Vision


We see a world where creativity is universally valued as a resource with limitless potential for social and economic impact.

Mission


Our programming serves Chicago’s cultural workers and enterprises to ensure community vitality and an equitable creative economy.

Objectives


MODEL ORGANIZATIONAL SUSTAINABILITY

Grow our capacity to inspire accountability, persistence, integrity, and respect among our colleagues in the creative economy

EMPOWER CREATIVES

Support cultural workers and enterprises through programming that helps grow capacity to fulfill their visions

Values


RELATIONSHIPS MATTER

We value kindness, sincerity, and honesty as they inspire empowerment and transformation.

DIVERSITY BUILDS CAPACITY

We value the inclusion of multiple identities and perspectives, enabling us to make better decisions.

MUTUALITY IS ESSENTIAL

We value partnerships with those who also champion policies and practices of social equity and justice.

Commitment to Racial Equity


The Arts & Business Council of Chicago commits to championing policies and practices of racial equity that empower a just and creative Chicago. To contribute to real change, the Arts & Business Council of Chicago will raise questions of racial equity in our organization and in the arts and culture sector at large. The Arts & Business Council of Chicago encourages our partners to join us as we listen, learn, and grow.

Fulfilling our Mission


We build meaningful cross-sector partnerships and capacity-building through four programs:

LEARNING LABS

Professional development sessions to start new conversations about nonprofit arts + culture management and continue discussing solutions for challenges across the sector. Through an aspirational yet tactical approach, Learning Labs critically examine current pressing issues in the field and collectively think through solutions.

ON BOARD®

Nonprofit governance learning program with a focus on the sector’s larger pressing issues and ethical governance considerations for current and prospective board members. The values informing our 2023 newly created curriculum are critical thinking, justice-driven agency, and cultural citizenship.

BUSINESS VOLUNTEERS FOR THE ARTS®

Pro-bono consultants are matched with nonprofit arts organizations to support them on a capacity-related challenge they’ve identified as critical, including strategic planning, concept development, board or staff development, communications and marketing, and other management and programmatic areas.

77 COMMUNITIES INITIATIVE – NEIGHBORHOOD ANNEXES

Community-centered project co-created with creative individuals and organizations from populations that have been historically marginalized and, most recently, disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. Through transformational capacity-building and collaboration, we co-create tailored professional development opportunities and artistic + organizational capacity with local art makers, creative practitioners, and organizations from North Lawndale, Little Village, and Austin.

Our Approach to Capacity-Building


We support cultural workers and creative enterprises by helping them create capacity on their own terms so they can fulfill their mission and collectively, with us, contribute to an equitable creative economy. A&BC advances capacity-building by understanding and addressing underlying patterns, beliefs, and cultures that drive organizations and creative practices. In so doing we create and adapt tools to fit the needs of an organization’s vision, mission, objectives, values and people.