Good evening/morning/whenever, brunchers!

I'm writing with a lot of happy anticipation for the upcoming show. After a long hiatus, change in personnel, and rebranding, BPP is ready for several installations of Musicians Who Brunch. The next two MWB shows will be hosted by Atlas Arts Media at 4809 N. Ravenswood Avenue, suite 314.

​First: Admission prices will remain the same at $12/person, or $10/person if you bring a friend. 

Second: $3 mimosas will be offered, created by our guest bartender Aaron Gottl of Atlas Arts Media
OR if mimosas aren't your thing, you can BYOB for $5 (and yes--if you bring a date, you can split that $5 for a total of $2.50 per person, unless bae is buying)!  

WHEN: 10/22 and 12/17 and 3/?/18
WHERE: Atlas Arts Media: 4809 N. Ravenswood Avenue, suite 314
WHO:
     10/22: Craig Davis Pinson
                 Jack Shales
                 Haiga Duo
    12/17:   Jonathan Hannau
                  Brent Brown 
                  TBD
   3/?/18: Ladies' Night
                 Michelle Isaac
                 Kelley Sheehan
                 Hanee Park
                 Heidi Joosten
HOW MUCH:  $12/person, or $10/person if you bring a friend plus drinks
TO WHOM: All profits go to the composers/performers, with a booking fee to cover costs for BPP
BRING: Cash for entrance and drinks, yourself, a friend, and open ears

We can't wait to see you! The next 6 months are jam packed with amazing local music by Chicago-based composers, songwriters, and sound artists. GET YOURSELF THERE.

If you have any questions, email cassandra@brunchprojectproductions.com or visit our website or Facebook Page

Good evening, brunchers!

We are excited to let you know that this fine and boozy organization is going through a little bit of construction and reimagination. Thanks for being patient while we continue to pave the way for new music and social art in Chicago.

We're excited to announce that the next Musicians Who Brunch (installation #5!!) will be in October of 2017. We apologize for the hiatus, but it was partially due do 1. a lot of cocktails and 2. most of our colleagues' recent graduation from masters' degrees and artist diplomas.

We are looking forward to some welcome changes, including more active programming, more diverse entertainment, and an improving relationship with local businesses with whom we love to partner! 

This is an open invitation: if you have a cabaret, a show, a concert, or an idea that you would like to see programmed in a Chicago space with some support from this organization, please contact us. We are planning our expansion with high hopes for a higher engagement with new art and music in this amazing city. We're open to everyone and everything. 

Contact us at cassandra@brunchprojectproductions.com or through the contact form on this website.

As always--keep brunching, friends. 

Photo Credit: Jacob Floyd

Wow. 

Tonight was something special. We booked a room and set up 35 chairs for what we thought would be a gathering of our closest friends and a few faculty members, but we had to start late to accommodate those thinking that there was standing room only!

Along with his usual speech (generally presented in video format) Will Spargur (AKA Will Brooks, author of "You're Uninvited") added a Chicago-relevant intro, along with the reading of 2 other poems that I didn't set in Dried Tobacco. Ian's performance was the most articulate and passionate it's been so far, and even I had to hold back emotions.

We received tears, hugs and amazing feedback that we thought we wouldn't escalate from our initial performance at Mary's Attic, which only intensified in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Thank you to Roosevelt University and to our lovely, amazing peers for your constant support on this project. 

In these troubling times, I would encourage all of you to continue creating and engaging with art. Continue patronizing art. Continue thinking about art. Continue protesting with art. Art that speaks to the human condition is more important than ever. In fact, I think it will be the main factor in whether or not things change.

But that's just me. Thanks, Pino Grigio... 

ANYWAY, back to the usual spiel. 

As we put DTP to bed for a few months, we look forward to our new, upcoming endeavors.

Brunch Project Productions has a few projects on its horizon. Ian is producing (and is the author of) Adult Fairy Tales, which gives a modern spin to classic opera pieces and puts them in a contemporary, narrative context. Musicians Who Brunch III will be taking place on Sunday, February 26th at the Red Lion Pub in Chicago, and our program of composers and performers is larger than ever! (Mark your calendar! $7/person for students, $10/person, for non-students, and $5/person if you bring a friend, regardless of your, um, student-ness.)

We can't wait to see you in a few short weeks for MWB III!

Oh--and stay posted for our first annual BPP fundraiser in May! 

Until then, have a mimosa. Don't let anyone tell you that mixing your morning OJ with champagne is alcoholism, because you don't need that kind of negativity in your life. ;) 

Lots of love and bubbly,
Cassandra

This past Wednesday evening, we celebrated our Michigan Premiere of Dried Tobacco Project in Kalamazoo. We held a workshop encouraging multimedia creativity and collaboration alongside our  concert, featuring a forward by the author, Will Spargur, at 5:30 p.m. that evening.

