HELP LOCALLY: 2nd Annual Circus Soirée to Benefit CircEsteem Chicago's Youth Circus

Join us for the 2nd Annual Circus Soirée, where guests will be treated to a special circus performance by CircEsteem youth and staff, a live and silent auction, and an opportunity to learn how to walk on a tightrope, juggle or roll around in a gym wheel. Circus Soirée proceeds benefit CircEsteem's HomeWork & CircusWork program, an after school program that provides tutoring, circus arts training, and healthy snacks to more than 30 youth three times a week throughout the school year. Since 2001, CircEsteem's mission has been to unite youth from diverse racial, cultural, and economic backgrounds by helping them build self-esteem and mutual respect through the practice of circus arts. Our curriculum includes clowning, juggling, stilt-walking, unicycling, and acrobatics all of which is taught by professional circus staff and is designed to allow students to progress at their own pace. By overcoming obstacles and achieving goals, our students demonstrate increased self-esteem, higher grade point averages, and new found circus skills. My favorite Circus Soirée shots were the cool juxtaposition of the kids doing circus arts and the rockin' antiques in the Architectural Artifacts space. Check out ChiIL Mama's Full Circus Soiree Photo Recap Below: Last year my husband & I video taped the whole show & shot close to 500 stills, and our son & daughter both performed.   This year our kids are taking a fall hiatus after 3 solid years of circus arts with CircEsteem.     Du-Jay just started the selective enrollment, gifted program at Lane Tech and needs to settle in to the rigorous academic demands and workload.   Sagezilla is again doing competitive gymnastics with the Chicago Comets team and has practice 4 days a week, so we needed to ease up on circus, just for the moment.   But we'll be back! The kids adore circus arts and we have seen first hand what a wonderful program CircEsteem runs and highly recommend it.   Help out if you can! We need your help to reach our goal of raising $60,000 to support our free circus programs.  There are many ways you can get involved. Buy a ticket to the event, donate an item to the silent auction, make a donation or volunteer!  It's going to be a night you won't want to miss!

Check out more of our "best of" below:

There was excellent array of food choices from jambalaya to gourmet tacos & crepes.

The "boozie snocones" and non boozie snocones for the under agers were a huge hit!

And there was a plethora of cool silent auction items to choose from.   
We were so stoked to win the collapsible hula hoop, private lessons with Dizzy Lizzy and an outdoor trapeze session on the lakefront!

Don't miss Circus Soirée 2 on October 17th!!   Book your tickets by the 4th.   Time's ticking....

Sagezilla's first pro-stage makeup session!

These kids & instructors have some serious talents!

At CircEsteem the older kids are paid to mentor and teach the younger ones and sliding scale classes and free tutoring make circus arts accessible to all.   HELP OUT if you can.