Envisioning Chicago’s Future!
The Building Blocks Column | Volume 1
An exploration of the role of arts, culture and heritage in economic and community development; past, present and future.
Communities Across Chicago See Strength and Opportunity in their Vibrant Cultural Legacy
”The Cultural Soul Coast - South Shore serves as an entry point to and from the city center and other communities for Black Excellence in the Arts.” - South Shore’s Quality of Life Plan (2022).“
Welcome to Building Blocks, Bustling Spaces’ new blog that advocates for art, culture and heritage as a key generator of equitable economic and community development for Chicago communities!
Since 1990 LISC Chicago, a non-profit planning agency, has been working with community leaders and residents in Chicago neighborhoods to create Quality of Life Plans (QLPs). These QLPs become a blueprint for the community’s vision for their neighborhood’s future. According to LISC, “in each neighborhood, a designated lead agency brings together a diverse group of organizations and residents to identify priorities ranging from better education, housing, broader job choices, safer streets, new economic opportunities and stronger personal finances” (LISC Chicago, ND). Altogether 27 QLPs have been created since 1990. These QLPs chart visions for over 45 of Chicago’s 77 Community Areas. LISC Chicago states that “QLPs have garnered more than $900M in new investments aligned in support of community visions in neighborhoods across the city” (Ibid).
The Quality-of-Life Plans are amazing. I highly encourage you to explore them - and especially to familiarize yourself with the QLP for your neighborhood. You can access all of them here.
Quisiera que se conociera a La Villita por sus rasgos positivos como su cultura y la vida.” - Little Village / South Lawndale’s Quality of Life Plan (2024).
Bustling Spaces’ analysis of the QLPs reveal that 38.5% of the communities identify their vibrant arts scene, cultural life and heritage as a primary strength of their neighborhood. 100% of the QLPs list arts and culture as a key pillar, strategy or asset to achieve their vision for their community in future years.
Perhaps, more importantly, over time arts and culture have taken a more central position in Chicago communities’ visions for their future. Four communities have created two QLPs: Auburn Gresham, Little Village/South Lawndale, Englewood and Chicago SouthWest. The first QLPs were released between 2005 - 2016, and the second after 2016. Englewood and Chicago SouthWest identified arts and culture as a primary strength of their community in the more recent QLP but not the first. All four communities articulated more ambitious, impactful and expensive investments in arts and culture in their more recent QLPs.
Art, culture and heritage feature far more prominently in the three QLPs that have been released post-Covid (Little Village/South Lawndale, South Shore and Far South Chicago) than in pre-pandemic QLPs. The images in this blogpost all come from these three QLPs and we’ve excerpted pull-quotes that the planners chose to highlight in their plans.
Communities across the city see investing in their vibrant arts and cultural heritage as key to manifesting their vision for their neighborhood’s future. And… this conviction appears to be growing over time
Since 1990 LISC Chicago, a non-profit planning agency, has been working with community leaders and residents in Chicago neighborhoods to create Quality of Life Plans (QLPs). These QLPs become a blueprint for the community’s vision for their neighborhood’s future. According to LISC, “in each neighborhood, a designated lead agency brings together a diverse group of organizations and residents to identify priorities ranging from better education, housing, broader job choices, safer streets, new economic opportunities and stronger personal finances” (LISC Chicago, ND). Altogether 27 QLPs have been created since 1990. These QLPs chart visions for over 45 of Chicago’s 77 Community Areas. LISC Chicago states that “QLPs have garnered more than $900M in new investments aligned in support of community visions in neighborhoods across the city” (Ibid).
The Quality-of-Life Plans are amazing. I highly encourage you to explore them - and especially to familiarize yourself with the QLP for your neighborhood. You can access all of them here.
Quisiera que se conociera a La Villita por sus rasgos positivos como su cultura y la vida.” - Little Village / South Lawndale’s Quality of Life Plan (2024).
Bustling Spaces’ analysis of the QLPs reveal that 38.5% of the communities identify their vibrant arts scene, cultural life and heritage as a primary strength of their neighborhood.
100% of the QLPs list arts and culture as a key pillar, strategy or asset to achieve their vision for their community in future years.
Perhaps, more importantly, over time arts and culture have taken a more central position in Chicago communities’ visions for their future. Four communities have created two QLPs: Auburn Gresham, Little Village/South Lawndale, Englewood and Chicago SouthWest. The first QLPs were released between 2005 - 2016, and the second after 2016. Englewood and Chicago SouthWest identified arts and culture as a primary strength of their community in the more recent QLP but not the first. All four communities articulated more ambitious, impactful and expensive investments in arts and culture in their more recent QLPs.
