Background and Origins
“Chicago’s arts and culture sector is many things, but it is not just. There is growing awareness of the ways that the arts and culture sector is upholding white supremacy and other systems of oppression. We are called to not only understand the root causes of these inequities and their presence in our institutions but also to dismantle them. Through this new initiative, we aim to create the sector anew and articulate a vision for a liberated, anti-racist arts and culture sector.”
- Nina Sanchez, Director of Enrich Chicago
In the height of twin pandemics, Enrich Chicago came together with collaborators across the arts sector, including a group of ambassadors, artists, and advisors, as well as core founding team members, to collaboratively shape the vision for a transformed arts and culture sector. The collaboration leveraged existing work at the intersection of anti-racism, the arts, and Chicago; centered the voices of ALAANA and BIPOC artists and arts organizations; created an inclusive and accessible public engagement experience; and sought to move from ideas to action through a community of practice that is empowered with funding and partnership to activate and hold the arts sector accountable for realizing an anti-racist future.
The Imagine Just initiative’s community engagement included over 15 community co-creation sessions throughout an eight-week campaign from June 14 – August 8 to generate ideas and gather feedback from as many stakeholders as possible. Additionally, the public was invited to submit and contribute their stories and ideas in response to four key themes:
1. What if our arts & culture sector utilized alternative models of leadership and decision-making?
2. What if our neighborhood cultural assets received fair and just investment?
3. What if our arts & culture sector had an accessible and resilient funding infrastructure?
4. What if our ALAANA/BIPOC arts and artists experienced equitable visibility?
Facilitated by Enrich Chicago and held in shared ownership with an extended community team, the first phase of the Imagine Just project engaged in over 20 community dialogues and co-creation sessions with the city’s diverse arts and culture community that revealed key pathways for dismantling historic inequities. They are:
Creatives: Imagine Just supports the freedom to be creative for individuals and groups, with ideas such as an arts and culture workers union that advocates for living wages, access to healthcare and affordable and accessible maker spaces.
Communities: Imagine Just sustains vibrancy in places and spaces, with ideas such as publicly-supported arts centers tailored to every neighborhood.
Cultures: Imagine Just shifts towards shared power and wisdom in paradigms and practices, with ideas such as promoting and advancing holacratic, community-led decision making structures for arts organizations.
Ultimately, the resulting vision will be held in community trust serving as the foundation that can activate and hold Chicago’s arts and culture sector accountable. That vision has been activated through the resulting Community-Advised Fund for BIPOC arts initiatives and a Just Praxis Circle.
