Chicago’s Cultural Treasures (ChiTreasures) has announced 77 grants totaling more than $3 million in the final round of its Culture Forward Chicago initiative.

Administered through IFF—a Chicago-based community development financial institution—and funded by the Ford, Joyce, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur, Polk Bros., and Walder foundations, the Terra Foundation for American Art, and philanthropist MacKenzie Scott, ChiTreasures was launched in 2021 as a four-year collaboration to strengthen, expand, and preserve organizations that foster the creation and dissemination of art that stems from BIPOC traditions, leadership, and culture.

The final cohort of 59 arts groups—selected from an application pool of nearly 200 Chicagoland arts organizations—will each receive an $50,000 grant to address needs and priorities “however they see fit.” Recipients include the 18th Street Casa de Cultura, Black Girls Dance, Free Street Theater, the Hyde Park Jazz Festival, and the Mezcla Media Collective. In addition, 18 organizations were each awarded grants of approximately $4,400. A previous round of grants in 2021 awarded $14.4 million to 40 Chicago-area arts organizations.

“From its start, ChiTreasures has sought to bolster Chicago arts and culture organizations that contribute to the city’s cultural vibrance yet have often been passed over for traditional forms of financial support,” said IFF Chicago metro region executive director Vickie Lakes-Battle. “We hope this final gift will serve as a call to action for other funders to meet this moment and increase their support for the organizations that enrich Chicago’s culture.”

For a complete list of recipients, see the Chicago’s Cultural Treasures website.

(Photo credit: Getty Images/Conchi-Martínez)