The 2027 Tuesday schedule
51 Tuesdays run from January 12 to December 28, 2027. No class meets in a week (Monday to Sunday) that contains a federal holiday or its observed day: that is 11 weeks. CPS spring break (March 22–26) is closed too. That leaves 39 class Tuesdays. Tap a date to see its featured Mission and guest topic.
2027 monthly calendar
Federal holiday rule applied| Tuesday closed | Why |
|---|
Federal dates follow the U.S. Office of Personnel Management rules: a Saturday holiday is observed the Friday before, a Sunday holiday the Monday after. New Year’s Day 2027 falls before opening day. Rainbow Wednesdays, the free summer nights on the beach (June 2 to Sept. 1), keeps its own calendar, so Lab students can play there the next evening.
Tuesdays, 4:00 to 6:00 pm, in the fieldhouse
The Chicago Park District offered Rainbow Beach Park’s main fieldhouse game room / clubroom on Tuesday or Thursday from 4 to 6 pm (Oct. 20, 2026). We chose Tuesday. Two hours holds the full 90-minute core class, all nine blocks, and a 30-minute guest session.
Middle school
About grades 6–8- Our study’s middle-school window was 4:30–6:00 pm; this slot covers it
- Dismissal around 3:00–3:30 and a 20–40 minute trip land them by 4:00
- Home for dinner, and near daylight in winter
High school
About grades 9–12- 4:00 overlaps many practices, so in-season athletes will miss some weeks
- Rolling enrollment and make-ups mean a missed week costs nothing
- The After School Matters teen section uses this same Tuesday class
Mixed ages
Shared room, individual Missions- Each child works their own Mission at their own deck
- One pickup time, 6:00 pm, for everyone
- Split into two groups once either age band reaches 6–8 students
A Tuesday at the Lab
The 90-minute core: nine blocks
Drop In · Mission Card · Watch Me Think · Deck Time 1 · Move Break · Deck Time 2 · Wordplay Lab · Spotlight · Check Out. The nine blocks of the curriculum, with every child on their own controller.
Real time on the decks
Every child has their own deck, so every child gets the full 30 minutes of Deck Time each class: about 7 hours of hands-on mixing across the 14 Missions. Where four children share a controller, each gets about 7.5 minutes.
Learn at your own pace. Complete your rainbow.
How it works
- Join any Tuesday a station is free. New students start with orientation, hearing safety and the Red Mission.
- Featured Mission + personal Mission. The instructors demo one Mission for the room; each child works on their own next skill.
- Miss a class? No problem. Make up any Mission at the next available class. Stamps never expire.
- Graduate on mastery, not a date. When all 42 skills are stamped and a final set is ready, a child plays the next Rainbow Showcase.
- Attendance and skills are tracked separately in the class app: showing up doesn’t stamp a skill, and missing a week doesn’t erase one.
Example Passport
Illustration: 17 of 42 skills. Next Mission: Yellow · Beatmatch by Ear.
The woman guest DJ series
Two resident DJ instructors, one man and one woman, teach every class and track every child’s Passport; each takes six students for coaching and stamps. A different woman DJ takes the last 30 minutes of each class week. Her session builds on that day’s featured Mission, so it adds to the curriculum without replacing it, and it is never required for graduation.
Her session, 5:30 to 6:00 pm
What every guest delivers
- A memorable personal story
- One clearly defined DJ skill
- A chance for every child to show what they learned
Each guest gets a briefing beforehand: the featured Mission, the room’s skill range, child-safety rules and the clean-lyrics policy. With permission, a short interview or photo promotes her and the Lab. The roster rotates through technical mixing, Chicago house, reggae and dancehall, R&B and soul, turntablism, mashups, production, stagecraft and DJ business.
| # | Featured Mission | Guest DJ’s specialty |
|---|
What a year of Tuesdays costs
Ras Tafari Inc. rates: resident DJ instructors $250 a session, guest DJs $200 an hour with a one-hour minimum, and $20 a person in snacks for 15 people (12 students, two residents and the guest), bought from neighborhood restaurants so every class also supports a local business. The $250 covers the two-hour class plus setup, pack-up and Passport records. Equal pay for equal duties.
| Role | Per Tuesday | 39 Tuesdays |
|---|
| Weekly operations budget | 2027 |
|---|
| Complete first-year budget | 2027 |
|---|---|
| Weekly operations: 2 resident instructors ($250 a session each), guest woman DJ, snacks, guest travel, supplies, Showcase supplies, 10% contingency 39 Tuesdays; detail on the 2027 plan page | $46,723 |
| Earplugs, pediatric first aid/CPR/AED certification, Spanish review about $50 + 2 adults × about $100 + about $200 | $450 |
| Insurance: general liability + abuse and molestation Policy in force from Oct. 22, 2026: general liability $1M / $2M plus abuse and molestation coverage $1M / $2M, Lio Insurance through S. Wolf & Associates. Reserve until the premium is entered | $3,500 |
| CPD background checks Reserve; the Park District runs and pays for its own checks, to be confirmed for partner staff and guest DJs | $500 |
| Music public-performance licensing Reserve; ASCAP, BMI, SESAC and GMR, or written confirmation that the Park District's licenses cover the Lab | $1,000 |
| Q-Ality Sound: sound, stage and lighting for the 14 Rainbow Wednesdays $1,200 per Rainbow Wednesday × 14 | $16,800 |
| Q-Ality Sound: sound, stage and lighting for 3 DJ Lab Showcases Reserve at the same $1,200 rate × 3; to be confirmed | $3,600 |
| Payroll costs if the instructors are employees Reserve of about 10% of the $19,500 instructor pay; $0 if they are independent trainers | $1,950 |
| Class app, family email and hosting Estimate, about $50 a month | $600 |
| Total cash, first year | $75,123 |
| Pioneer DJ / AlphaTheta DDJ-FLX10 4-channel controllers or similar (brand open to our equipment partner) 13 × about $1,729 (12 stations + a spare) | $22,477 |
| Apple laptops (MacBook Pro 14-inch), one per station and a spare 13 × about $1,599 new-retail planning price; education pricing or a donated unit lowers it | $20,787 |
| Laptop cooling stands (aluminum, vented) 13 × about $35, so the laptops keep their speed through a two-hour class | $455 |
| Monitors, one per station, with cable 13 × about $145 (24-inch monitor about $130 + USB-C to HDMI cable about $15) | $1,885 |
| Volume-limited headphones (85 dB) 13 × about $30 | $390 |
| Power strips, cable management 13 × about $17 + about $150 of cord covers and ties | $380 |
| Tables for the 12 stations and spare 7 six-foot tables × about $80, two stations to a table | $560 |
| 4 modern LED DJ booths for Rainbow Wednesdays 4 × about $1,800 (professional LED video-panel booth). A basic LED-strip facade is about $190 to $275 each; a curved indoor LED booth about $3,600 | $7,200 |
| 10% equipment contingency | $5,413 |
| Total equipment, sought through grants and donations | $59,547 |
| Everything, first year (cash + equipment value) | $134,670 |
Cash lines marked as reserves have no quote yet and are placeholders until quotes arrive. Q-Ality Sound is $1,200 per Rainbow Wednesday. Equipment is sought in-kind from manufacturers, distributors and donors, and is shown at new-retail planning prices. Officers are unpaid.
Milestones
| Phase | Dates | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| 1 · Launch and foundation | Jan 12 – Mar 30 | Routines, baseline skills, family communication, first guest rotation. Red, Orange and Yellow first. |
| 2 · Creativity and community | Apr 6 – Jun 29 | Green and Blue, student-made mixes, first community performances. New students keep entering at Red. |
| 3 · Summer performance season | Jul 13 – Sep 28 | Ties to Rainbow Wednesdays the next evening: performance chances, guest musicians, creative workshops. |
| 4 · Mastery and celebration | Oct 5 – Dec 14 | Indigo and Violet, recorded sets, the year-end Rainbow Showcase, planning year two. |
| Date | Milestone |
|---|
What must be done before January 12
- Fieldhouse game room, Tuesdays 4–6 pmOffered by the Park District. Confirm it in the ARCS agreement, with 30 minutes before and after for setup and pack-up and a place to store the 12 stations.
- 12 complete stations and a spareController, laptop, cooling stand, monitor, headphones, software, power and secure tables.
- Two resident DJ instructors recruited and contractedOne man, one woman, both able to teach every Passport skill.
- Guest woman DJ roster and booking agreementsBriefing pack, honorarium, cancellation terms.
- Class app readyRolling enrollment, make-ups and an individual Passport for every child.
- Safeguarding, registration and family communicationScreening, pickup authorization, emergency contacts, photo consent and hearing protection.
How Ras Tafari Inc. evaluated the best DJ Lab schedule
- Compared every weekday for middle-school, high-school and mixed groups: Mondays lose the most weeks to federal holidays, Fridays compete with games and family plans, and Wednesday came out as the steadiest midweek day.
- Matched it to the room we can get. The Park District offered the fieldhouse on Tuesday or Thursday, 4–6 pm, and Wednesday evenings belong to Rainbow Wednesdays in summer. Tuesday keeps the midweek rhythm.
- Checked the slot against each group. Middle school fits best; high-school athletes are covered by rolling make-ups.
- Fit the class into two hours with the full 90-minute core class and a 30-minute guest session.
- Survey families and measure attendance, late arrivals, missed practices, pickup and Passport progress; review after four to six weeks.
Calendar layers
Applied in order: (1) remove every federal-holiday week; (2) remove Chicago Park District facility closures once the 2027 room schedule is confirmed; (3) remove CPS breaks. CPS spring break 2027 is March 22–26 on the district’s approved 2026–27 calendar.
Sources: OPM federal holidays · CPS calendar · Chicago Park District