Elevating Equitable Arts in Chicago

Seven organizations, $1,275,000 in general operating support, with grantees selected via a participatory grantmaking process.

MacArthur awarded seven organizations $1,275,000 in general operating support in the second cohort of Culture, Equity, and the Arts grantees selected via a participatory grantmaking process. The program aims to shift power to community leaders as we work to support a more equitable arts sector in Chicago. Arts and cultural institutions and arts-centered organizations, in which the arts are integral to executing the mission but are not the entity’s primary stated activity, will receive support over three years. Organizations receiving grants are:

• The Chicago High School for the Arts, a public high school that provides diverse and promising young artists with intensive pre-professional arts training, alongside a comprehensive college preparatory curriculum, will receive $225,000.
• Chicago Public Media, a community-supported, public service broadcasting institution, will receive $150,000.
• The HistoryMakers, the largest collection of African-American oral history video interviews in the nation addressing the lack of documentation and preservation of the African-American historical record, will receive $225,000.
• Ingenuity, Inc., an organization advancing equity in arts education for Chicago Public Schools (CPS) students through research and data, professional learning, advocacy, and grant-making, will receive $150,000.
• Inner-City Muslim Action Network, a community organization that fosters health, wellness and healing in Chicago by organizing for social change, cultivating the arts, and operating a holistic health center, will receive $225,000.
• Merit School of Music, a community music school that provides music instruction with a focus on youth from underserved populations, will receive $150,000.
• Window to the World Communications (WTTW), a cultural information, education, and entertainment resource that offers programs on five distinct television channels, will receive $150,000.