Adaptive Practices of Three Chicago-based Nonprofit Dance Service Organizations

Book excerpt: The Covid-19 pandemic posed unprecedented challenges to the dance world and motivated major shifts in response to issues including public health, racial equity, political division, and economic unrest. In Chicago, three nonprofit dance service organizations weathered the tumultuous period with flexibility. Chicago Dancemakers Forum, Chicago Dancers United, and See Chicago Dance all provide critical support to Chicago’s dance community and navigated the extremes of the pandemic era both as independent organizations and as a community with interrelated goals. Throughout the pandemic period, they responded with new grants aimed at supporting critical health needs and digital dance production, facilitated extensive virtual programming and community convenings, and organized events to help usher in the return to in-person programming when it was safe to do so. Driven by an interest in resource development, language, and community engagement practices, and using data from local and national dance specific research studies as well as critical interviews with local staff members, this thesis works to archive and analyze the variety of ways that these organizations responded to the unknowns and supported Chicago dance workers during this time. Change is inevitable, and from an administrative perspective, the ingredients of consistency and predictability along with room for experimentation are critical in supporting an organization's ability to adapt in any given moment. Looking forward, I identify potential shifts in grant eligibility requirements, organizational branding, data and research, resource sharing, and experimentation as valuable opportunities for increased support of Chicago’s dance workers.