Your gift to the Lindyfest Fund keeps the dance floor open to everyone. The Houston Swing Dance Society was originally founded around the first Lindyfest, also known as the Frankie Manning workshop. Annually, this festival has returned in Houston under the direction of different coordinators, staff, and artistic direction. One thing has always remained the same: this spring weekend is a reunion for all dancers.All donations made in support of the annual Great Southwest Lindyfest go directly toward providing an incredible festival and a welcoming, inclusive dance floor.Here are a few specifics on what we use donations for each year:🎶MusiciansLive music is an important part of any dance event! Donations towards our musicians help pay for their travel from other cities, which is often essential, as they miss out on opportunities to play other gigs when they leave their home base. It also helps us to provide a fair wage and pay all our musicians equally. We have also prioritized paying for original charts created by our band leader, which takes a considerable amount of time and effort by Lauryn Gould. 🎟️ScholarshipsScholarships help dancers who couldn’t otherwise afford passes join us at Lindyfest. We provide more than free tickets; we also help with hotel rooms and, in some cases, travel stipends to keep Lindyfest accessible. ❤️HospitalityAt Lindyfest, we understand that gathering around a meal can fuel us in so many different ways. Our morning culture talks are held around breakfasts provided by the hotel that we subsidize by 50-100%. We also prioritize feeding our staff, artists, and volunteers and provide popsicles every night to all dancers still on the dance floor past midnight!Every amount matters—you’re supporting an inclusive space where new and seasoned dancers can come together, and the most incredible artists are showcased all under one roof. 🪩

🌟 HSDS has opened up our very own space! 🌟The Houston Swing Dance Society has been dancing in Houston since 1997. We have dreamt of having our own space for a very long time. For the last 10 years, we’ve been brainstorming ways to grow our local community to make this happen, and it’s finally coming to fruition!How you can help power our mission:Support: Join us every Sunday and invite your friends as we grow our community in this new space.Donate: Every dollar counts. Contribute without fees to help support the space and keep swing dancing accessible for all!Share: Share our campaign with your friends, family, and on social media. Your advocacy can amplify our impact.Volunteer: We always need help at our regular weekly dances to keep everything running at a low cost for our attendees.Here are a few details on what we have used these funds for:🪩Flooring! We built a brand-new sprung wood floor using volunteer labor and extensive research. Our floor will need regular upkeep annually. We were able to buy enough materials to reseal the floor every year or possibly twice a year if needed.🎶Live Music!We would love to bring more live music into our space but at an affordable cost for our attendees. Our goal is to bring live music to Everton Hall on a quarterly basis!🔨Expansion of our space!To host a variety of events, we would love to build our own stage! Something small enough to fit in our space and hold a couple that can lead line dances, but large enough to hold a band!🎟️Scholarships!A huge part of HSDS has been accessibility for dance. Smaller donations can go towards providing pay-what-you-can or free tickets.Thank you for supporting our community and our mission. Your support is invaluable. Catch Justin or Alesandra on a Sunday night if you’d like to chat more about the work we are doing here in Houston!