The response we saw from attendees was touching and inspiring. We received very emotional feedback about the piece, and this may be because it was our most emotional performance thus far. Ian struggled to get through recitations, and I touched the piano with the most detail and attention that I have in a long time.

I got to play on a piano previously performed on by Mitsuko Uchida and Emmanuel Ax--talk about an inspiring experience, as we played and sang against a woodland backdrop in Michigan about a topic too important to dismiss.

We can't wait to take this piece to other venues. We really believe in the work we are doing and we hope that you do too. 

Thank you, as always for the support and love.

As I sit down with my Great Lakes Christmas Ale (that's right, I had to slip away from the beautiful Chicago to visit my hometown of Cleveland for a minute...but I'll be back tomorrow--don't worry!) I am thinking about how much information we've hit you with in the last few months.

Between our personal endeavors, careers, and BPP's many nutty Sunday and Monday night extravaganzas, we can't believe you're still following this shit.

The New Year is a great time to reflect on what we have done and what we hope for the future. Ian and I would like to do the same. Since you're here already...err....

First off, we want to thank you, our supporters, listeners, artist friends and present and future patrons. We can't do it without you.

Here's what we've done in the last year:
-decided to randomly write a song cycle [grossing nearly $5K and launching the company]
-applied for a grant
-won that grant application
-booked concerts in 5 new venues
-produced a concert series [that manages to cover its musicians' bar tabs]
-started working on a libretto for a new work
-dreamt up a crazy experimental work for voice [TBD 2017]

Who knows what we'll do next? We have so much coming up, along with the balancing of finishing our masters' degrees and working in the industry. We're just happy to contribute artistically, culturally and alcoholically to whatever we can.

We look forward to goofing off and making more art in 2017. Stay posted for Adult Fairy Tales and Musicians Who Brunch III, as well as our Michigan Premiere of Dried Tobacco Project on January 11th and our Hard Premiere of DT at Roosevelt University on February 8th! 

Brunch on, friends. Have one on us...er...figuratively speaking. Unless you see us, in which case we'll probably have a drink with you.

All the best, and happy New Year,

​Cassandra

Today we ventured to Kalamazoo, Michigan to record snippets of Dried Tobacco and take an interview to prepare our listeners for an upcoming performance at Kalamazoo College on January 11th, 2017.

We had fun wining and dining around Kalamazoo after our work was over.

We can't wait to share this very important work with west Michigan! If you are in the area and interested in it please join us/tune in for the following:

[all times in eastern standard time]
January 10th: Radio broadcast on WMUK (102.1) in Kalamazoo!
January 11th:
  5 P.M. Workshop @ the Arcus Center for Social Justice
  6 P.M. Free dinner/open talk with Ian and Cassandra
  7:30 P.M. Michigan premiere of Dried Tobacco Project at the Arcus Social Justice Center at Kalamazoo College

[Please RSVP if you plan to attend the workshop or dinner]
​

We raise a glass to you for being patient with us during this long strech after our last event.

We apologize for the delay in reports on our artistic progress. We're not taking a break. We are just planning  and plotting for the future!

So, what's next on the docket for BPP? Ian is hard at work, reinvigorating classic opera works for contemporary aesthetic and cultural climate via his "Adult Fairy Tales" Project. I'm planning our next Musicians Who Brunch event, which, by the way, is going super well!

I was so moved and appreciative of the turnout at the most recent MWB event. We doubled our profit from the last two events (which entirely went back to the composers and performers involved in the evening--we're gonna keep Chicago artists working in Chicago), and we can't wait for the next one in February. I really think we're building something! 

We are looking forward to our radio interview with WMUK in Kalamazoo, Michigan, in preparation for our January 11th concert at Kalamzoo College. We'll be headed to Michigan on December 19th to take our message outside of Chicago, and are so pumped to keep our art moving forward!

If you want to get invovled with us, shoot us an email or text or message, or just show up at our favorite and  regular Edgewater bars for a great hangout. As always, we appreciate your support and enthusiasm. 

Lots of love, wine and art,

c

Good evening fellow brunchers!

Ian and I have been drinking heavily since 7pm because WE JUST LOVE YOU SO MUCH. #forart

We want to emphasize how important your presence is for our next event, Musicians Who Brunch at the Red Lion. We believe so strongly in networking amongst artists. 

We want to showcase new and up-and-coming composers and brilliant performers. We can't do this without you. The pillar of our pursuits is the creation of art that reflects life as we know it. On this program you will find experimental music, musical theatre, multimedia art and social justice art music. We showcase everything from strings to voices to improvising silliness. 

