Collaborating for the Greater Good

Collaborating is the key to our Playhouses success!

As an organization, we look forward to our National Conference each year because it means we have the opportunity to network with the other incredible Playhouses and national staff, learn by attending important discussions and share our local Madison best practices.

Our Playhouse has incredibly strong leadership with an impactful staff and board of directors. We also have a strong showing at our conference, which is a physical example of the dedication of time and talents this team consistently gives our community.

We received a visit and visited another Playhouse this year!

Before we left for our conference, our friends from the Fargo Playhouse stopped by for a first time visit. We love showing people around our space and have meaningful conversations about the work we do. On our way down, we stopped by the Deerfield Playhouse to look at their updated space! It’s so fun to get ideas from our other locations.

Our local Playhouse was celebrated for the robust behind the scenes work of our staff and volunteers!

The National Office has created 8 different Standards of Execution (SOE) which guide local Playhouses do to our very best in serving our families. There is a robust list of work needed to complete these standards and there are 3 levels of achievement; baseline, strong and center of excellence.  Our team has worked incredibly hard this year and received the highest level of achievement, Center of Excellence, for all 8 of the standards of execution! We couldn’t be more proud.

• Center of Excellence:
  • Programs
  • Marketing
  • Operations and Facility
  • Volunteer Management and HR
  • Financial Health
  • Board Health and Strategy
  • Development and Fundraising
  • Family and Community

The next time you’re in the Playhouse, you’ll have to be sure to check out our award wall!

Our local Playhouse was well represented!

We were honored to contribute on 4 different topics throughout the week.

• On Thursday Courtney was part of a presentation on the signature program, Art Explosion
• On Friday Anne presented on a topic about ‘Shifting your perception of challenging behaviors’, and Courtney presented on ‘Maximizing Effectiveness and Retention of Volunteers’
• On Saturday, our Speech Therapist, Liz Delsandro shared her expertise on ‘Communicating with Participants with Limited Speech’

The driving force behind all the work we do behind the scenes is our families.

Every decision made, every action took and everything we implement starts with the question – ‘how will this benefit our families?’. We are incredibly proud of the work done here in Madison because we are incredibly proud to have the chance to serve the Down syndrome community.

If you are interested in learning how you can share your time and talents with our community, we would love to have a conversation with you! There is something for everyone here at GiGi’s Playhouse Madison. You can submit a volunteer application online- this will not commit you to anything other than a conversation with your team! Share if you are interested in the Board of Directors, becoming a tutor or program leader, being part of our family committee or if you’re open to hearing all opportunities! Our team loves to talk with you and will work together to find the best fit for you. You can find the volunteer application HERE.

GiGi’s Playhouse Madison is so successful because we work as a team and have the same goal of doing what’s best for our families.

We are excited for our future and promise to continue the high-level of work we have established in our Playhouse. Being part of the Down syndrome community is not something we take lightly and will ensure our goals are always aligned with collaborating with the right people to do our best.