On May 4th, 2025, A.B.L.E. will celebrate 9 years as a nonprofit organization.

Our growth over the past 9 years has happened organically as we’ve listened to the needs and wants of our community. A.B.L.E. strives to give all of our stakeholders an active role in shaping the future of the organization. Through a collaborative process started in 2023, we developed a new 5 year strategic plan that lays out a course for the continued growth of our organization both internally and externally. In August 2024, our Board of Directors ratified this plan which is built around 3 key long-term goals. As we look ahead to our 10th anniversary season, we’re excited to share this vision with you:

*Facilitator Joe and actor Sam clap their hands together and bow, mirroring each other’s movements during a rehearsal - photo by Justin Barbin*

1) Customizing our programs to meet the needs and wants of the people we serve.

Community is the most important thing to us at ABLE. Our unique, person-centered approach is consistently recognized as a strength of the organization. We want to share our work with as many people as possible, but not at the expense of diluting the work or our values.

In the next 5 years, we aim to:

Meet people where there are by building new venue partnerships to offer ensemble programming in range of neighborhoods around Chicago, strengthening outreach programs so that we can work with participants in the places they already gather and reach a broader range of participants each year, and tiering our ensemble program with different opportunities to appeal to different interest and experience levels.
Develop opportunities for deeper engagement for long-time participants including artistic employment opportunities like the new Producing Ensemble - a fully paid, professional company that will create and tour original work.
Refine our process for collecting feedback from current participants to shape program decisions and priorities.
Make avenues for new actors to get involved in our work including hosting free Taster Sessions periodically throughout the year, licensing curriculum for other organizations/educators to share our work with their community, and expanding our core ensemble program.

Some ways we’re working towards this goal right now:

Sustaining our core ensemble program by offering different levels of engagement from 6 week to 12 weeks.

Continuing to expand outreach services throughout the year with a goal of at least 2 residences and 4 public professional development masterclasses
Hosting 4 free Open Studio sessions to reach prospective actors, volunteers, and partners
Establishing new venue partners for rehearsals and performances
Trialing new rehearsal and performance models with our production of Frankenstein and growing our shorter-form showcase ensembles.

*Katie and Andrew flex their biceps during a photoshoot for Frankenstein - photo by Joe Mazza*

2) Strengthening organizational sustainability

As with arts organizations across the country, we are grappling with the effects of inflation and rising costs coupled with consistently unpredictable revenue. Because we sit at the intersection of so many fields, ABLE’s programs do not fit neatly into traditional funding buckets. Arts education programs tend to prioritize youth, whereas we work with underserved adults, and our model of community-led theatre is not recognized by more traditional arts funders.

Sustainability of our organization includes shoring up both our finances AND the people who make our work possible.

In the next 5 years, we aim to:

Increase our financial sustainability while ensuring that our fundraising practices are values-aligned, ethical, and equitable.
Maintain strong financial management policies, striving for at least 3-6 months of operating reserves at all times to take advantage of unforeseen opportunities or challenges.
Strengthen our staff capacity by building stronger departments to ensure the workload does not rest on just one or two people. With a strong team, we can monitor, assess, and adapt to internal and external changes and build stronger programs.
Develop a strong leadership pipeline to attract and retain innovative leaders at all levels of the organization who reflect our values and commitment to diversity will be central to our success now and in the future.

Some ways we’re working towards this goal right now:

Recruiting 2 new board members to fill current vacancies, with a focus on diversifying the racial makeup of our board. If you know someone who would be a good fit, please share our Board Job Description.
Launching a major gift campaign to grow our community of individual supporters
Adding health insurance benefits for full-time staff to attract and retain top talent.
Growing our staff, including new teaching artists and a full-time Company Manager.

*Lewis collaborates with two actors during a devising session - photo by Justin Barbin*

3) Growing community connections and collaborations:

In the next 5 years, we aim to:

Strengthen our messaging and how we get the word out about what we do to different stakeholder groups.
Establish A.B.L.E. as a respected thought-leader in the field of inclusive theatre so we can continue to build trust from our community and draw new collaborators into the work. This includes sharing our work at conferences and public events, offering professional development trainings, and licensing curriculum for other organizations and educators to offer accessible programming in their communities.
Work towards an organizational makeup that better reflects the city we live in and the intersectionality of the disability community. This includes forging new relationships with organizations and service providers, specifically looking towards businesses based in the south and west sides where creative opportunities have historically been scarce.

Some ways we’re working towards this goal right now:

Building a new, updated website with a focus on accessibility and a more robust archive of past productions.

Creating new video assets to tell the story of who we are and how we work
Streamlining our curriculum archive to support our teaching team in future planning, and lay the groundwork for licensing scripts and lesson plans for use by other organizations.