Together We Heal Creative Place Program was a one-time grant opportunity offered in 2022 by the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) in partnership with the Office of Equity and Racial Justice (OERJ). The program was made possible by funding from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).

This page serves as a summary of the work done from 2022-2024.

This program is no longer accepting applications

Visit the Road to Recovery Plan for more information on the Policy Pillar: Human Rights, Arts & Culture.

The Together We Heal Creative Place Program (TWHCP) recognizes the importance of the arts in promoting health, healing and safety for communities. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the systemic racism in Chicago’s economic and public health system that created the underlying conditions of low-income communities experiencing a disproportionate rate of infections and mortality.

Neighborhood cultural programs including public art, activations in public spaces and community focused arts engagement activities are proven to have a positive impact on the physical and mental health of individuals. TWHCP positions artists, community leaders, and organizations to identify solutions to the challenges caused by racial, health and economic inequities in their communities. TWHCP believes that creative place-based solutions can play a significant role in addressing these issues. The program was co-designed by the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) and the Office of Equity & Racial Justice (OERJ). The program supported artists and community organizations that created projects that activate public spaces; promoted health and safety; encouraged movement, dialogue, and connection; beautified communities; and celebrated local culture. This program addresses the public health and negative economic harms created by the COVID-19 pandemic.

TWHCP is a central component of the City's Together We Heal Initiative which aims to build racial healing and transformation in Chicago. The initiative began in fall 2020 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and following the civil unrest and racial reckoning of the summer. Together We Heal began the Year of Healing 2022 which advanced three core goals: (1) Reflect on our past - Seeking to educate and engage about past and present racial injustices and structures of racial inequality; (2) Reclaim our present - Seeking to bring community members together to identify lessons learned of the past that will inform new values and norms that shift power; and (3) Reimagine our future - Seeking to vision a more inclusive future state and design policies and practices that produce and sustain more equitable outcomes. More information on Together We Heal and Year of Healing 2022 can be found at: chi.gov/TogetherWeHeal

This program is part of the Chicago Recovery Plan, the City’s plan to amplify once-in-a-generation federal funding to create an equity-based investment strategy to catalyze a sustainable economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. To learn more visit chicago.gov/RecoveryPlan.

In September 2022, the City of Chicago announced the $5.5 million investment to 48 creative projects.

$500,000

• Deeply Rooted Dance Theater / Blacks in Green - Growing Together: A Dance + Garden Project for the South Side
• Full Spectrum Features NFP / Latinos Progresando - Community Storytellers

$250,000

• Sisters in Cinema / Yvonne Welbon - South Shore Remembers
• Rome in a Day Productions Chicago / Alexandria Aikens - Parkway Picture Show
• Folded Map Project / Chicago Bungalow Association - unBLOCKED: Undoing the harmful effects of racist Land Sale Contracts
• Architreasures / People for Community Recovery - Riverdale Creative Cultural Connections (RC3) Project
• #LetUsBreathe Collective / Su Casa Catholic Worker – Liberation Landing
• ConTextos NFP / MAAFA Redemption Project - Sankofa Story Garden: Reflecting, Visioning, Co-Creating
• The Firehouse Community Arts Center / Haman Cross III - Bell Park: Changing the Narrative and Healing Together through Art, Play & Life
• Sadia Nawab / IMAN Central - IMANifest Studios
• The Foundation for Homan Square / Alexie Young - Celebrating Creativity & Culture in Homan Square: Public Space Improvements for Health, Safety, & Belonging on Homan Avenue
• American Indian Health Service of Chicago, Inc. / Cyndee Fox-Starr – Mending Intergenerational and Historical Trauma (MIGHT)

$100,000

• Urban Growers Collective / Chicago Art Department - South Chicago Farm Outdoor Art Studio and Culinary Maker Space: Design Charrettes and Activation
• Muddy Waters MOJO Museum / Chicago Blues Revival - The Mojo Garden and Performance Center
• Prison + Neighborhood Arts/Education Project / Sarah Ross - Wall Turned Sideways
• Territory NFP / Root 2 Fruit Youth Foundation - Austin Safety Action Plan/Austin 2.0
• Taproots, Inc. / Antidote Inc. – Creative Conversations
• Mandala South Asian Performing Arts / Indo American Center – Arts Access and Cultural Healing on Devon, Chicago’s Little South Asia
• The Miracle Center, Inc. / Nitza Rosario - TMC Project Synergy
• Chicago Therapy Collective / Eisha Love - Together We Remember Elise
• People Matter / Angela Lin – Breaking Community Bubbles
• Pilar Audain / Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation - Year of Transformation through Solidarity

