Arts & Entertainment
Cook County Launches $2 Million Grant Program to Support Community-Based Arts Projects in the Suburbs
(PrairieArtProject / iStock)
A newly launched Cook County program is awarding $2 million in grants to suburban nonprofit organizations to support art projects aimed at increasing economic and social engagement in the community.
The Cook County Creative Placemaking program will award grants of $50,000 to $250,000 to suburban-based nonprofit organizations. Project examples include reimagining public spaces or vacant land, creating public murals or sculptures, improving or developing cultural facilities and establishing community gardens, according to officials during a Tuesday news conference.
“Creative placemaking is about creating places rooted in community pride and cultural identity,” said Meghan Harte, executive director of Local Initiatives Support Corporation. “Arts is more than just art, it’s economy. It is the lifeblood of many communities.”
Applications for the Cook County Creative Placemaking program are being accepted through April 7. The Local Initiatives Support Corporation and the organization Arts Alliance Illinois are assisting applicants through webinars, office hours and online help desk.
The grant program is part of a broader $5 million pilot initiative called Cook County Arts, first launched last year, to support artists and strengthen the arts sector in the suburbs. The pilot is supported by federal funding from the American Rescue Plan Act to help communities recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This is the first major investment my administration has made in arts and culture, and it’s needed,” Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said. “The art sector was one of the hardest hit by COVID, and it’s still recovering.”
As part of the Cook County Arts initiative, Arts Alliance Illinois will also be launching an assessment of the current landscape of the suburban arts and cultural community to better understand the sector and develop recommendations for the future.
“This is not just an arts thing,” Arts Alliance Illinois Executive Director Claire Rice said. “This is about economic development, this is about building community, this is about public safety, education, youth development.”
Contact Eunice Alpasan: @eunicealpasan | 773-509-5362 | [email protected]