Art, culture and heritage feature far more prominently in the three QLPs that have been released post-Covid (Little Village/South Lawndale, South Shore and Far South Chicago) than in pre-pandemic QLPs. The images in this blogpost all come from these three QLPs and we’ve excerpted pull-quotes that the planners chose to highlight in their plans.
Communities across the city see investing in their vibrant arts and cultural heritage as key to manifesting their vision for their neighborhood’s future. And… this conviction appears to be growing over time
And yet, despite being central to community leaders and residents’ vision for their neighborhood’s future, art, culture and heritage receive far less financial investment than other top QLP priority areas such as housing, transportation or job training. When it comes to planning, arts and culture often receives a lot of lip service but very little funding. For instance, when Mayor Brandon Johnson released his plan for the 2024 - 2028 Housing and Economic Development Bond his administration identified three priority areas:
Housing
Business, Innovation and Job Growth
Cultural and Community Assets
However, his plan for allocating the proposed $1.25B generated through the Housing and Economic Development Bond had only two buckets:
And yet, despite being central to community leaders and residents’ vision for their neighborhood’s future, art, culture and heritage receive far less financial investment than other top QLP priority areas such as housing, transportation or job training. When it comes to planning, arts and culture often receives a lot of lip service but very little funding. For instance, when Mayor Brandon Johnson released his plan for the 2024 - 2028 Housing and Economic Development Bond his administration identified three priority areas:
Housing
Business, Innovation and Job Growth
Cultural and Community Assets
However, his plan for allocating the proposed $1.25B generated through the Housing and Economic Development Bond had only two buckets:
Three priority areas, two funding buckets.
“The Far South Performing & Culinary Arts Business Incubator will be the first of its kind. We envision a state-of-the-art center for both entertainment and learning on the Far Southside. Highlighting both are local entrepreneurs to gain skills in both hospitality and business management. The West Pullman Culinary and Performing Arts Incubator will be a beacon and destination for the community offering continuing education courses and skill-building opportunities.” Far South Chicago Quality of Life Plan (2021).
There are many core assumptions about the arts and culture sector that lead to the recognition of its value without making the cut when it comes to tough budgetary decisions. As one legislator said in a meeting I participated in: “the arts are in many legislators’ top five priorities but no one’s top three.”
Building Blocks will question those assumptions and offer new frameworks for thinking about arts, culture and heritage. And we’ll share concrete ways that artists, arts and community organizations, and creative businesses operating at the neighborhood scale in Chicago can benefit from changes to arts & culture and economic & community development funding.
For now, I want to start with two simple premises as the starting point for this conversation.
Investing in art, culture and heritage is a highly effective way to generate long-lasting local economic impact.
Chicagoans want to see greater investment in their neighborhood’s cultural life.
While quite straightforward, these two premises start us in a very different place than most local, state and federal political discourse. Embarking from here will lead us down an unfamiliar policy road - one that I believe is likely to achieve many of the goals and objectives outlined in the LISC QLPs.
Unfortunately, we lack robust data on the impact of the arts and culture on economic development generally and especially for historically disinvested communities. In 2019, the Chicago Loop Alliance released an essential Arts in the Loop Economic Impact Study. It found that the 250 cultural assets located in the Loop are responsible for $2.25 billion in economic impact to the Loop and Chicago each year. This includes $1.4 billion from institutions, $600 million from their visitors and $250 million from visitors to public art, who spend their money on meals, retail and transportation” (p. 7). Importantly, the study found that for every dollar spent on tickets, an additional $12 of economic impact was generated.
Tomorrow is Giving Tuesday. As you consider how you want to use your resources to make an impact, why not give to an arts organization that is working at the neighborhood scale or community group that preserves and celebrates their community’s cultural legacy?
For social media: Please drop a suggestion for an organization doing this work in the comments below.
We hope you will join us for this conversation. You can sign up for the newsletter here. Reach out to us at info@bustlingspaces.com if you’d like to contribute to this conversation or if you wish to talk about how Bustling Spaces LLC can support you as you manifest your vision for your community.
Just a quick note: Building Blocks is not connected to Bustling Spaces’ Funding Opportunities Newsletter. The Funding Opportunities Newsletter will continue to come out 2x each month. Our hope is to release Building Blocks once each month. Sign up here.
