Your Support Makes an Impact
It's an uncertain time for the arts, but Dal Niente is committed to our core mission of commissioning, performing, and sustaining cutting-edge contemporary music from around the globe. Now more than ever, we need your support in bringing provocative and transformative music to life!
Ensemble Dal Niente is a publicly supported, not-for-profit, 501(c)(3) organization. Donations are tax-deductible to the full extent of the law. To support our current season, make a secure online donation below.
Your contribution supports:
DIRECT SUPPORT TO ARTISTS
Artist fees are by far the largest expense of our organization, and your contribution goes directly to support fair payment for our artists. Ensemble Dal Niente’s 26 rostered musicians are not just exceptional interpreters of contemporary chamber music; they are multi-dimensional musicians who impact their communities in immense and varied ways.
COMPOSER COLLABORATIONS
Dal Niente produces around 20 world and US premieres per season in close collaboration with composers from Chicago and around the world, and we work to ensure the works we commission have a life outside of our organization. Premieres in 2024-25 include new work by Wang Lu, David Colson, Hilda Paredes, Aida Shirazi, Igor Santos, and more. We cannot produce this work without your support!
ARTIST-ADMINISTRATORS
EDN currently has an administrative staff of five artist-administrators who manage the operations and production work for the organization and also play in the group. The percentage of the total budget allocated for staff pay is roughly 30-50% of market rate, and your donation directly contributes to one of our primary fundraising imperatives: to increase staff pay to be more competitive with market rates.
Ensemble Forward!
$5,000 sponsors a Chicago performance including artist fees and venue costs
$2,500 sponsors the production and distribution of a recording (and gets your name on the liner notes)
$1,200 covers rehearsal studio costs for a month
$500 sponsors audio/video recording of a performance
$250 provides rehearsal compensation for an ensemble artist
$100 helps support our dedicated artistic staff members who coordinate programming, rehearsals, and performances
Other ways to support:
sEND A CHECK
Our address is 4045 N Rockwell Suite 312, Chicago, IL 60618.
Join Our Board
Dal Niente’s governance board oversees the group’s operations and activates the music that you hear on stage. Be a leader with us.
Commissioning + Special Projects Sponsorships
Bring a new musical work to life by sponsoring the commission of a new piece.
Season Sponsorships
Serve your community by bringing the music to neighbor-hoods and venues throughout Chicago, the country and even the world.
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 26 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, 2021, 2025), Simon Steen-Andersen (2023), Wang Lu (2024), Aida Shirazi (2025). 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.
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.”