77 Chicagoland Arts and Culture Organizations Receive Gift through Culture Forward Chicago

CHICAGO, April 28, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Administered by IFF, the Chicago’s Cultural Treasures (ChiTreasures) initiative is excited to announce the 77 organizations selected to receive gifts through Culture Forward Chicago, the initiative’s final round of funding totaling $3 million.

Fifty-nine organizations, listed below, will receive a gift of $50,000 to be used however they see fit to meet their needs and priorities. An additional 18 organizations will receive small gifts of approximately $4,400. All organizations share a mission to create, preserve, or disseminate art stemming from the traditions, cultures, or communities of African, Asian, Black, Indigenous, and Latin American peoples. Nearly 200 organizations submitted applications, further emphasizing Chicagoland’s rich cultural landscape and the increased need for financial support for arts and culture organizations.

“From its start, ChiTreasures has sought to bolster Chicago arts and culture organizations that contribute to the city’s cultural vibrance yet have often been passed over for traditional forms of financial support,” said Vickie Lakes-Battle, Executive Director for IFF’s Chicago Metro Region. “Now, ChiTreasures is extending its impact beyond the initial 40 grantees at a time when the future of arts funding has become even more uncertain. We hope this final gift will serve as a call to action for other funders to meet this moment and increase their support for the organizations that enrich Chicago’s culture.”

“Now more than ever, there is a need to provide funding for organizations that enhance our city by elevating the traditions and culture of people from historically underrepresented backgrounds and disinvested communities,” said Ebony Chuukwu, Senior Program Officer at Walder Foundation, on behalf of ChiTreasures’ Chicago-based funding collaborative. “This final gift honors the initiative’s commitment to strengthen these organizations and help them prepare for the future.”

Culture Forward Chicago is an extension of the ChiTreasures initiative, which was funded by philanthropist MacKenzie Scott and a Chicago-based funding collaborative comprising The Joyce Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Polk Bros. Foundation, Terra Foundation for American Art, and Walder Foundation.

The organizations that will receive $50,000 gifts through Culture Forward Chicago include:

•  18th Street Casa de Cultura

•  773 Dance Project

•  Albany Park Theater Project

•  Alt Space Chicago

•  Ayodele Drum and Dance

•  Ballet Folklorico de Chicago

•  BandWith Music Ltd.

•  Black Girls Dance

•  Black Lunch Table

•  Bronzeville Children’s Museum

•  Center for Native Futures

•  Chicago Art Department

•  Chicago Latino Theater Alliance

•  Chicago Mobile Makers

•  Chicago Multi-Cultural Dance Center

•  Chinatown Museum Foundation

•  Chinese Fine Arts Society

•  Circles and Ciphers

•  D-Composed

•  Definition Theatre Company

•  Era Footwork Foundation Inc

•  Folded Map Project, NFP

•  Free Spirit Media

•  Free Street Theater

•  Front Porch Arts Center

•  Heritage Museum of Asian Art

•  Honey Pot Performance

•  Hyde Park Jazz Festival

•  ISPro Academy LTD

•  Kalapriya Foundation, Center for Indian Performing Arts

•  Korean Performing Arts Institute of Chicago

•  Kuumba Lynx

•  Liberated Arts Movement

•  Lucky Jefferson

•  Making A Difference Dancing Rhythms Organization

•  Marwen

•  Mezcla Media Collective

•  Mitchell Museum of the American Indian, Inc

•  Muddy Waters MOJO Museum Inc

•  Najwa Dance Corps

•  One City at VanderCook College of Music

•  OPEN Center for the Arts

•  OTV Open Television Inc.

•  Pilsen Arts and Community House

•  Praize Productions Inc.

•  Prison and Neighborhood Arts/Education Project

•  Raices Chicago Story Coalition

•  Sisters in Cinema

•  SkyART

•  South Side Jazz Coalition

•  Sweet Water Foundation

•  Territory NFP

•  The Haitian American Museum

•  The Miracle Center, Inc.

•  The Obsidian Collection Archives

•  True Star Media

•  Villapalooza Inc.

•  Water People Theater Group

•  Yin He Dance

The organizations that will receive $4,400 gifts through Culture Forward Chicago include:

•  Akojopo Incorporated

•  Black Alphabet NFP

•  Center for Immigrant Resources and Community Arts

•  Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre

•  Collaboraction Theatre Company

•  Crossing Borders Music

•  Culture Shock Chicago NFP

•  Full Spectrum Features NFP

•  Mandala South Asian Performing Arts

•  National Museum of Mexican Art

•  OH Art Foundation

•  People’s Music School Inc

•  Pigment International Foundation NFP

•  Public Media Institute

•  Puerto Rican Cultural Center

•  South Asia Institute

•  South Chicago Dance Theatre

•  The Beat Bank

To learn more about Chicago’s Cultural Treasures, visit www.chicagosculturaltreasures.org.

About Chicago’s Cultural Treasures
ChiTreasures launched in 2021 as a four-year initiative designed to strengthen, grow, and preserve organizations whose mission is to enable the creation, preservation, and dissemination of art stemming from BIPOC traditions, leadership, and culture. A regional component of the Ford Foundation’s America’s Cultural Treasures, ChiTreasures was co-created with the Chicago arts community. The first round of grantmaking awarded $14 million and provided technical assistance to 40 arts and culture organizations carrying forward Asian, Indigenous, Latin American, Black, African, and Middle Eastern cultural traditions. These grantees comprise a diverse group of artforms, neighborhoods, racial and ethnic backgrounds, and have all contributed to Chicago’s history, vibrancy, and identity. A second round of funding totaling $3 million was awarded to the original 40 grantees this past June. In recognition of a pattern of declining funding for Chicago’s arts and culture sector, a final gift aims to expand the initiative’s impact beyond the initial organizations.

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Surabhi Virnave, myWHY Agency
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SOURCE IFF