The Ultimate Center for

Family Culture

Riverside, of course, is focused on providing imaginative and adventurous programming for youth, but did you know that our mission actually is threefold? Beyond ReImagining Education, we also want to serve young adults...ReFocusing them on finding their gift and calling. And the third prong is to ReNew the Culture by offering inspiring events and a place to gather for the entire family.

This third pillar is so important in this technological age of impersonal communication and constant noise. We need to come together to celebrate the true, the good, and the beautiful through music, food, and friendship.

Over the past ten years, opportunities for family events have come up both organically and intentionally at Riverside, ranging from the low-key like coffee house open mic nights to the extravagant Bilbo Baggins Birthday party. 

We’ve had dances of all kinds, from barn dances, to swing dances, to what we called a Gemutlichkeit dance, which tied into an original musical set in Germany (Over the Hills and Far Away). We’ve celebrated holidays with winter festivals and an All Hallow’s Eve walk. And we’ve had countless music gatherings from the summer RiverFest to folk concerts to Irish sessions.

One of the largest hindrances to offering these experiences to our immediate and broader community is the need to find and rent spaces to host them. This is not impossible, but is becoming increasingly difficult to do with the growing number who would like to attend and the fact that locations are becoming more strict with their rules. There are less and less places that are friendly to large families.

This is why it is vital that Riverside have a property of its own. With our own land, we could become a center for culture like no other.

A Place to Grow..

We invite you to listen to a brand new song by Founder and Director Peter Searby about Riverside's new adventure: finding A Place to Grow.

Riverside at the Elm

Deep Roots: A Place to Grow

To learn more about Riverside's capital campaign and how you can help us find and purchase our forever home, please visit our new website.

Speaking of Community Events...

Peter Searby's band, Basil and the Wrath Bones, is playing on March 7 at The Venue in Aurora with special guest Dandelion Delivery Service.

This show is part of the First Fridays FREE concert series and is for All Ages.

Come join other Riverside families at this fun community event.

Doors open at 5. Show starts at 6.

Tickets are free. The Venue requests registration in advance.

Save the Dates for Adventure Days and Creative Arts Camp

Adventure Days 2025 will run from June 2-6 at various locations, and Creative Arts Camp will take place from June 16-20 at Wheaton Academy. Registration for both will be available soon. Riverside still intends to have a summer theatre production, but details remain up in the air due to unforeseen circumstances with theater rental. It takes an adventure...

Winter Wrap-Up

Tutorial

The Tutorial boys have been involved with a lot of great guilds and projects. They improved their woodworking skills by building curio cabinets, learned the art of fencing, and perfected their poker faces. One of the favorite activities proved to be voicing scenes from popular animated films. For both fencing and voiceover, local journeymen returned to help with instruction. John Dustin shared his expertise in saber fighting, while Miguel Garcia used his talents with voice acting to help the boys with their videos and provide sound effects... If you'd like to see more voiceover examples, check out Riverside's Vimeo channel.

Studio: Once Upon a Storybook

On February 20, Riverside Studio girls performed for a full house when they brought classic fairytale characters to life in a brand-new story, written by Studio Instructor Teresa Jansen. 

In Once Upon a Storybook, hospital patients like Humpty-Dumpty and Jack and Jill are feeling blue, Mother Goose lends them her Storybook, which transports them to a land of adventure and imagination. Gingerbread men dance, rose gardens come alive, and they meet celebrities like the Seven Dwarfs and the Bremen Town musicians. But all is never completely well in a fairytale and the friends must contend with the likes of the persistent bad guys, like the Big Bad Wolf. 

The show included original music by Ana Garcia and dances choreographed by Ana and her sister Sonia Garcia, both of whom are Studio Instructors.

For more photos, courtesy of Holly Nelson Photography, please check out this gallery.

Studio: Behind the Scenes

The show, Once Upon a Storybook, took a lot of hard work from the Studio teachers and the girls. They have been preparing for quite a number of weeks in rehearsals, in writing their own fairy tales, and preparing beautiful embroidery. Director Jocelyn Jansen worked her magic with all of the costumes and had a lot of fun trying some of them on. Check out these behind-the-scenes photos courtesy of Holly Nelson Photography.

Folk Music Sessions

After a several year hiatus, we are thrilled that Riverside Director Peter Searby has begun offering Folk Music Sessions again. Three days a week, after the Riverside Tutorial he is teaching small groups of enthusiastic minstrels the American Folk tradition of music.

Theatre

Miracle on 34th Street brought the house down in December. Thanks to our great Riverside families and friends for supporting the theatre program and for helping to make the hot chocolate intermission a success. But, there were two Santas! Can you tell which is the real Kris Kringle?

(And check out the Grice family rockin' the Christmas spirit!)