Illinois · Nonprofit
MUSIC AND DANCE THEATER CHICAGO INC
MUSIC AND DANCE THEATER CHICAGO INC (Illinois) receives grants from 62 organizations whose IRS filings report $13,215,500 to it, the largest being The Chicago Community Trust ($4,121,301). 39 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $8.9M
- Funders on record
- 62
- Grants received
- $13M
- Net assets
- $36M
What Music and Dance Theater Chicago Inc does
Mission
The mission of Joan W. and Irving B. Harris Theater for Music and Dance (HT) is to be Chicago's primary residence for music and dance, connecting diverse audiences with outstanding artists from across the city, the nation, and the world. A commitment to excellence in all production areas alongside the Harris' adaptable architectural design has made the Harris a sought-after venue for important civic and cultural events. Organizations that present their engagements at the Harris bring unique opportunities for dialogue between Chicagoans and the world's leading artists, thinkers, and innovators. The Harris Theater opened in 2003 as the first new multi-use performance venue built in downtown Chicago since 1929. Today, the Harris provides the most robust and diverse arts and cultural offerings of any venue in the Midwest. The Theater's mission is delivered through three intersecting strategies: curating a presenting series designed to offer an engaging array of genres and styles, collaborating with local companies who consider the Harris their Chicago performance home, and providing educational and accessible opportunities for everyone.
As stated on its FY2023 Form 990.
Programs
Resident Program: Supporting Chicago Artists - Founded specifically to serve Chicagos vibrant community of small to midsize performing arts organizations and support culturally relevant programming in Chicago, HT has served as a home for over 55 local arts and humanities organizations. The current 30 Resident Companies perform in a wide variety of genres and cultural traditions and represent the wide diversity of arts and culture organizations in Chicago. We subsidize all rental costs for our Resident Companies by more than 55%, provide dedicated production, marketing, and box office support from our expert staff, and offer free professional development and training opportunities. Our work supports these small to midsize companies and ensures their longevity in an ever-shifting arts ecosystem. In the 2024-25 Season, Resident Companies presented 42 performances on the Harris Theater stage for 39,673 audience members.
$4,128,076 spent$712,102 earned by the program49% of program spendingHarris Theather Presents: Presenting Diverse Voices - In addition to the support we offer to our Resident Companies, our own Harris Theater Presents (HTP) series brings the highest caliber artists from every corner of the world to Chicago to tell stories of human experiences from a multitude of perspectives. Representing over 32 countries across six continents, HTP brings ambitious international projects, new commissions, and co-productions to the HT stage, the rooftop, and the iconic Pritzker Pavilion. The 2024-25 Harris Theater Presents Season showcased leading artists and ensembles in music and dance, continuing Chicagos reputation as an international hub for cultural exchange through the arts. The Harris Theater produced 27 HTP performances during the 2024-25 Season. Highlights included the GRAMMY Award-winning Silkroad Ensemble with their newest production, American Railroad, Twyla Tharp Dances Diamond Jubilee celebrating Twyla Tharps 60 years as a world-renowned choreographer, and the U.S. premiere of Volcano Productions Scott Joplins Treemonisha - A Musical Reimagining, a reworked, fully-staged version of Scott Joplins only opera.
$2,951,009 spent$1,183,146 earned by the program35% of program spendingCommunity Engagement Programs: Generating Lasting Community Impact - Woven through each aspect of the Theaters work are Community Engagement programs that ensure our multicultural programming reaches as many Chicago community members as possible. Our Mix at Six and Family Series break down barriers for patrons to experience the arts in an inclusive environment for all ages and abilities, and our Education Residency Initiative brings the world-renowned artists from our Harris Theater Presents series into Chicago classrooms to provide high school students with hands-on experiences that transform them from audience members to pre-professional artists. We also partner with local community organizations to make programming accessible to patrons of all income levels through the Access Tickets program. Above all, our commitment to DEIA principles permeates our vision to make the Harris Theater truly inclusive and accessible to our community. In addition to the accessible Mix at Six and Family Series, during the 2024-25 Season the Harris Theater distributed 1,650 free Access Tickets to Community Partner organizations and provided arts education and mentorship to 406 students and community…
$1,378,328 spent$49,298 earned by the program16% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $8,457,413.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2021 to 2022, from $65M to $60M (−8%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2018 0% · 2019 1% · 2020 8% · 2021 19% · 2022 30% · 2023 3%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
53% of MUSIC AND DANCE THEATER CHICAGO INC’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 9 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Chief executive
Lorraine J Dimun
President & CEO
Board chair
Peter M Ellis
Chairman
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2024 and FY2025 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 19 funders to 24 funders, grant income fell $1.9M → $1.6M.
12 of 62 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 49% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of MUSIC AND DANCE THEATER CHICAGO INC’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 62 funders by total. Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
MUSIC AND DANCE THEATER CHICAGO INC leans on a few funders — its largest provides 31% of grant income and the top three 64%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
51% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund MUSIC AND DANCE THEATER CHICAGO INC.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 68% · 2018 51% · 2019 61% · 2020 41% · 2021 37% · 2022 52% · 2023 36% — diversifying over time.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
44% of MUSIC AND DANCE THEATER CHICAGO INC's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 63% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
90% of MUSIC AND DANCE THEATER CHICAGO INC's grant income comes from Illinois funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $6.5M arriving through sponsors registered in 11 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
MUSIC AND DANCE THEATER CHICAGO INC's revenue grew 66% between 2017 and 2025.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,430 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Government funding MUSIC AND DANCE THEATER CHICAGO INC receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $80k on record.
- National Endowment for the Arts$80k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like MUSIC AND DANCE THEATER CHICAGO INC
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Illinois
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
83% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
63%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for MUSIC AND DANCE THEATER CHICAGO INC: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds MUSIC AND DANCE THEATER CHICAGO INC?
- MUSIC AND DANCE THEATER CHICAGO INC (Illinois) receives grants from 62 organizations whose IRS filings report $13,215,500 to it, the largest being The Chicago Community Trust ($4,121,301). 39 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does MUSIC AND DANCE THEATER CHICAGO INC have?
- IRS filings report 62 organizations giving $13,215,500 in grants to MUSIC AND DANCE THEATER CHICAGO INC, 39 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of MUSIC AND DANCE THEATER CHICAGO INC?
- The Chicago Community Trust is the largest funder on record, with $4,121,301 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like MUSIC AND DANCE THEATER CHICAGO INC find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Illinois. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds Music and Dance Theater Chicago →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 62 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing