Frankfort’s Ballet 5:8 Receives Grant From Illinois Arts Council Agency

January 9, 2018 FRANKFORT, IL - Ballet Five Eight NFP (Ballet 5:8), a nonprofit arts organization located in Frankfort, IL, has been awarded a $8,800 grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency for general operating support. Ballet 5:8 has been located in the Chicago South Suburbs since its creation in 2012 and has a mission to engage communities in Chicago, the Midwest, and the nation in conversation of life and faith through innovative storytelling and breathtaking dance. The IACA grant will be partially supporting Ballet 5:8’s operations between January 1, 2017 and August 21, 2018. 

Ballet 5:8 is an incredible hub for artists in Illinois. The nonprofit attracts many new artists to the Chicago South Suburbs each year, employing 10-15 adult, professional dancers and teachers (Ballet 5:8’s 12 professional company dancers pictured right). Many of them relocate to Illinois from all across the U.S. to work with the company. College-age dancers (typically 18-21 year-old) are also a part of this mission. Ballet 5:8’s Trainee Program brings many of these young artists to Illinois in their formative career years and provides the final training and professional performing experience they need to begin their own professional careers. 

Ballet 5:8 is able to invest in Illinois, the Midwest, and our nation through both professional performance and accessible, high-caliber dance education - all from our home in Frankfort, IL. The nonprofit’s original, self-produced performances combine innovative storytelling and breathtaking dance, and they invite people to join us in open conversation about an array of life and faith topics relevant to us in the present day. Ballet 5:8’s performances make the beauty and inspiration of professional ballet accessible not only to communities in the heart of Chicago’s arts and theater districts, but also to communities with little or no immediate access to professional arts. Recent and upcoming Illinois performance locations include the Athenaeum Theatre in Chicago, the Beverly Arts Center in Chicago, Lincoln-Way West High School Fine Arts Center in New Lenox, the Hemmens Cultural Center in Elgin, Illinois Central College in East Peoria, the Scottish Rite Cathedral in Moline, and Cornerstone Church Auditorium in Marion. 

Thanks to funding from individual donors and sources such as the the Illinois Arts Council Agency, we are able to keep our performance ticket prices at or below $35 for most performances, in addition to participating in a number of free-to-the-public performances. This ensures that our work remains accessible to community members from many different socioeconomic backgrounds. Our donor funding additionally enables us to provide reduced-cost and donated performance tickets to charitable nonprofits that serve the homeless, families who have children with mental and physical disabilities, inner-city schools, and military veterans.

Meanwhile in the School, Ballet 5:8 is pouring into current Illinois residents, many of whom will be the professional artists of tomorrow. In the School, which serves up to 200 local student dancers each year and attracts many others from across the U.S., the wellbeing of each individual dancer is valued just as much as the dancer’s potential in the field (students Daria Caravette, Zoe Scheiderich and Grace Henderson pictured left). The School includes programs that range from pre-professional level classical ballet training to recreational classes in a wide variety of dance disciplines. In time, the young artists who participate in these programs will be ready to go out into the state and across the country: whole, healthy, strong and creative artists who can continue Ballet 5:8’s work of bringing the joy and beauty of dance and meaningful discussion into the hearts and minds of everyday people. Thanks to funding from sources such as the the Illinois Arts Council Agency, we are able to keep our tuition rates at or below that of programs of a similar caliber, and to offer financial aid scholarships to families with particular need. This allows families of all different socioeconomic backgrounds to access our education programming.

Ballet 5:8 is proud to be an Illinois-based nonprofit and is honored to be the recipient of this $8,800 Illinois Arts Council Agency grant for general operating support. The grant will be making it possible for us to continue investing in the state of Illinois, the Midwest and the nation through the arts in 2018.