Arts of Life Awarded $240,000 Grant from The MacArthur Foundation

Arts of Life is the proud recipient of a $240,000 grant to support Chicago programming from the MacArthur Foundation.

This annual investment of $80,000 for three years will directly support our work to use art to create a more equitable future across Chicago.

“We are beyond thrilled to be partnering with such a major philanthropic force to advance equity in and through the arts,” said Denise Fisher, Executive Director. “The MacArthur Foundation’s priorities complement those of Arts of Life so well. Over the next three years, we will work together to encourage individual empowerment, foster equity, and increase access through the arts.”

According to the MacArthur Foundation, “For [the Culture, Equity, and the Arts (CEA)]’s fifth cycle, we expanded our funding cohort, roughly doubling the number of organizations we support compared to prior years. We awarded a total of $5.55 million in general operating support to 25 arts and culture and/or arts-centered organizations, which were recommended by a participatory grantmaking panel that reflects Chicago’s diversity and geography. Also new this year, all grants include an increase of $5,000 annually to support mental health, healing, and wellness among staff at grantee organizations and advance knowledge-building and professional development opportunities.”

Click here to learn more about the CEA program.

We congratulate our fellow grantees: 

• 3Arts, which works to sustain and promote individual artists in Chicago with a focus on women, artists of color, and artists with disabilities.
• Albany Park Theater Project, which collaborates with immigrant and first-generation youth to transform their life stories into original theatrical works.
• Arts Alliance IL, which advocates for the strength of the arts and culture sector and provides research, public education, workshops, and networking events for arts and cultural organizations throughout Illinois.
• Beverly Arts Center, which offers programming in S.T.E.A.M. and arts-based education experiences to students, including those with disabilities, in Beverly, Morgan Park, and Mount Greenwood.
• Centro Romero, which uses art as a tool for self-expression, understanding identity, and developing creativity to empower Chicago’s immigrant and refugee communities.
• ChiArts Foundation, which supports the Chicago Public High School for the Arts (ChiArts), Chicago’s first public high school dedicated to the arts.
• Chicago Children’s Theatre, a theatre company solely dedicated to children and families to encourage courage and curiosity; its stage work reflects subject matters ranging from immigration, female empowerment, poverty, violence, and segregation.
• Chicago Public Media, a community-supported public media organization that is creating a new desk focused on arts and culture to produce stories and in-depth reporting on the people and issues affecting Chicago’s creative sector.
• ConTextos, which uses personal narrative storytelling including literary, visual, performance, and audio to promote healing and reflection among youth affected by incarceration and to foster critical community dialogues across Chicago.
• Deeply Rooted Dance Theater, which reimagines and diversifies the aesthetics of contemporary dance by uniting modern, classical, American, and African American traditions in dance and storytelling.
• Free Spirit Media, which provides teenagers and young adults on Chicago’s South and West sides with a comprehensive foundation in media literacy and hands-on media production.
• Full Spectrum Features, which amplifies the work of women, LGBTQIA+ individuals, filmmakers of color, and people with disabilities in Chicago’s independent film industry.
• Garfield Park Conservatory Alliance, which offers nature-based family programs, school field trips, teen programs, lectures, classes in greening and sustainability, seasonal flower shows, and numerous public arts and culture presentations on Chicago’s West Side.
• Ingenuity, Inc., which seeks to increase access to high-quality arts education—with equitable representation of students’ diverse backgrounds—within Chicago Public Schools.
• Inner-City Muslim Action Network, which fosters health, wellness, and healing in Chicago by organizing for social change, cultivating the arts, and operating a holistic health center.
• Maywood Fine Arts Association, which provides quality arts and fitness education for children and families living in Maywood and its adjacent Cook County suburbs and Chicago neighborhoods.
• Merit School of Music, which transform the lives of Chicago-area youth by removing barriers to music education.
• National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture, which promotes Puerto Rican arts and culture through year-round exhibitions and programming showcasing rich Puerto Rican history, traditions, and artistry.
• National Public Housing Museum, which is devoted to telling the story of public housing in the United States and is creating an architectural landmark on the historic site of the last remaining building of the Jane Addams Homes.
• Palenque (Logan Square Neighborhood Association), a community-based organization that centers art as a tool to activate public spaces, create a sense of belonging, and support collective healing particularly in the Avondale, Hermosa, and Logan Square neighborhoods of Chicago.
• Puerto Rican Arts Alliance, which is dedicated to preserving and showcasing Puerto Rican arts and culture through educational music and arts programs serving Chicago’s West, Northwest and Southwest neighborhoods.
• SkyArt, which provides free visual arts programs for youth on the South and West sides of Chicago.
• The Chicago Center for Arts and Technology (CHICAT), which provides an enriching learning environment for youth and adults on Chicago’s Near West Side with access to emerging technologies, artist-led classes, and vocational training.
• WTTW Channel 11, Window to the World Communications, which through its flagship program Chicago Tonight engages audiences by entertaining, inspiring, educating, and reflecting a diversity of perspectives, including a focus on arts and culture.