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.
Chicago Arts and Culture: Funding and Futures
Arts Alliance, Chicago Cultural Alliance, and DCASE need your perspective on the challenges and opportunities faced by Chicago creatives and creative businesses.
We have several opportunities to share your feedback including 2 informational sessions with DCASE, 4 deep-dive focus groups, and a digital survey. Learn more and register here.
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.
Join Jonathan's Office Hours, Fridays @ 11am
This is an opportunity to talk with Jonathan and get your questions answered about current local, state and federal legislation and COVID relief programs.
Join your Local Arts Advocacy Team
We’re still fighting for $500 million for the arts and we need your voice! Illinois legislators will be making ARP funding decisions this fall, so now is the time to get involved and take action! Join your local arts advocacy team and connect with other arts advocates in your district.
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
Artists Support Community Vaccination Efforts: Press Release
Artists across Illinois are contributing their talents to help communities get vaccinated. ILLINOIS – As restrictions are lifted, the arts and...
Analysis: Illinois FY 2022 Budget & ARP Bills
The Illinois Creative Future Fund (ICFF) campaign brought together a diverse, statewide coalition of Illinois businesses and organizations in the...
COALITION ASKS FOR $500 MILLION FOR ARTS & CULTURE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 18, 2021 CONTACT: Elizabeth Restrepo Jasculca Terman Strategic Communications for Arts Alliance Illinois ...