$45,000

• Affinity Community Services / Jenn Freeman | Po'Chop - The People's Church of the G.H.E.T.T.O
• We Sow We Grow Project / The Black Bloom Project – Roots & Blooms
• Greater Auburn Gresham Community Development Corporation / Maxwell Emcays - Signs of Change on 79th Street
• Urban Juncture Foundation / Asia Taylor – Train of Thoughts
• Kiela Smith-Upton / Tsehaye Geralyn Hébert - We ARE Legacy…Our Greater South Shore
• Urban Male Network / Pugs Atomz - Changing the Englewood Landscape
• Bridge To Freedom / James Crumb - Chicago Soul Arts
• 6018North NFP / Wisdom Baty - Soil and Soul
• Front Porch Arts Center / Free Street Theater - Front Porch Teen Theater and Storytelling Workshops
• Free Spirit Media / Westside Association for Community Action (WACA) - You Can’t Kill the Revolution: A Cinematic Celebration of Arts & Activism on Chicago’s West Side
• Melissa Lewis / Cristian Roldán-Aponte - Reclaiming Sanctuary
• Instituto Gaspar Yanga / Brown Wall Project - Plugs and Connections
• La Escuelita Bombera De Corazón / 18th Street Casa de Cultura - Agua
• The Southwest Collective / Nitsia Flores - Archer Ave Art Café
• Jennifer Pham / Christopher Quy-Hac tran - Argyle Community Healing & Placekeeping Project
• North River Commission / Natalia Virafuentes - We Are Albany Park
• HANA Center / Aram Han Sinfuentes - Citizenship for All: Storytelling for Immigrant Justice through NongGi Making
• Chicago Mobile Makers / Maya Bird-Murphy - Interlocking Visions: Strength(in) Community
• Haitian American Museum / Cranston Ramirez Knight - Healing Through A Pandemic
• Red Clay Dance Company / Vershawn Sanders-Ward - Rise.Move.Nourish.Heal
• Puerto Rican Arts Alliance / AfriCaribe - Camino Cultura, Activando Nuestro Espacio Comunitario

$25,000

• Creative Chicago Reuse Exchange (CCRx) / T.H.U.G. Hippie - The Creativity Bus
• Lit Feelings / Jeweline Hale - Acting Up in South Deering and Once Upon a Pose
• Chicago Urban Art Retreat Center / Dianna C Long - Neighborhood Healing Project
• Wayfinding LLC / Levette Haynes - Wayfinding: West Side Lagoons
• Brianna Ramirez Smith / Marco Rios - The Giving Tree Mural of Humboldt Park

Press release announcement

TWHCP grantees received support from DCASE delegate agencies that helped ensure the successful completion of their projects.

Kay.Allegra, LLC | info@kayallegra.com

Kay Allegra is a consultant agency with Arts and Non-Profit expertise, management, mentorship and project management.

Bustling Spaces, LLC | www.bustlingspaces.com

Bustling Spaces LLC supports artists, community groups, and creative businesses in historically disinvested communities to manifest their visions.

Duo Development | www.duodevelopment.org

Founded in 2019 by brothers, Carlos Robles-Shanahan and Rafael Robles, Duo is an innovation studio/lab that pioneered Multicontextual Design to promote new possibilities for creative practice, craft interventions that improve our collective quality of life, and explore new forms of being.

Latent Design Corporation | www.latentdesign.net

Latent is a progressive Chicago based architecture firm working at the intersection of design and community development to create social, economic and environmental impact.

Public Communications Inc. | www.pcipr.com

We are PCI – a public relations firm with a purpose. To make a positive difference for our clients, our community and our world.

The Mayor’s Office of Equity & Racial Justice (OERJ), and the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) worked with Greater Good Studio to conduct an evaluation of the Together We Heal Creative Place Program. The following report summarizes key learnings from the program.

Investing in Community
Impact Report for Together We Heal Creative Place Program (PDF)

December 2024

About Greater Good Studio:

Greater Good Studio advances people-centered social change. By working alongside people who are impacted by social inequity, we co-design strategies and solutions that challenge the status quo. We envision a world where all social change efforts are inclusive and working towards equity. Visit www.greatergoodstudio.com/.

ChicagoCreativePlace.com

• Together We Heal Creative Place, Webpage Archive (PDF)
• Together We Heal Creative Place, News Page (PDF)

Initial Grant Program Files

• Guidelines (PDF)
• Info Session Deck (PDF)