Blog

Our annual Impact Report is an opportunity for our supporters to see, at a glance, all that we’ve accomplished over the past year. Creating it is also a chance for us to reflect internally on where we’ve been and where we’re going – to look at how we’ve made an impact in 2019, and to consider that viewpoint as we think about how we intend to use the arts as a tool to build equity and access in Chicago moving forward.

This year’s Impact Report takes a look at the reach of our programs both broadly and in snapshots; broadly via a heat map showing the depth of our programming across the city (at least what we could fit on one page!), and in snapshots via specific stories from four of our programs areas (Touring Performances, Artist Residencies, Street Level, and Teen Arts Pass).

The quotes below offer a taste of what those stories have to say. We look forward to hearing more of these stories as we embark on our next chapter; we know there are hundreds of them, in every corner of our city. ?

Click here to read more and to view the full Impact Report! >>

Touring Performances

“We’re in this great big city of Chicago – so much is happening, and that should be part of [students’] experience. They’re part of a bigger world. Through the arts, they find themselves within that bigger world. It’s essential for being part of a community, now and in the future.”

-Becky Manuel, Director of Arts Integration at Alphonsus Academy and Center for the Arts (Lakeview, Chicago)

Artist Residencies

“I saw [students] realize, we DO make a difference…I do have a voice. They gain that.”

-Sharon Mason, Music Teacher at Mays Elementary Academy (Englewood, Chicago)

“Belonging: We all want that in life. Every year that [the program is] renewed, it’s like a gift.”

-Zahra Baker, Interdisciplinary Teaching Artist at Mays Academy

Street Level

“It’s about creating media where people of color and black youth in Chicago can represent ourselves and see ourselves represented – media that we can relate to. Also, reaching other people in our communities who feel as if they can’t tell their stories.”

-Ty’Kira Smalls, youth Multimedia Journalist at Street Level (Urban Gateways’ youth media arts center in West Town)

Teen Arts Pass

“I’ve had several conversations with people [seated near me at shows]; they want to know what I think. They say they’ve been coming to the theater for 20, 50 years, and that they’re so glad teens are coming to see these shows.”

-Rachel, Teen Arts Pass Teen Council member since 2018