We will build a community of support of love and of the future. Come meet your next collaborator, coworker or friend at the Red Lion on Sunday. We'll be there. Will you?

More importantly, support new music and musicians! 

The future of art starts with you. The future of art is dependent on supporting one another. Without each other, frankly, we won't have a platform to build amazing, moving, informative music upon. Thank you for your attention, your contributions and for your fervency. 

$7/person, $5/person if you bring a friend. So bring a friend to the Red Lion on Sunday to hear new, kickass works by Hanee Park, Jonathan Hannau, Jordan Jenkins, Justus Richardson, Heidi Joosten and Cassandra Kaczor.

Never stop brunching,

-c & Ian.

Good evening, all!

We're so excited to have you at our next "brunch" on Sunday, November 20th at 6 p.m. at the Red Lion!

Check it out--tickets are only $7/person and $5/person if you bring a friend.

This series features prominent Chicago composers Hanee Park, Heidi Joosten*, Jonathan Hannau, Jordan Jenkins, Justus Richardson and Cassandra Kaczor with their talented performers. Also, you can have a f[r]ew brews and great food while you listen to their works.

Why is this event important, you might ask? On the surface, it just looks like some college kids jamming out in a bar. I see that. 

I'll tell you. If you follow my nonsensically-lovely blog posts, you will notice that a common concern amongst them is the concept of peer patronage. 

I believe so strongly in building a new art scene in Chicago. Our more traditional patrons who can only engage emotionally, socially and financially with Tchaikovsky's concerti are dying off. We will be left with nothing if we don't support one another. Arts attendance should no longer be about representing status. Rather, it should be a statement about how the arts inform culture and history, therefore, placing value on communication and innovation.

I listen to my peers' works and I am dumbfounded. We are making some intelligent and relevant shit, here in Chicago. We work with ridiculously talented performers. We take no prisoners. 

We deserve to be heard.
​
So come to the second installation of MWB. Let's continue to connect and build our tiny empires of sound, dance, photography, 2D and 3D art and poetry... [etc.] We will construct this thing from the ground up, not dependent on genre or degree level.

Let good art continue to be good art. 

See you in a week, loves.

-c and Ian.

*denotes world premiere

JUST KIDDING. THIS POST IS ACTUALLY ENTITLED "PEER PATRONAGE PT II!"

HA. We gotcha! Now you HAVE to read this! Seriously, commit, you guys.

After a few $3 margs with my dear friend, colleague, and all-around badass Heidi Joosten, I have been [yet again] riled up by the concept of the struggle surrounding peer patronage, especially cross-genre or cross-medium or cross-interest peer patronage.

Musicians Who Brunch II is a perfect opportunity for all of us Chicago vocalists, instrumentalists, and composers to get together in a casual space and share what we've been working on. For those of you who attended the first MWB event, there is a common understanding around the [extremely high] skill level of those who were involved, and the aftermath of the event-- a true and excited (and I mean this in the best way possible) hunting grounds for future collaborations. However, I could only split the door evenly in increments of $25. 

From here, and from other programs that I have worked on, I can conclude that the best way to really define your aesthetic as either a creator or a commissioner [performer, admin, other-media artist] is to continue religiously attending events that help to define what you NEED. I'm not asking you to come to Musicians Who Brunch events because it makes me and Ian look good...not at all. In fact, we won't be taking a cut off of these events until the turnover makes it worth everyones' whiles. I'm asking you to come to my Musicians Who Brunch events, along with my series at The Awakenings Foundation, and every Student Composers Concert and every Opera Fest performance and every student recital and every bar show and every hole-in-the-wall event because I truly think that it will help us build a stronger and more supportive artistic community here in the city of Chicago.

If we plan to live and work here, we must continue to support one another, especially when it's a networking event handed out to every attendee on a silver platter. 

I cannot stress enough that the Art Scene here in Chicago is shifting--it must be redefined. We are lacking in the patronage system that once supported the CSO, the Lyric, etc... so the only thing that I can see as a true revolution in patronage is for us to support one another.

Old money is turning over, and new money is apathetic. Will you join us in building something meaningful?

If any of this doesn't make sense, email me at cassandrakaczormusic@gmail.com and I'll be more than happy to go into depth with you. 

But otherwise, this is my challenge to each and every one of you:

Put 7 music events on your calendar every month.

Delegate them as such:

-3 events that I want to attend

-2 events that I am obligated to attend 

-2 events that I am not sure about/don't feel welcome at/am not represented by [by medium, aesthetic, etc]

...and that, my friends, as a rule--if we all yield to it--will be seen in ticket sales. It will be seen in your own audiences as people understand the value of returning a favor.

We are screwed if we don't build this thing from the ground up. Will you join us?

Anyway. Didn't mean to get too heavy. *pours another glass of wine*

... FOR ART!