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November 2, 2023
Terra Foundation Launches Art Design Chicago, Citywide Event and Exhibition Series
The series runs through 2025 and tells stories of American art through Chicago’s unique creative communities
Chicago–Today the Terra Foundation for American Art announced the launch of Art Design Chicago, a citywide collaboration and series of events and exhibitions that highlights the voices and stories that are part of the city’s unique artistic heritage and creative communities. Art Design Chicago runs from September 2023 through January 2025 and takes place in more than 30 Chicago neighborhoods and several suburban communities. Art Design Chicago includes participation by more than 50 Chicago-area arts organizations and showcases the work of hundreds of artists. Art Design Chicago is an initiative of the Terra Foundation for American Art in partnership with local artists and arts organizations across the city.
“Art Design Chicago exemplifies the foundation’s mission to expand narratives of American art, focusing on Chicago’s cultural communities and the stories they tell,” says Sharon Corwin, President and CEO of the Terra Foundation for American Art. “The city’s artists and designers have and continue to influence visual culture within and beyond our city. The exhibitions and events supported through this initiative–some featuring art and design that rarely or never has been exhibited before – invite us to learn more about Chicago through the art, culture and history in our own backyards, through the lens of some of the city’s most dynamic artistic communities.”
The initiative emphasizes visual art and design projects, including those that are interdisciplinary or involve community-engaged elements. Featured media include but are not limited to, painting and sculpture, photography, printmaking, ceramics, fiber arts, graphic design, commercial art, furniture, textiles, video and more. As part of the initiative’s focus to expand narratives of American art, many projects feature voices, cultures and communities whose creative contributions exemplify the full richness and complexity of Chicago’s artistic production.
In addition, many Art Design Chicago partner organizations have participated in a learning community coordinated by the Terra Foundation to exchange ideas and best practices, and collaborate and solve problems around effective community engagement, with the goal of making access to and engagement with the arts in Chicago more equitable and inclusive.
“The intent of Art Design Chicago is to not only tell the stories of Chicago’s creative past and present, but also contribute to the vibrancy of the city’s arts ecosystem,” says Jennifer Siegenthaler, Senior Program Director of the Terra Foundation for American Art. “Art Design Chicago promotes new research, innovative approaches to community engagement that can be applied to future partnerships, and an enhanced understanding of the role artists play as problem solvers in their communities and interpreters of the city’s history and the current moment.”
About Art Design Chicago
Art Design Chicago is a special series of events and exhibitions that highlight the city’s unique artistic heritage and creative communities. An initiative of the Terra Foundation for American Art in partnership with artists and arts organizations across the city, Art Design Chicago seeks to expand narratives of American art with an emphasis on the city’s diverse and vibrant creative cultures and the stories they tell. Learn more at artdesignchicago.org.
About the Terra Foundation for American Art
The Terra Foundation for American Art, established in 1978 and having offices in Chicago and Paris, supports organizations and individuals locally and globally with the aim of fostering intercultural dialogues and encouraging transformative practices that expand narratives of American art through the foundation’s grant program, collection, and initiatives. Learn more at terraamericanart.org.
