Gallery Debut In The News
GiGi's Playhouse Chicago Returns to Gallery Victor Armendariz Bruce Dempsey, the program leader and retired Art Professor, helped the Art Explosion! program participants put their spin on classic pieces like Edvard Munich's "The Scream" and Vincent Van Gogh "Starry Night" to name a few. His love and dedication to the...
Kids Club: No Secret Password Needed!
Not Your Average Backyard "Club" Have you attended a Kid’s Club program yet? You may think back to the days where you and your friends formed your own club in your backyard. Our Kid’s Club program has a lot of similarities and some important differences to the club you once...
GiGi’s National Leadership Conference: Stronger Together
We Are Stronger Together! The GiGi's National Leadership Conference was November 7-11 at the Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center Hotel. Over 300 playhouse staff and volunteers attended this year for inspiration and learning. For instance, sessions focused on technology, daily operations, programs, marketing, fundraising, and leadership development. We heard amazing...
Free Seminar on Working With Young Adults With Down Syndrome.
Lauren Duffy: The Presenter Lauren Duffy is an occupational therapy student at UIC, currently in her 2nd year. She co-leads the TeenTastic program at GiGi's and recently presented information at the Illinois Occupational Therapy Association conference about the importance of promoting self-determination when working with young adults with Down syndrome....
Art Explosion! Returns to the Gallery
Artists at GiGi's Playhouse Chicago Thanks to our incredible two program leaders, Bruce Dempsey and Jenny Popova, along with the hard work and dedication of the participants and other volunteers, we had another successful fall season of Art Explosion! This year, the class created their interpretations of Matisse’s cut-outs; Kandinsky’s circles;...
26 Years Old, 26 (.2) Miles, 26 Hundred Dollars
On Your Mark, Get Set, FUNDRAISE! Irais Villa has always wanted to run the Chicago Marathon since she was little. She decided that since she turned 26 in May and the marathon is 26.2 miles this was the year to do it. Often times runners will choose a charity to...
Happy Anniversary GiGi’s Playhouse Chicago!
Cheers to 8 years! The Chicago location was the fourth playhouse to open their doors back in 2010! Eight years later we have more than doubled our space from the renovation in 2016, we've got over 14 programs running strong, 500 families living in our community, and over 400 hours...
“I am brave! I am strong! I am powerful!”
Best of All Moment Jenny, a program leader for many of our programs at GiGi's Playhouse Chicago, completed a Best of All sheet for Ahamad after he impressed everyone with his Karate skills back in August. She wrote, "Sometimes Ahamad can be a little shy and quiet; but, when he...
Join Us Again for our 4th Annual Dance-A-Thon
Show us your newest dance moves at our 4th Annual Get Down With Down Syndrome Dance-A-Thon! What is the Get Down With Down Syndrome Dance-a-thon? The Get Down With Down Syndrome Dance-A-thon is a three-hour dance party, complete with a DJ, fun and games, a photo booth provided by Picture...
Shattering Glass Ceilings in Literacy
Individuals with Down syndrome CAN do research! There are three levels to our 1:1 Literacy Tutoring program. The first one starts off at a very basic level: attending to a story from start to finish, turning pages, pointing to characters and objects in the pictures etc. Level two pushes a...
Best of All: Rising Star Emma
Nobody puts Emma in a corner! Emma has been wanting to attend a dance class for a long time. So, when we stared our Dance and Yoga program they jumped at the opportunity. Every Wednesday night we'd see Emma on the dance floor improving skills in memorization of the new...
Leaders of Language, Music, ‘n Our Peeps (LMNOP)
LMNOP Back With A BANG! Language, Music, 'n Our Peeps isn't your typical music circle you might participate in at the library or community center. This program guides parents and young children through learning basic sign language and other forms of communication using music and language based activities. LMNOP is led...
