Create our Future
2020 has created unprecedented turmoil for the arts and culture sector, but together we will overcome and build a stronger, more just Illinois.
After eight months of closures and inactivity due to COVID, artists and arts organizations need the City’s support to remain viable, and the City needs them to drive our recovery. Contact local officials and ask them to support Chicago’s creative future!
Arts Alliance Illinois fights for arts resources and policies that benefit our members and all Illinois residents.
With 25,000 active subscribers and hundreds of members, we connect the people and ideas that are shaping the future of the creative sector.
Programs
Through our programming, Arts Alliance Illinois connects the people and ideas that
shape the future of the arts, culture, and creativity.
Membership
Members are the backbone of Arts Alliance Illinois: the largest connected state-level arts advocacy network fighting for arts resources and policies that benefit its members and all Illinois residents.
Due to the COVID crisis, and to center our commitment to equity and access, Arts Alliance Illinois is offering pay-what-you-can membership for ALL Illinois creative individuals and organizations for the next year.
Active Supporters
Advocacy Actions taken in 2020
Members of the Alliance
Stand with us to support the arts and support Illinois
From Our Community
Artists give so much to the world. Most people have been able to cope with this tragedy by watching television or rewatching plays or live streams of readings and work. This is what we have been called to do. […] All we are asking is that we have what we need to be able to continue to be “essential soul workers” ... “essential comfort workers” ... essential joy givers ... laughter inciters ... release ... escape.
We pour out so much daily and are often overlooked. Underpaid. Underappreciated. I ask that we all use this time of stillness to remember the value of art in our community and society.
Sydney Charles, Actress
We have had to make emotionally significant changes to personnel to ensure the future of the theater, which has resulted in 74 part-time positions eliminated, 14% of full-time staff laid off and 50% of staff furloughed for varying lengths of time. Like our peer organizations we are heartbroken to have to make these difficult decisions, but with the uncertainty of when we can safely return to live performance, the core of who we are is threatened.
The void we collectively feel in not being able to come together to share stories is vast—and has reinforced how essential the live arts are to our shared humanity.
Steppenwolf Theatre Company
Latest News
The Impact of the Arts for Illinois Relief Fund (So Far)
Since its launch on April 1 by Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, the Arts for Illinois Relief Fund has awarded nearly...
Performance at the Polls
On Election Day 2020, musicians across the state shared joy and thanked voters with socially distant performances at the polls. Illinois performers...
Announcing Keynote Address and One State Artist Project Grantees
MacArthur Fellow and Artist Activist Mel Chin will offer our virtual keynote on September 29 at 1pm Mel Chin is known for the broad range of...