Parallel Play

Parallel Play 1st Year Recap & Finance Statement:

Happy 1st birthday to the Parallel Play Chicago community! If you found this page, that means you have either heard about us or attended our events, and you want to support us. You are awesome! It is through your continued gifts that we are able to offer equitable COVID-safer programming year round. Let's start with a refresh on who we are and how we use the funds that come from donations.

Parallel Play Chicago is a grassroots community organization that seeks to center the joy and liberation of COVID-cautious, LGBTQIA+, immunocompromised + disabled individuals, and BIPOC through mutual aid, supply drives, and collaborative arts partnerships. We do this by hosting mask-required & virtual events that foster connection and build networks of care within our community, as well as distributing mutual aid resources. In April 2024, Parallel Play launched Dilly Dally, a mask-required mixer series for COVID-cautious queers (and allies). Each mixer is different, including activities like karaoke, crafts, bingo, variety shows, dance parties, even "speed friend-ing” with free PPE & harm reduction resources. We strive to create safe, inclusive, sensory-friendly spaces.

In June 2024, an advisory group of volunteers and organizers came together, formalizing Parallel Play as a community-run 501c non-profit organization. We are operated by our core team of organizers and a 12-person board of directors, who are majority BIPOC, queer, and disabled individuals who comprise our event, accessibility, and finance teams.

The ongoing need for safer, COVID-cautious spaces is apparent. Each of Parallel Play’s mask-required, in-person events have been sold out (between 30 and 200 attendees), and our virtual events have had up to 60 attendees attending concurrent activities across the server. Thanks to event ticket revenue and contributions from donors, we are able to provide COVID-safer spaces for folks to connect and create community in more accessible ways. In our first year, we have put together seven in-person Dilly Dallys and three virtual Dilly Dallys, reaching over 900 attendees across all of our events.

Access: Beginning in July 2024, our in-person events have all utilized wheelchair-accessible venues. We use a multi-layered approach to COVID-precautions, such as: (1) requiring and distributing free, high-quality respirators; (2) use of multiple HEPA and/or Far UVC air purifiers; (3) distributing free rapid tests and encouraging guests to test for COVID before events, and providing post-event case reporting on AFTERPARTY19; (4) opening windows and/or doors; (5) and, when possible, utilizing outdoor spaces. For those who are unable to join us in-person, our Discord community offers an online third-space where we host virtual events, live stream our in-person performances, and have a wide variety of channels for folks to connect 24/7. All of our events have sliding scale tickets, ranging between $0 and $30, should entry costs be prohibitive. Typically, about half or more of our RSVPs are free tickets.

Our events typically include free-will contributions to the Dilly Dally Solidarity Fund, which is split evenly between Dilly Dally event costs and Palestinian Family Relief through Rebirth Garments and Vulpinic Vestements, who are in direct contact with families in Gaza. Contributions to Palestinian families from funds collected at Dilly Dallys by Parallel Play, Rebirth Garments, and Vulpinic Vestments between August 2024 and April 2025 totalled approximately ~ $1,964 (bit.ly/pal-donations).

Our mission is clear: to prioritize accessibility, inclusivity, and COVID safety. We believe centering accessibility when planning is not extra steps, but steps that are regularly forgotten or ignored. We are committed to learning, listening to our community, and making accessibility commonplace as we grow.

Here is a recap of Parallel Play’s first year:

Dilly Dally 1 at RAYGUN (4/13/24)
Dilly Dally 2 at RAYGUN (6/15/24) with PPE from CollectiveAir Mask Bloc
Launched the Parallel Play Community Discord Server, July 2024:

Over 400 users with care pods, mutual aid channels, and regular movie nights
Virtual Dilly Dally events & hybrid streams of in-person activities

