ComEd and the League of Chicago Theatres announced grants of up to $10,000 each to 12 non-profit arts organizations throughout northern Illinois to support the arts and encourage creativity.
ComEd and the League, an alliance of more than 200 Chicago theatres, have worked together since 2018 through the Powering the Arts Program. ComEd funds the program, providing more than $100,000 to grantees this year, and the League serves as program administrator to grant recipients.
The 12 ComEd Powering the Arts Program grant recipients for 2020 are:
—Carlson Community Services ( Chicago ): This grant will expand Irving Park's Fine Arts Concert Series, a multi-year endeavor, to include seniors living in a Chicago Housing Authority building in the community.
—Changing Worlds ( Chicago ): The grant will allow Changing Worlds to expand its partnership with Calmeca Dual Language Academy to reach more youth. The partnership will provide music instruction to youth in underserved areas of Brighton Park.
—Collaboraction ( Chicago ): The grant will provide free tickets for Englewood residents to Peacebook, Collaboraction's annual performance festival of short works about peace and peacemaking in Chicago.
—Definition ( Chicago ): The grant will assist Definition in creating its first production on Chicago's South Side. Definition will also provide workshops and classes in the theater design areas of scenic, costume, lighting and sound, with the goal of building racial equity among the theater community.
—Elmhurst Art Museum ( Elmhurst ): This grant will allow Elmhurst Art Museum to expand its "Art Is for Everyone" program, which gives children from underserved and low-income communities in grades K-8 in DuPage and Cook counties free transportation to and from the museum for a day of arts educational experience.
—Green Star Movement ( Chicago ): The grant will support the organization's Community Arts Program—a collection of several multi-phase, multi-year partnerships with Chicago communities that are interested in improving their physical environment and healing their communities.
—Instituto del Progreso ( Chicago ): The grant will assist Instituto del Progreso in its bilingual performance program, "Diez Minutos, Dies Latidos."
—Invictus Theatre ( Chicago ): The grant will support Invictus Theatre's Shakespeare in the Courts program.
—Maywood Art Center ( Chicago ): The grant will allow Maywood Art Center to support Classical Ballet for New Audiences ( CBNA ) in its efforts to increase participation of school children in low-income and underserved communities.
—Mudlark Theatre ( Evanston ) The grant will help Mudlark Theatre remount Concerning Foster, an original play that explores the lives of Evanston students during the desegregation of Evanston's public schools. The play brings to life Mudlark's commitment to social-justice theater through stories about young people told by young actors.
—Prairie Center ( Schaumburg ): The grant will expand access to the arts through sensory-friendly performances at the Prairie Center that are welcoming and accommodating for adults and children on the autism spectrum and those with other developmental or cognitive disabilities or sensory sensitivities.
—Total Link 2 ( Northbrook ): The grant will help Total Link 2 provide innovative programs and services that teach critical life skills to help prepare young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities for the world of work.
