is committed to presenting internationally acclaimed
music and dance organizations in order to maintain its reputation as
a venue of growing importance, as well as to help build audiences for
the Theater’s resident companies.
The Theater also promotes family enrichment and engagement for
children, teens and adults to advance the understanding of the
performing arts for Chicago residents of all ages and communities.
Collaborating with 32 arts education partners and local health
and human service organizations that work with underserved
constituencies, the Harris Theater has provided more than 5,000
complimentary
Family Series
and
Harris Theater Presents
tickets
through its popular and recently expanded
Access Tickets Program
and
Teen Arts Exploration Project
.
