Chicago Arts and Culture

ArtsChicago Arts and CultureSpring 2022Venues

$2.1 Million Expedited by Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation

One year after its April 2021 announcement of $3 million in expedited funding, and two years after its April 2020 announcement of nearly $3 million in expedited finding, the Chicago-based Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation (the Foundation) has announced a third wave of support, expediting an additional $2.1 million that includes: $1.6 million in expedited payments to Chicago small arts organizations in the midst of their multi-year award; and $576,000 in general operating renewal grants.

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ArtsChicago Arts and CultureSpring 2021Technology

Project SYNCERE’S 2021 ENpowered Games Focuses on STEM Challenges and Careers

This summer, on May 7th, over 300 students from Chicago’s south and west sides met virtually to participate in Project SYNCERE’s fourth annual ENpowered Games—an event during which students used their knowledge of engineering and science to solve a variety of challenges people encounter every day. The theme for this year’s event, “Engineering Social Change,” was as timely as it was pregnant with possibilities. As part of the celebratory culmination of a 10-week program in engineering design, critical thinking and collaboration skills, participants created projects designed to offer engineering solutions that impact real social change. The project entries ranged from concepts for eradicating homelessness to developing ways to provide equitable access to healthcare.

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ArtsChicago Arts and Culture

City of Chicago Awards $2M in CityArts Grants to Arts and Arts Institutions

Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot and the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) have announced the recipients of the 2020 CityArts Program grants. Each year, the CityArts Program encourages Chicago-based arts and culture-focused organizations of all sizes to attain artistic excellence and financial stability by making general operating grants across all artistic disciplines. This year, the program is awarding general operating grants between $2,000 to $30,000 – and special project grants ranging from $2,500 to $56,200 – to 191 nonprofit organizations for a total of $2 million. The project grants are being awarded in alignment with the Year of Chicago Music, now continuing through 2021.

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ArtsChicago Arts AdministrationChicago Arts and CultureMusic

Foundation Expedites $3M in Grants to Arts Organizations in Chicago and South Carolina

Acknowledging the potentially cataclysmic financial situation which hundreds of beloved regional small arts organizations are facing, the Board of the Chicago-based Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation (the Foundation) has unanimously voted to immediately put in place a series of funding mechanisms, including expediting a total of $2 million in general operating funds to its current roster of 175 arts grantees in the Chicago region and 40 in the Lowcountry of South Carolina.

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Chicago Arts and Culture

COVID-19 Closures Pause Chicago’s 2019/20 Cultural Season

Virtually all of Chicago’s stages, concert halls and museums went dark almost simultaneously last week when Governor Jim Pritzker announced state-wide closures of non-essential businesses in an effort to stem the tide of COVID-19 infection rates in Illinois. Programming for the 2019-2020 cultural season came to a screeching halt and audiences typically accustomed to an ocean of wildly diverse performance opportunities found themselves in isolation with mandatory stay-at-home orders from the state.

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