November 8, 2024
Policy & Advocacy
2025 Chicago Budget
Join us as we advocate for critical arts funding from the City for next year.
View talking points and opportunities to get involved on this page.
Read our Analysis of the FY25 Budget
While the numbers released in the proposed budget don’t tell a complete story, Arts Alliance is cautiously optimistic that the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) can maintain its direct grant dollars in 2025.
Click below to read our analysis and breakdown.
Testimonials from the Field
“City funding allows people to make art and that helps maintain Chicago as a center cultural innovation.”
“DCASE grants allows artists who have lived and worked in Chicago to actually stay in Chicago and continue making work.”
“Group theaters across the country are facing financial difficulties. But smaller and medium sized theaters like Latino theaters, Black theaters, BIPOC theaters are actually seeing their audiences grow.
DCASE's support shows its commitment to a growing demographic that now represents the largest minority in Chicago.”
DCASE funds "not only make it possible for people to keep working, but to do so without having to leave Chicago. They are a commitment to amplify voices too often neglected or excluded by mainstream media."
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Share your Story
Fill out this form to express interest in participating in our ongoing advocacy around this year’s budget. We’ll be sharing information about upcoming budget hearings and how to engage your city council members. You also have the chance to submit a story we can use in our ongoing campaign.
Sign-on Letter to Mayor Johnson
In September, Arts Alliance and over 1,000 creative workers, organizations, and leaders collectively signed and sent a letter to Mayor Johnson calling for the city to avoid any further cuts to the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events’ direct grantmaking budget in 2025.
- Arts and culture deserve a committed investment from the City. The arts nourish social, cultural, and policy change, create safer and more inclusive communities, spur community development, and promote public health.
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- The arts have been shown to reduce crime, bringing safety and vitality to neighborhoods and community engagement to young residents. The presence of public art installations in neighborhoods can help reduce firearm-related police incidents (NEA, Busy Streets Theory and Public Art, 2024), and arts-based programs can directly contribute to lower crime levels (Cheliotis & Jordanoska, The Arts of Desistance, 2016).
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- The Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) is the primary driver of direct city support to Chicago’s 63,000 creative workers.
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- Other major cities are increasing their investment in arts and culture. New York City’s budget this year—which just passed—includes a never-before-seen $254M investment in the city’s cultural affairs department. Chicago has an opportunity to not only keep pace with other cities, but set an example for the value of investing in arts and culture. Though this is a challenging budget season, Chicago cannot afford to move backwards in its funding of our city’s artists and cultural organizations.
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- The arts sector is a crucial revenue driver for our city and state. Chicago’s nonprofit arts sector alone delivers over $336 million in local and state government revenue each year (Arts Alliance Illinois).
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- Investing in the arts is a racial equity issue. Despite productive efforts from the City to tackle funding inequities, BIPOC and BIPOC-led organizations of color still receive far less funding than their white counterparts. Arts organizations of color receive only 50 cents for every foundation grant dollar received by white organizations (Enrich Chicago). The City must continue to lead the way in advancing racial equity in arts funding by prioritizing grants to communities of color.
- While facts and talking points serve as helpful anchors for your comments, the most impactful public comments include stories that speak directly to your experiences.. Describe how the presence or absence of City funding impacts you and your immediate community!
Past City Budgets
Read about arts funding for the City of Chicago in past years, including analyses from the Alliance, past resources, and more.
October 25, 2023
October 5, 2022
August 25, 2022
