City To Receive $6.8M From Mellon Foundation For New Monuments

City to receive $6.8M From Mellon Foundation for new Monuments

On June 20, the Mellon Foundation announced a $6.8 million grant to the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) to support installation of eight priority projects – including a Chicago Torture Justice Memorial, as part of the Chicago Monuments Project (CMP).

These eight projects will add – permanently and temporarily – to the City of Chicago’s collection, and memorialize events, people, and groups that historically have been excluded or underrepresented.

“Chicago’s monuments and memorials are more than just public art — they speak directly to the values, history, and vision of our great city,” said Mayor Brandon Johnson. “I’m grateful for the Mellon Foundation’s support of the Chicago Monuments Project and the creation of cultural works around labor, civil rights, racial justice, and other areas that represent our diversity, honor our history, and tell our story.”

Collective soul-searching about Chicago’s 500 monuments began in the wake of George Floyd’s death in May 2020. CMP was a collaboration between DCASE, Chicago Public Schools (CPS), and the Chicago Park District (CPD). Its work was guided by an advisory committee of community leaders, artists, architects, scholars, curators, and City officials. As the first conversation of its kind in a major U.S. city, it drew thousands of Chicagoans from diverse communities via surveys, live discussions and online comments at ChicagoMonuments.org

Forty-one monuments necessitated discussion, based on stereotypical depictions of Native Americans, or racist acts committed by those portrayed, according to CMP’s final report issued last August.

CMP agreed that its most important work was in the development of new works that will tell an inclusive story going forward. As part of its engagement process, CMP released a call, “Reimagining Monuments: Request for Ideas,” to solicit proposals from individual artists, and from community groups that rethink the place, purpose, and permanence of monuments in our public spaces. DCASE provided initial planning grants of $50,000 to groups behind eight new works:

• Chicago Torture Justice Memorial (1) Artist Patricia Nguyen and architectural designer John Lee dedicated it to torture survivors of Chicago Police Cmdr. Jon Burge and his subordinates. The idea of a memorial dates to a historic reparation ordinance passed by the Chicago City Council in 2015.

• George Washington Monument Intervention (2), in a public way in Bronzeville. Renowned Chicago artist Amanda Williams will explore the complicated connection between George Washington and the Black community by connecting famous figures like Booker T. Washington, George Washington Carver, and everyday people who also carry the surname.

• A Long Walk Home (ALWH) (3): is an arts organization that empowers young people to end violence against girls and women, and is committed to activating public spaces with its vision. Along with #SayHerName: The Rekia Boyd Monument Project, they will design a temporary monument in Douglass Park with the goal of a permanent one.

• Mother Jones, in partnership with the Mother Jones Heritage Project (MJHP), will honor Irish Immigrant Mary Jones’s important contributions to labor history.

• Mahalia Jackson: The monument by artist Gerald Griffin was spearheaded by the Greater Chatham Initiative (GCI), to honor the legendary gospel singer at Mahalia Jackson Court. The new plaza and community gathering space at 79th and State streets is in the community where she lived.

• Pilsen Latina Histories, lead artist Diana Solis and scholars from the University of Illinois, Pilsen Arts & Community House staff, inspired by the book, “Chicanas of 18th Street: Narratives of a Movement from Latino Chicago,” will mark historic events that have shaped this neighborhood.

• Chicago Race Riots of 1919 Commemoration Project , designed and produced in partnership with youth artists at Firebird Community Arts’ Project FIRE, this project will create durable glass bricks engraved with the names of 38 people killed during 13 days of brutal, racially motivated conflict. The bricks will be installed in predominantly Black and Brown Southwest Side residential areas, where the riot occurred.

• Early Chicago, a series of monuments that explore the settling of Chicago, including those to Jean Baptiste Pointe DuSable (Chicago’s first non-indigenous settler), and his wife Kitihawa, and projects that amplify Native American stories. DCASE will work with the Chicago Park District to commission the monuments.

The new projects are in various stages of development; some have been in the works for many years and seek DCASE assistance to help implement existing designs. Other projects are new ideas where designs still need to be created. Additional funding from Mellon will also support ongoing programs that facilitate continued engagement of artists and communities. Also included are website creation, updating of signage, the development of public art education programs and tools, and funding for a comprehensive inventory, documentation, and condition assessment of the City’s collection.

–Suzanne Hanney, from email

Images provided by The City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE).

Legislation Brings Aid for Homeless Services

Rep. Will Guzzardi (D-Chicago) speaking with Laura Davis, a service provider from Springfield, during CCH's Legislative Breakfast

Chicago Coalition for the Homeless

As the Illinois General Assembly closed its spring session, Gov. J. B. Pritzker laid the groundwork to end homelessness in the state with his new budget initiative “Home Illinois,” which includes $85 million in new money to support homelessness services:

• $40.7 million to support Emergency and Transitional Housing

• $10.8 million toward Homelessness Prevention Programming

• $6 million toward Permanent Supportive Housing

• $3 million for Homeless Youth Programming.

The Chicago Coalition for the Homeless (CCH) had sought additional funding for these four line items that address housing insecurity. The state’s budget also includes funds for asylum seekers, as well as federal funds for rapid rehousing, eviction support, triage shelters, and pilot programs.

CCH also sought legislation to provide additional support to people experiencing homelessness. For students, school may be the only place where things are stable. Schools are federally mandated to provide services, but sometimes students aren’t aware that help is available – and teachers are unsure how to identify or help them. HB 3116, sponsored by state Rep. Katie Stuart (D-Collinsville) and state Sen. Karina Villa (D-West Chicago) requires training for all school personnel.

In collaboration with Cabrini Green Legal Aid, CCH passed SB 1367, the Public Housing Access Bill, sponsored by state Sen. Christopher Belt (DEast St. Louis) and state Rep. Lillian Jimenez (D-Chicago) to make sure people exiting incarceration have access to public housing. The bill standardizes the criminal background screening process, shortens look-back periods, provides applicants an opportunity to present mitigating circumstances before being denied due to their background, and more.

CCH advocacy won a partial victory on Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF). CCH sought a 20 percent increase, so that cash assistance would go from 30 percent of the Federal Poverty Line (FPL), where it has been for six years, to 50 percent. Pritzker’s office sought to set the FPL level at 40 percent; final budget implementation will raise it to 35 percent of FPL.

–Suzanne Hanney, from email