Last week’s announcement of the city’s “Arts 77” plan was a jaw-dropper.
A major chunk of the money for Arts 77 is coming from the capital improvement budgets of the city and the Park District. It’s money intended for long-term infrastructure projects and funded by long-term public debt.
Among projects up for grabs right now is a new Neighborhood Access Program that’ll hand out $1 million in grants of $5,000 to $50,000 each to “support the cultural vitality in neighborhoods.” DCASE is looking for ideas. Also open for proposals is Chicago Presents, which will grant up to 100 awards of $5,000 to $30,000 each for neighborhood cultural events this summer. They’ll even kick in the cost of one or two soloists or groups from their new Chicago Band Roster. (Musicians: the roster has open slots.)
And Hector Duarte says the grant his team got will pay for a “massive mural” on two walls of the Pilsen Housing Cooperative, and for public programming at the site, which is across the street from the National Museum of Mexican Art. “The art we are creating is about a vision in which communities come up with their own effective solutions to entrenched problems” like gentrification and displacement, Duarte says. “In this case, residents collectively owning their neighborhoods.”
