Your Support Makes an Impact
Ensemble Dal Niente is grateful to every individual and organization that has supported our work throughout the years. We are now at a critical moment, and are working to increase our financial capacity in order to meet growing funding priorities, as well as increase our organizational footprint and invest our resources in new places within the city of Chicago. We are working to expand our collaborative efforts with new artists, venues, and communities, and we want to do this without reducing the support we have historically provided to our rostered artists. We are stepping up to these challenges amidst substantial industry-wide uncertainty, and we need your support in sustaining our artistic mission.
Ensemble Dal Niente is a publicly supported, not-for-profit, 501(c)(3) organization. To support our current season, make a secure online donation below.
Make a one-time donation
Make a recurring donation
Other ways to donate:
Zelle: info@dalniente.com
Venmo: @dalniente
Check: 4045 N Rockwell Suite 312, Chicago, IL 60618
Ensemble Dal Niente is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. Donations are tax-deductible to the full extent of the law.
Learn more about our artists and organization below!
ARTISTIC IMPACT
ARTISTS
ARTISTS HIRED PER SEASON:
50-60 artists hired per season
ARTISTS FEES PER SEASON:
Artist fees are by far the largest expense of our organization, comprising approximately 45% of our total annual budget.
Ensemble Dal Niente’s 27 rostered musicians are based in Chicago and throughout the United States. Along with being exceptional interpreters of contemporary chamber music, they are rich and varied in their creative endeavors, providing audiences and students with enriching artistic experiences. They impact their communities in immense ways, and we work to support them through regular employment and fulfilling artistic opportunities.
COMPOSERS
Collaboration is central to Ensemble Dal Niente’s identity. Chicago composers comprised around 50% of our overall programming each season. Recent international collaborations include Andile Khumalo (2021), Carola Bauckholt (2022), Enno Poppe (2017), Raphael Cendo (2015), Hilda Paredes (2020 and 2021), Simon Steen-Andersen (2023). We are ever expanding in building relationships with composers, providing myriad opportunities for collaborations, multidisciplinary productions, and performances throughout the community which would not otherwise happen. We produce ~20 world and US premieres per season, and work to ensure the works we commission have a life outside of our organization.
CHICAGO COMPOSERS:
50% of our collaborations are with Chicago-based composers
PREMIERES:
~20 World and US premieres per season
AUDIENCE
LISTENERS:
3,000-5,000 in person and virtual attendees per season
CITIES VISITED PER SEASON:
8-15 cities per season
EDN reaches listeners throughout the US and abroad. These listeners represent a broad cross-section of music enthusiasts who are energized by adventurous performances. These listeners include students, community members, and other musicians and composers. Our listeners are curious and open to new experiences.
Administrative Team
EDN currently has an administrative staff of six artist-administrators who manage the operations and production work for the organization and also play in the group. Their dedication and hard work are the backbone of the organization. The percentage of the total budget allocated for staff pay is roughly 30-50% of market rate, and one of our primary fundraising imperatives is to increase staff pay to be more competitive with market rates.
INDUSTRY TRENDS
EDN continues to face major challenges as compared to 2019 and earlier. This is the case for many small to large arts nonprofits as found by an extensive research study by Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) and SMU DataArts, who conducted an examination of financial and operating trends among its applicant organizations from 2019 through 2022. Read the full DCASE study.
KEY POINTS
“Budget reductions were mainly achieved through cutbacks in the scale and number of programmatic offerings such as productions, exhibitions, education programs, lecture series, and the like. In the organizations studied, there were nearly two-thirds fewer programs offered in 2022 than in 2019.”
“In-person attendance recovered somewhat in 2022 but was still 60% lower than it was pre-pandemic. In-person attendance decreases for performing arts (-59%) and other arts and cultural organizations (-73%) were far more severe than those of museums (-14%) in the Chicago organizations studied.”
“From 2019 to 2022, Chicago performing arts organizations and museums in the study saw 26% and 29% further declines in the number of subscribers and members, respectively, reflecting national trends.”
CURRENT DONORS (AS OF 11/25/2023)
niente ($10,000 and above)
SMART Growth of the Chicago Community Trust
The Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE)
Fromm Music Foundation
Illinois Arts Council Agency
Lester and Hope Abelson Fund for the Performing Arts
Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation
Richard H. Driehaus Foundation
Paul M. Angell Family Foundation
pianissimo ($5,000-$9,999)
Jonathan Becker
John Bierbusse
The Aaron Copland Fund
Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation
Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation
Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University
Ms. Lori Julian
piano ($2,500-$4,999)
Amphion Foundation, Inc.
Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation
Christine Boesen
Augusta Read Thomas and Bernard Rands Trust
mezzo-piano ($1,000-$2,499)
Carola Bauckholt
BMI Foundation
Seth Brenzel and Malcolm Gaines
Lorrie and Chris Brod
Carol and Baird Brown
Ron Caltabiano
Sharon and David Castlewitz
Peter Chan
Darwin Corrin
Amsale Gelagay
Mary Lee and Mike Gosz
Jane Heron
Ayo Jimoh
Jean Klingenstein
George E. Lewis
Susan and Alan Melsky
Gregory Nigosian
Michael Oman
Brian Penkrot
Joan and Fred Schoepflin
Sammy Sugiura
Lynne and Richard Kaiser Foundation
Phyllis and Bud Wulliman
sonoro ($500-$999)
Elizabeth Cifani
Andrew M. Edwards
April Faith-Slaker
Frances Huster
Susan Litoff
Benjamin Melsky
Rob Milburn and Amy Morton
Hugh Muller and Paul Seeley
Bruce Oltman
Robert Reinhart
Tomás Gueglio Saccone
Jude Stewart and Seth Brodsky
Francisco Castillo Trigueros
Sharon Weiner
mezzo forte ($250-$499)
Astrid Bennett
The Birdhouse
Philipp Blume
Ammie Brod
Carlos Carrillo
Tyson Carter
Marcia Coleman
Arlene and Larry Dunn
Abby and David Edler
Glen Garrison
Pierce Gradone
Eileen Heisman
George Honig and Olga Weiss
Christopher Wendell Jones
Katinka Kleijn
Evan Kuhlmann
Judy and Bill Langen
Judith Lochhead and George Fisher
John Pippen
Matthew Welton
forte ($100-$249)
Alejandro Acierto
Liz Albertson
Amanda DeBoer Bartlett
Ashkan Behzadi
Megan Beugger-Roeseler
Gregory Beyer
Blackbaud Giving Fund
Eighth Blackbird
Brian Brody
Edward Buchner
Ken Burlington
Isabella Chung
Henri Colombat
Bernie and Sally Dobroski
Kyle Flens
Beverly and Bob Flens
Jean Gerard
Daniel Godsil
Madeline Gosz
Jennifer Harris
Will Huff
Julia Huster
Katie Schoepflin Jimoh
Edward Kass
Brian Koch
Mabel Kwan
Jesse Langen
Michael Lewanski
Melynda Lopin
Paula Matthusen
Amanda McAllister
Bill McJohn
Janice Misurell-Mitchell
Lynn Weiner and Tom Moher
Calvin S. Moore
Jeffrey Mumford
Sullivan Nu
Kathleen Oliphant
Pablo Ortiz
Robert Rettew
John Sampen and Marilyn Shrude
Roopal Thakkar
Ken Vandermark
Erica Watson
Katherine Young
fortissimo ($50-$99)
Doyle “Tets” Armbrust
Brandon Barton
Xavier Beteta
Kirsten Broberg
Ray Brod
Stephen Brod and Melissa Hall
Eliza Brown
Reba Cafarelli
Jeremiah Cawley
Anna Elder
Marc Embree
Robert and Bert Flens
Jonathan Hannau
Brien Henderson
Juan Horie
Hanna Hurwitz
Betsy Martens
Rebecca Melsky
Jessie Montgomery
Ted Moore
Osnat Netzer
Roger and Pam Nogal
Sarah Plum
Maureen Rhoda
Rachel Riezman
Ben Roidl-Ward
Nik Rokop
Russell Rolen
Igor Santos
Polina Schlott
Sommer Gentry and Dorry Segev
William Sellers
Esther Shin
Holly Spurlock
Constance Volk
Christopher Wild
Mark Yoshizumi
Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon
explosivo ($1-$49)
Lewis Achenbach
Sylvia Acierto
Utku Asuroglu
Lisa Atkinson
Katie Balch
Eliza Bangert
Beth Bartlett
Hannah Collins
Darcy Copeland
Steve Danzis
Cassalyn David
Nicholas Demaison
Scott Dickinson
Barbara Drapcho
Ethan Edwards
Elizabeth Fisher-Smith
Erin Gee
Rosemary Gill
Luis Sánchez Gooding
Charles Hardy
Brandon Harrington
Linda Hayek
Ann Hill
Chelsey Jean
Kara Kane
Cannon Kinnard
Ilya Levinson
Dan Lippel
Alison Lowell
Peter Martin
Miguel Ángel García Martín
Stephen Messner
Cindy Niedzwiecki
Andrew Nogal
Phil and Sandy Novack-Gottshall
Matthew Oliphant
Marcin Paczkowski
Mauricio Pauly
Elizabeth Pearse
Anna Pulley
Theo Ramsey
Ben Ramson
Gerald Rizzer
Ellen Robinson
Barbara Roidl
Suzanne Sarro
Julie Sherry
Aida Shirazi
Taylor Smith-Kent
Bernard Stollar
Raychel Taylor
Wang Lu
LJ White
Dee Wilson
Yvonne Wu
Ben Yee-Paulson
Ben Zucker
In Kind
Bin Li