SIDE STREET
STUDIO ARTS
Where Elgin Creates
Going Dutch Festival 2025
The Going Dutch Festival is a celebration of female and nonbinary voices in the arts.
EXPERIENCE GOING DUTCH 2025
In 2024, the 14th year of Going Dutch, the project moved from a short festival to a residency series to give GD artists the resources to build groundbreaking creative work and better connect the talents and voices of GD artists with Elgin area artists and audiences. The residency series has continued into 2025 with a variety of amazing artists and performances.
The Going Dutch Festival is produced by Side Street Studio Arts with support from the Elgin Cultural Arts Commission.
2025 SCHEDULE
All shows at Side Street Studio Arts
6:00 PM | Ambo Dance Theatre - Carmilla | $10
Based on Sheridan Le Fanu’s gothic tale Carmilla
A haunting and tender reimagining of one of literature’s earliest depictions of queer desire. Through a contemporary feminist lens, Carmilla unravels how femininity, power, and autonomy intersect with desire, reclaiming the so-called “monstrous” as resilience and self-possession.
7:00 PM | Eileen Tull - Kassandra at the End of the World | $10
An exploration of the Greek prophetess cursed never to be believed, this solo work finds Kassandra on a mountaintop, bearing witness to the annihilation of humanity from climate collapse—at once mythic and urgently contemporary.
8:00 PM | Dance Showcase | $10
A powerful collection of short works by festival artists:
Christine Hands
Ramya Ravi
kt williams + artists
ZBRI Dance Ensemble
Dani Oblitas & Ava Faber
Tiffany Lawson
All shows at Side Street Studio Arts
2:00 PM | Rachel Benzing - Memories in Motion | $10
A one-woman, multidisciplinary performance weaving dance, spoken word, and visual art. This kaleidoscopic journey explores the way memory shapes identity, illuminating the shifting relationship between past and present self.
All events are held at Backspace at Side Street Studio Arts, 15 1/2 Ziegler Ct., Downtown Elgin. The space is not wheelchair accessible.
Tickets: $10 per show or $30 festival pass. On sale NOW!
Workshop schedule to follow!
.png)
.jpg)
Going Dutch FAQ
Q. What is Going Dutch?
A. GD is a celebration of the female and nonbinary voice in dance, music, theatre, and the visual arts. When Core Project founded Going Dutch years ago, we were looking for a title that was about singularity and individualism, as so many female choreographers (only at that point) were underrepresented and/or lumped into larger regional or national representations.
As Going Dutch has grown, expanded, and become a multi-disciplinary festival, the meaning has transitioned to represent the ideals of self-support, sustainability, and representation.
Going Dutch was originally developed to address the underrepresentation of female choreographers in the dance world. As the idea grew into a festival over the years, it expanded to include the work of self-identified female artists working in music, theater, site-specific, and visual art as well as dance.
For years, Going Dutch has been inclusive of nonbinary artists, both as applicants and within the context the creative groups involved in the festival. However, this support had not yet made it into our mission, nor our committee, but we are now doing just that. The 13th Going Dutch Festival was our first official celebration of female and nonbinary voices in the arts.
From the beginning, GD was about providing a platform for underrepresented artists, we honor that this term extends well beyond those who identify as female, and, in our current home of Elgin, IL, know that both female and nonbinary artists deserve this platform and support.
Q. Where is the Going Dutch Festival located?
A. The festival will be hosted in various venues in downtown Elgin, approximately 40 miles outside of Chicago. Check out a map of downtown Elgin, including where all our FREE PARKING is located!
GD COMMITTEE
Going Dutch Festival Committee:
Going Dutch Festival Crew:
Erin Rehberg, Amanda Harris, Jess Rocha, Luiza Moraes, Abby Franke
Tanner Melvin, Erin Rehberg, Amanda Harris, Jess Rocha, Luiza Moraes, Nick Mataragas, Abby King, Abby Franke
Take a glimpse into previous Going Dutch!
