On March 30th the Merit School of Music, Chicago's largest community music school, and the Chicago Media Project are partnering to co-host Merit in Music, a unique, dinner-and-a-film fundraiser on opening night of the second annual DOC10 Film Festival.
The DOC10 festival, March 30-April 2, 2017, presents ten Chicago premieres of the best documentary films from 2016-17. One of the films, an extraordinary, music-themed documentary, was selected as the perfect pairing for a special night benefiting Merit School of Music.
Sweet Dillard, a 2016 release by Miami-based documentarian Jim Virga, chronicles the 2014 school year of South Florida's Dillard Center for the Arts Jazz Ensemble and their irrepressible band leader, Christopher Dorsey.
Since Merit School of Music helps young people transform their lives by removing barriers to high-quality music education, Sweet Dillard and its inspiring true story about the power of music education is an ideal fit.
See the Trailer Below
The fundraiser starts at 5:30 p.m. with a pre-screening dinner at Grassroots, 3747 N. Southport Ave., Chicago. Jim Virga, director of Sweet Dillard, will be the special guest and a Merit student ensemble will perform live during this pre-screening event.
Following dinner, Sweet Dillard will be screened immediately next door at the Music Box Theater, 3733 N. Southport Avenue. At 7:30 p.m., Merit's most accomplished student musicians will perform live, followed by the film and a Q&A with the director.
Tickets are $250 for the dinner and film; $15 for the screening only.
Click Here for tickets and more information or call (312) 676-3692. Run time is 55 minutes. Proceeds from Merit in Music will benefit Merit School of Music, home to an ethnically and socioeconomically diverse community of talented young musicians from the greater Chicago-area who come together to broaden their horizons while building fulfilling lives through music.