IFF Announces Final Round of Grantmaking Through Chicago’s Cultural Treasures Initiative; $3 Million to be Awarded to Chicago Arts and Culture Organizations

CHICAGO (January 14, 2025) — Administered by IFF, the Chicago’s Cultural Treasures (ChiTreasures) initiative will launch Culture Forward Chicago, a final round of grant funding totaling $3 million, on February 10. Applications for this funding will close on March 3.

This final round of grants will be available to Chicago arts and culture organizations who are not already part of the ChiTreasures initiative and whose missions are to create, preserve, or disseminate art stemming from the traditions and cultures of Black communities, Indigenous communities, and communities of color (BIPOC). Grantees will be selected through a participatory grantmaking model, helmed by a Review Committee primarily comprising local arts leaders and current ChiTreasures grantees, with a minority representation of ChiTreasures funders. More information on the application, timeline, and criteria will be available soon.

ChiTreasures launched in 2021 as a four-year initiative designed to strengthen, grow, and preserve organizations whose mission is to enable the creation, preservation, and dissemination of art stemming from BIPOC traditions, leadership, and culture. A regional component of the Ford Foundation’s America’s Cultural Treasures, ChiTreasures was co-created with the Chicago arts community. The first round of grantmaking awarded $14 million and provided technical assistance to 40 arts and culture organizations representing Asian, Indigenous, Latin American, Black, African, and Middle Eastern cultural traditions. These ChiTreasures grantees comprise a diverse group of artforms, neighborhoods, racial and ethnic backgrounds, and they all have contributed to Chicago’s history, vibrancy, and identity. A second round of funding totaling $3 million was awarded to the original 40 grantees this past June.

In recognition of a pattern of declining funding for Chicago’s arts and culture sector, this final round of grants aims to expand the initiative’s impact beyond the initial 40 grantees.

Funding is provided by the Ford Foundation as part of America’s Cultural Treasures; philanthropist MacKenzie Scott; and a Chicago-based funding collaborative including The Joyce Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Polk Bros. Foundation, Terra Foundation for American Art, and Walder Foundation.

To learn more about Chicago’s Cultural Treasures, visit www.chicagosculturaltreasures.org.