Bitter Jester Foundation For The Arts, NFP
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Bitter Jester Music Festival
Annual battle-of-the-bands-style competition series featuring bands & solo performers from across the Midwest. A typical season is comprised of 4 May/June Friday Concerts, a Grand Finale on July 4, a featured Showcase at Ravinia Festival, and a“Best Of” Showcase at Chicago's iconic Navy Pier.
The crown jewel of this well-respected event is the quality & quantity of educational feedback + professional / peer mentorship & networking the Foundation provides all of the Festival’s participants.
BJMF is proud to be officially partnered with / supported by The City of Highland Park, The Highland Park Community Foundation, 101.9 The Mix FM, Navy Pier, Ravinia Festival, First Bank of Highland Park, and others. BJMF’s numerous judges are all working musicians, touring musicians, music educators, or media professionals and all of them are unpaid volunteers.
Prize money, concert tickets, studio time, gear, gift certificates, and more is given to winners.
The Comic Thread
TCT is an award-winning sketch comedy theatre ensemble (BEST GROUP: LA Comedy Fest; AUDIENCE CHOICE: Chicago Fringe Fest, EMMY® AWARD: Outstanding Cinematography/EMMY® NOMINATION: Outstanding Directing for their web short "The Engagement Party). Hailed as "Brilliant" by SNL founding cast member Garrett Morris, TCT is Aptly described as "Surrealistic comedy that bends the edges of logic in any particular direction with enough grace that you truly don't know what's coming next. And you really don't care because there's a 90% chance that it'll be exceptionally funny" (Express Milwaukee). TCT prides itself on unique characters and regularly ventures into ridiculous territory without a hall pass.
The Purple Shirts
A group of three performers (drawn from the ranks of The Comic Thread) who do live short story/poetry/short play readings in the privacy of patron's homes. Think of it as "radio entertainment right in your living room!"
Performances include a one hour performance by three actors plus a 20-minute "talk back" about the material after the show. Material is custom-built to the audience (examples of past show requests include the themes "Death & Taxes" and "Cabin Fever," for example).
Performances are often donated at charity auctions to help raise money for other not-for-profit companies.
Where we work
Photos
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of participants engaged in programs
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adolescents
Related Program
Bitter Jester Music Festival
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Number of competition entrants
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adolescents
Related Program
Bitter Jester Music Festival
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Our current goals include:
1) Providing top tier educational and growth-oriented feedback to our our Bitter Jester Music Festival participants
2) Producing free public concerts and other live events that showcase musical, dance, and other arts talent, especially original music of young performers aged 12-21.
3) Engage with the community and other arts organizations and provide them with creative event production support whenever possible.
4) Begin the creation of a music library featuring our BJMF performers with the goal of helping them gain media placements with sync licensing arrangements.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Our primary strategy is public awareness, outreach, and press & PR. Our Music Festival continues to grow by leaps and bounds and our live theatre ensembles are being invited to perform at comedy festivals and private events.
We hope to begin planning annual fundraisers.
Beyond that, more outreach and connecting with supporters of the arts along with grant submissions and additional corporate sponsorships will help us achieve our goals and expand.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
With board members/founders who are experienced producers, we are very capable of not only to tell a good story but making it compelling. We also have over 20 years of experience producing art and working with and for the Arts in and around Chicago and the greater Midwest.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
We are a professional arts organization that has been producing live work in Chicago since 1998 (and across the country since 2010) as well as free, live, professional music concerts since 2006. Most notably we have successfully produced the Bitter Jester Music Festival for Chicagoland's diverse populations of teenage musicians, giving them incredible performance opportunities and unparalleled educational feedback. Additional concerts at Navy Pier, Ravinia Festival, and elsewhere have given them additional exposure to industry professionals. Our sketch comedy troupe, The Comic Thread, has been making audiences across the country laugh since 2010 and winning awards, including several regional Emmy awards.
These programs have all been done on a shoestring budget and with an army of volunteers. In 2016 we finally took the plunge and the Bitter Jester Foundation for the Arts, NFP (BJFA) became an official 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation in Illinois.
New programs are always being developed and added, including a "Live at Bitter Jester Music Festival" annual album on bot vinyl and digital.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback, We don’t have the right technology to collect and aggregate feedback efficiently, It is difficult to find the ongoing funding to support feedback collection, Staff find it hard to prioritize feedback collection and review due to lack of time
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Bitter Jester Foundation For The Arts, NFP
Board of directorsas of 11/18/2023
Mr. Daniel Drake
Interactive Arts and Media, Columbia College Chicago
Term: 2023 - 2025
Daniel D. Drake
Interactive Arts and Media, Columbia College Chicago
Nicolas A. DeGrazia
Bitter Jester Studios
Michael Tseitlin
Stevenson High School
Christy L. Knapp
Bartlett Academy / Bartlett High School
Charles J Turck
ScientiaCME
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Not applicable -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? No
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
No data
Gender identity
No data
Transgender Identity
No data
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 11/16/2023GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.