Andersonville Honors Awards Preview: Arts Organization of the Year

The Andersonville Honors Awards recognizes outstanding businesses in the Andersonville neighborhood, and over the course of two weeks in February we received hundreds of nominations for six different awards:

• The Welcome Addition Award, for best new businesses opened in 2012 in Andersonville.
• The Good Neighbor Award is for the business that best exemplifies the spirit of community support and customer service.
• Arts Organization of the Year
• Health/Service Organization of the Year
• Retailer of the Year
• Restaurant/Bar of the Year

We have narrowed it down to the top five in each category (two categories have six nominees because of ties), and final voting begins this Friday, March 1.   Over the next few days we will be posting a preview for each award category to showcase all of our wonderful nominees! The first award is the Arts Organization of the Year Award, for the top organization or business in the arts industry. And the nominees are:

• Founded by the legendary Gus Giordano, the Gus Giordano Dance School teaches the highest quality of dance instruction for all dance forms, offering dance classes and summer programs.

• The pH Comedy Theater was a new addition to the neighborhood in 2012.  This comedy theater specializes in improv, sketch comedy, musicals performances as well as offers comedy classes. They also organize the annual Zombie Pub Crawl.

• Rivendell Theatre Ensemble is another recent addition to Andersonville and is Chicago’s only professional theatre company dedicated to the work of women theatre artists.  Rivendell Theatre Ensemble  provides audiences with artistically challenging, thought-provoking plays that explore the female experience.

• Swedish American Museum is a nonprofit museum and cultural center for the education, celebration, and interpretation of Swedish American history in Chicago, offering museum tours, special events, and family programs. It will also host the Andersonville Honors Gala on Thursday, April 18th!

• The Neo-Futurists boasts the longest running show in Chicago theater history, their ground-breaking ‘Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind’, an ever-changing line up of 30 plays in 30 minutes.  Over the years they have also brought many critcally-acclaimed full length original shows to the neighborhood as well.

All six awards, plus the Eco-Andersonville Award and the Mathiasson Award for Community Service in Andersonville, will be presented at the Andersonville Honors Gala on Thursday, April 18th at the Swedish American Museum.  In additional to final voting starting on March 1, tickets to this fun event also go on sale that day.  To vote and get more information about tickets, visit www.andersonville.org! You can also like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/andersonville or follow us on Twitter @avillechamber for more updates.