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Evanston Arts Council Awards $135,000 in Cultural Fund Grants to Local Arts Organizations

The Evanston Arts Council has announced the recipients of its annual Cultural Fund Grants, awarding a total of $135,000 to 30 nonprofit arts organizations that enrich the cultural life of our community. Thanks to continued support from the City’s General Fund, the Illinois Arts Council, and the National Endowment for the Arts, the Arts Council was able to increase the grant levels compared to last year.

This year’s awardees represent a wide range of the vibrant cultural activities available to Evanston residents in literary arts, music, dance, theater, visual arts, and arts education. The applications were reviewed by a panel of six jurors with backgrounds in the visual arts, music, dance, film and video, theater, arts education, and multimedia. Proposals were evaluated using three criteria: artistic excellence and merit, community impact, and organizational capacity.

2026 Cultural Fund By The Numbers

  • 36 applications received
  • 30 grants awarded
  • $135,000 in total funding distributed
  • $4,500 average grant award
  • 4,000 artists are expected to participate
  • 51,000 total projected audience reach

Cultural Fund Grant Awardees

Apollo's Fire Chicago: Funds will support Apollo’s Fire’s residency at the Music Institute of Chicago in Evanston.  

Art Encounter: Funds will support Art For All: Creativity and Visibility for Adults of All Abilities, which serves local adults with disabilities. 

ARTSiE: Funds will support a documentary showcasing the artistic collaborative process of creating a community-focused mural at the Fleetwood-Jourdain Community Center. 

Arts of Life: Funds will support artists with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) participating in programs at Arts of Life studios and the Evanston Art Center. 

Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre: Funds will support Heart of the Story, an interactive concert dance program that explores culture, race, and ethnicity.

Chicago Ballet Arts: Funds will support pre-professional, high-quality ballet training for students ages 2 through adult at the company’s studio located in Evanston’s 5th Ward. 

Crossing Borders Music: Funds will support three concert programs: From Exile: Stories and Music of Hope", "Courage, Faith, and Love: Rohingya Music in Exile", and "Notes of Legacy: African-American Composers". 

Evanston Art Center: Funds will support the EAC Curatorial Fellowship and COMPASS Residency. 

Evanston ASPA: Funds will support Evanston ASPA's core programs, including its annual Umbrella Arts Festival and Visible Voices series. 

Evanston Grows: Funds will support the Free Seed, Gardening, and Cooking Libraries, which will unite art, accessible food, and community. 

Evanston Symphony Orchestra: Funds will support an extra performance of the orchestra’s holiday concert for individuals with special needs who are typically excluded from traditional orchestral and choral performances. 

Evanston Writers Workshop: Funds will support the In the Trenches Writing Conference. 

First Congregational Church of Evanston: Funds will support the Interfaith Family Pride Fest. 

Gichigamiin Indigenous Nations Museum: Funds will support Native artist-led workshops during the museum’s free annual Family Day, the annual Indigenous Peoples' Day Powwow, and a new exhibition that will feature stories of Great Lakes Tribal ecological practices for land stewardship and fights for environmental justice.

Haitian American Museum of Chicago (HAMOC): Funds will support We Walk: A Celebration of Black Community, which HAMOC will bring to Dawes Park in the summer of 2026. 

Hive Center for the Book Arts: Funds will support operating expenses and a scholarship fund for Hive Center for the Book Arts, which builds community through writing, reading, papermaking, printmaking, and bookbinding. 

In the Realm of Senses, Chicago: Funds will support two public art projects in Evanston: Bach to the Future and Trade Collective Iron Pour. 

Mudlark Theater: Funds will support inclusive theater arts education programs for youth in preschool through 12th grade. 

Music Institute of Chicago: Funds will support Third Coast Suzuki Strings, which offers tuition-free Suzuki education and subsidized instruments to 45 Evanston public school students. 

The Musical Offering: Funds will support the 2026 Women Composers Expanded Series, featuring three concerts celebrating women composers from the 12th century to today. 

Northshore Choral Society: Funds will support the current season of this 120-voice community chorus.

Northlight Theatre: Funds will support Northlight Theatre Arts Education Residencies, which use theatre to promote youth social-emotional learning.

Open Studio Project: Funds will support weekly Art & Wellness sessions for residents of Margarita Inn.

Ridgeville Foundation: Funds will support the "On the Ridge" Festival, a free, summer-long series of concerts, theater, and dance. 

Search Inc.: Funds will support four free community art classes led by Visibility Artists—adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

The Seldoms: Funds will support "All At Once”, in which dance and live percussion create a kinetic, kaleidoscopic terrain in this new full-length work, to be launched at Evanston's Studio5. 

Sounds Good Choir: Funds will support the Sounds Good Choir, which enhances the well-being of older adults (55+) through the joy of singing in a fun, welcoming community. 

Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre: Funds will support the 2026-27 Season for Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre, an organization dedicated to building community and celebrating our shared humanity through the use of joyous art, meaningful stories, and powerful performances. 

Tiz Media Foundation: Funds will support Healing Through Sound, a pilot series of 2-3 intergenerational community gatherings centered on participatory music-making, rhythm, and sound as pathways to connection.

The WasteShed Evanston: Funds will support The WasteShed, which offers gently used art materials and programs to reduce barriers to the arts.

Stay up-to-date on this project and other cultural initiatives

For more information, please call/text 847-448-4311. For convenience, community members may simply dial 3-1-1 in Evanston.