Dragalicious Dilly Dally (8/31/24) partnered with The Artistic Alphabet Mafia
Beach Babe Dilly Dally (9/12/24) partnered with They Beach of Gender F*cked Productions
Inaugural Virtual Dilly Dally on Discord (9/27/24)
Halloween Dilly Dally partnered with Artistic Alphabet Mafia & Haymarket House (10/26/24)
PPE Distribution Pop Up at McKinley & Albany Park Public Libraries with CollectiveAir (12/22/25) - Tests distributed: ~1,500; Masks distributed: ~400
Virtual New Year Dilly Dally on Discord (1/4/25)
Forts x Parallel Play (1/10/25) partnered with Filament Theatre
Virtual Mix & Mingle Dilly Dally on Discord (3/16/25)
“Mutualism” Dance Party Dilly Dally (03/23/25) partnered with Mutualism
PPE Distribution Pop Up & Karaoke at Center on Halsted (3/29/25)

Tests distributed: ~700; Masks distributed: ~100

Care Cubby Mutual Aid Distribution Project Launch with Artistic Alphabet Mafia, March 2025

Center on Halsted location distribution so far - Tests: ~2,000; Masks: ~800
PPE shipped directly to homebound disabled community members and delivered by our volunteer team throughout Chicago

Clothing Swap Dilly Dally (4/12/25) partnered with Fat Friends of Chicago

Surplus clothes donated to gender-affirming free clothing closet at Center on Halsted

Ongoing support for non-Parallel Play mask-required events

Providing PPE for a mask4mask kink munch
Providing 3D printed fidget/stim toys and air purifier transport for the Disability Justice for Organizers Workshops presented by Jade T. Perry & Rise, facilitated by cherry kaufman and the Disability Project at the Transgender Law Center
Leveraging 501c3 status to aid Black-led Disability Justice orgs subsidize venue rental
Molecular testing performers at T-boy Strip Club performances
Molecular testing performers and/or providing purifiers for fundraiser benefit shows:
LA fires (led by Lo Mutuc) and Hurricane Helene (Bless Your Heart, Chicago)

Organization Income and Expenses

At the bottom of this page you will find a breakdown of Parallel Play’s finances. These are details about the flow of organization income and expenses since the first Dilly Dally on 4/13/24. You will notice that the majority of our funds are spent on personnel for those facilitating our events.

Parallel Play believes in fairly compensating the folks in our community who perform, host, and otherwise contribute to our programming. Since starting from scratch after the first two founder-funded Dilly Dallys, we have successfully crowd-funded subsequent expenses for our events starting with Dilly Dally 3, allowing us to use our ticket revenue as a source of funding for the next Dilly Dally and ongoing administrative costs.

"Erica's stipend" in the expenses graphic below accounts for the 5 administrative hours per week at $16/hour that we pay our Co-Executive Director, Erica DeLoach, who volunteers well beyond those paid hours. They run our Discord server, lead the accessibility team, create detailed access guides for each event, organize in-person events, lead virtual events, and fill in gaps in our organization's needs (on average 30+ hours/week). Housebound & mostly bedbound, Erica is a disabled, nonbinary queer who lives with severe ME/CFS and other chronic illnesses that were worsened by developing Long COVID.

The $1,312.36 difference in income and expenses is a portion of the personal funds spent by our volunteer founder, Anna, on filing fees/associated costs to get our non-profit status and expenses for the first two Dilly Dallys. She will not be reimbursed for these expenditures, and has written them off as a donation on their 2024 taxes. Starting in tax year 2025, Parallel Play's expenses will come directly from our organization bank account, which as of 4/25/25 has a balance of $1,830.44. Our goal is to have a working balance of at least $1,000 at all times. Any surplus is reserved for upcoming expenses.

As a reminder, we choose to uplift fellow queers, disabled folks, and/or artists and organizers of color by offering them compensation for their labor — or the option to donate their time, if they choose to do so. We want to make organizing accessible to everyone, and for our spaces to be created for and led by those most marginalized within our community. This model requires that our work is enabled by our privileged community members and funded by those with the financial means. For those who are able to continue to help Parallel Play fund our programming, we deeply appreciate donations to our 2025 GiveButter fundraiser. We cannot create these spaces without your vital financial support.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this report and being a part of our community! If you have feedback or want to get involved as a new organizer, please fill out our feedback/volunteer form. Stay tuned for our 2025 event calendar, to be announced by early May.

