We have changed and expanded our grant opportunities in response to the extraordinary challenges Chicago’s cultural community is currently facing. Arts Work Fund has:
Think through a question, analyze challenges and opportunities, and develop plans or small tests of change
Test and implement fully developed ideas with resources to support creativity and risk-taking
Forget grant reports. Strengthen the community through genuine sharing of lessons learned—failures and triumphs
Think • Explore • Share offers grants to enable arts organizations - or collaborative groups of arts organizations - to change operational and/or artistic practices to meet a changing arts environment.
These adaptation grants are intended to give organizations room to plan for (THINK) and test and enact (EXPLORE) shifts in organizational structure, operations, and/or financial practices. The grants are intended not for ongoing and regular operational costs but to help organizations redefine key partnerships, address longstanding challenges, navigate critical organizational transitions, and build a foundation of resilience to ensure they can effectively meet their missions.
Our goal is to allocate 65% of all grants to organizations led by, for, and about BIPOC communities.
November 30, 2022 , decision February 2023
April 30, 2023 , decision June 2023
August 31, 2023 , decision October 2023
AWF Connect is a discussion list specifically geared for the arts community. Members of the AWF Connect list include: seasoned arts administrators, funders of the arts, artists, and other amazingly talented folks in the arts community.
2nd Story's Artistic Director Amanda Delheimer joins Elijah McKinnon from OTV. Listen...
2nd Story's Artistic Director Amanda Delheimer joins Adam McMath from Black Alphabet discusses their current project Rebuilding Our Chicago. Read More...
2nd Story's Artistic Director Amanda Delheimer joins Logan Jones and Kirsten Baity from About Face Theatre for the premiere episode of the AWF Podcast. Listen...
A.B.L.E. - Artists Breaking Limits & Expectations on launching The Creative Associates initiative Read More...
The Prison + Neighborhood Arts/Education Project shares the outcomes of community-based research designed to imagine and create an art gallery + community center dedicated to artists and communities impacted by incarceration. Read More...
AWF Interviewing Alicia Vega and Joanne Vena from Changing Worlds Read More...
AWF Interviewing Tara Mallen: Founder & Artistic Director, Rivendell Theatre Ensemble. Read More...
AWF Interviewing Eugene Park : Executive Director - Full Spectrum Features Read More...
A conversation with three AWF grantees working to provide holistic supports and address trauma within their communities. Read More...
From the beginning, it was clear that COVID-19 would have a devastating impact on the arts and cultural sectors and that Arts Work Fund needed to pivot to provide unrestricted, immediate support to arts organizations as they grappled with the fallout. In short order, a robust collaborative was formed between Arts Work Fund, 3Arts, Arts Alliance Illinois, the City of Chicago, the State of Illinois, the local philanthropic community, and individual donors. Called the Arts for Illinois Relief Fund, Arts Alliance Illinois administered the fund, 3Arts leveraged its expertise to make grants available to artists, and the Arts Work Fund focused on grants to nonprofit arts organizations. Read More...
Throughout 2019, the Arts Work Fund AWF partnered with 21 African American, Latinx, Arab American, Asian American, and Native American arts leaders to co-design a new grant program and refine our grantmaking criteria and processes. COVID-19 interrupted the launch of our new grant program as we shifted to respond to emergency relief efforts. But we have instituted the grant making refinements that emerged from this process. Read More...
I think the Arts Work Fund is particularly unique in that they are excited to–this is going to sound nuts–but, they're excited to see how you can fail and learn and grow.
Kate Piatt-Eckert
Executive Director, Steep TheaterIf you really want to get something going, you've got to think outside the box and do it a little different. Arts Work Fund helped us get there.
Billy Ocasio
President & Chief Executive Officer, National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts & CultureWhat makes the Arts Work Fund so different is that there is a lot of risk taking. There are arts organizations who are coming to them with big bold ideas. We certainly saw that in our grant cycle.
Lauren Sivak
Managing Director, 2nd StoryArts Work Fund was pivotal for reimagining what True Star 2.O would be. It was the first kind of investment into us imagining what our next steps would be.
DeAnna McLeary-Sherman
Founder, True Star Media & Foundation
