3ARTS Supports Artists - They're Just Getting Started

3ARTS began a few years ago as the newly-imagined foundation spin-off from the Three Arts Club, founded by Jane Addams in 1912.  What the group has done with the funds they raised from the sale of the historic club in the Gold Coast a few years back is quite remarkable. This month for the fourth year in a row, and well-timed with Chicago Artists Month, 3ARTS held an awards ceremony to bestow its annual artist grants. Each recipient received $15,000 - NO strings attached.  The chosen artists come from a wide range of backgrounds, disciplines, perspectives, and career levels.  3Arts supports Chicago artists, with their focus on women artists, artists of color, and artists with disabilities. This mission "stems from the need for a diversity of voices and visions to be supported if our city is to prosper and inspire."  In rough economic times, the group is committed to fueling committed, creative entrepreneurs who teach citizens as well as children how to think, create, and enjoy the arts.  Art helps communities in more ways than most people notice, but with grants and opportunities that can really make a difference to the health and success of an artist, like the ones given by 3ARTS, maybe we all won't have to live in a world where the arts are scarce, because our artists are free to create art as a way of life and a means of living. 

The fifteen awardees this year included visual artists, teaching artists, composers, actors, songwriters, and more.  The list of past recipients includes a solid group of who's who of up-and-comers:

Nicole Cabell (opera), Sara Black (artist), Tanya Saracho (playwright), Juan Angel Chavez (aritst), Josehphine Lee (conductor)

New for 2011 is 3ARTS ARTIST PROJECTS - a crowd-sourced funding project like Kickstarter, if you will. It makes it very easy for the public to support artists with specific needs and missions and to see their support add up, while also strengthening the ties between artist and patron.  3Arts will not charge a service fee to the artists and they will MATCH UP TO 1/3 of the project's funding goal to help ensure the project's success. Check out the current projects at 3arts.org and see how you can support these artists in their work.  You can help an artist repair his water-ravaged studio so he can make more work for three upcoming shows. You can get involved in children's theater and music programs for as little as $5.  Check it out.

Congratulations 3ARTS and 3ARTS artists for all you are doing!

www.3arts.org