It is an act of profound resistance to ableism, white-supremacy, colonialism, and all other systems that marginalize us to practice COVID precautions in 2025. Those who are “still COVID-ing” have been pathologized by others, isolated from our communities, and pushed to the sidelines of a society engaging in systemic denial of the ongoing harms of COVID for way too long. Parallel Play is about the collective healing power of safer spaces designed for our play, rest, and care. We are humbled to have created this community with you, and can’t wait for another year of safely Dilly Dallying together!

With care and gratitude,
Parallel Play Chicago

Our Organizers:
Anna De Ocampo Kain, Co-Executive Director & Founder*
Erica DeLoach, Co-Executive Director*
Amanda Payne, Board Member
Chris “Sea” Rife, Board Member
Vieve White, Board Member*
Aditi Aggarwal, Board Member
Jackie Vega, Board Member*
Jade T. Perry, Board Member
Teagan Ferraresi, Board Member
Sunny Kapoor, Board Member
Jinx Romero, Board Member
Friday Faraday, Board Member*
May Daugherty, Interim Treasurer*
Itola Jones, Finance Team*
Gregory Schacht, Finance Team*
Sky Cubacub, Access & Event Support
Bryce Love, Access & Event Support
Robin Tapfield, Discord Support

* Parallel Play organizers who prepared this report

Our Community Partners:
Rebirth Garments
Vulpinic Vestements
The Artistic Alphabet Mafia
CollectiveAir
Rise
cherry kaufman
DJ Bryce Love
Mutualism
Gender F*cked Productions
Fat Friends of Chicago

Thanks to…
Our volunteers & financial supporters
RAYGUN
Clean Air Club
Haymarket House
Center on Halsted
El Paseo Garden
Filament Theater
Color Club
DJ Dickey Black
Transgender Law Center
+ COVID-cautious queers - we love you!

Event Expense Details (April 2024 - April 2025)

Dilly Dally #1 (April 13, 2024) - Attendance: 80 people
~$1,250 founder-financed budget for hosts, photography, materials, PPE, etc

Dilly Dally #2 (June 15, 2024) - Attendance: 120 people

~$1,750 founder-financed budget for hosts, Speed-Friending zine artwork, photography, art supplies/materials, food vendor fee, PPE, etc

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Dragalicious Dilly Dally - Outdoor Drag Show & Community Dinner (8/31/24)

Attendance: 80 people ($30.21 per attendee)

Compensation for host & MC: $100
Compensation for drag performers $700 ($100/each)
Compensation for photographer: $250
El Paseo venue rental: $200
ADA accessible Porta Potty: $312
Event insurance: $119.91
Dinner & beverages: $445
Materials for stage art project: $45
Supplies & PPE: $241.81
Total: $2,413.73

Beach Babe Dilly Dally - Lakeside Variety Show (9/12/24)

Attendance: 80 people ($17.63 per attendee)

Compensation for host: $120
Compensation for featured poet: $150
Compensation for featured musician: $300
Compensation for featured dance instructor: $50
Compensation for photographer: $200
Park District permit fee: $200
Event insurance: $261
Water, snacks: $77.22
Supplies & PPE: $62.11
Total: $1,420.30

Virtual Discord Dilly Dally (9/27/24)

Attendance: 50 people ($0 cost per attendee, $8 per person spent)

Compensation for hosts: $100 ($50/each)
Compensation for activity planners: $300 ($150/each)
Total: $400

Queer Crafty Halloween Dilly Dally (10/26/24) with Artistic Alphabet Mafia

Attendance: 200 people (~$14.18 per attendee, $0-$30 sliding scale tickets)

Compensation for performers (hosts, variety performers): $675 (hosts x3 - $125/each, featured performer - $150, performers x4 - $75/each)
Compensation for event planners & accessibility coordinators: $300 ($75/each)
Compensation for community meal personnel: $100
Compensation for photographer: $325
Materials for stage art project: $256
Food & beverage expenses: $287.59
First-aid supplies & PPE: $40
Event insurance: $120
Event supplies (stage light): $80
Venue cleanup fee: $150
Volunteer lanyards: $28.65
Total: $2,362.24