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Chicago Arts Census

@chicagoartscensus

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A comprehensive, cross-discipline data collection effort in the city created by and with the art workers of Chicago.
@acreresidency @annasprojects

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Arts work is work.

Arts workers are a powerful, intersectional workforce. The Chicago Arts Census is a worker-led effort to document and make visible the conditions that impact who can sustain a life in the arts, and who is pushed out by instability and lack of support.

We believe we must name ourselves, articulate what resources are needed for us to live healthy, sustainable lives, and advocate in partnership with organizations, institutions, and legislators to do better in meeting the needs of the arts labor force.

Arts workers need each other. This is part of our collective story. The Census data reflects what arts workers across Chicago shared about these conditions and how they affect their lives and work. On its own, data is not enough. But when it is shared in context, and taken up in community, it becomes knowledge we can act on together.

A year of programs and reporting.

This phase includes a written report, an interactive dashboard, and a series of public programs. Throughout the year, we will return the data to the community through presentations and conversations with arts workers across Chicago.

Learn more at chicagoartscensus.org

Image Description:
Large headline text over a colorful gradient reads: “Our Work, Our Worth.” Below, smaller text mirrors the caption and introduces the Chicago Arts Census and its focus on arts workers and labor conditions. by @chicagoartscensus

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6 months ago

Who are Chicago’s arts workers? In what conditions do arts workers create and live? We are excited to join Lawyers for the Creative Arts and the Arts Alliance of Illinois for the next in their program series on Creative Worker Rights, Tuesday, September 1 from 12-1:30PM

The session will cover insights into unpaid labor, health and wellness, finances and debt, living conditions, unionization efforts, and more. Plus, we’ll discuss current context for the data study and some of the organizing priorities the data highlights. There will be time for questions and a resource share out!

Find the registration link in our bio! ✨💖✨ by @chicagoartscensus

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2 months ago

Miss one of the in person Town Halls? Don’t worry! We are hosting a virtual Town Hall Wednesday, July 29 @ 3PM >> Link in Bio! 📊🌱📣🌇

We collected data from 1,200+ arts workers in Chicagoland. This data reflects what arts workers across Chicagoland shared about their living and working conditions.

Town Halls are designed as an initial entry point into the data. Organizers from the Chicago Arts Census will share about how the census was created, and key findings on housing, labor, education, community connection, income, disability and accessibility, cost of living, transportation, fair compensation, and more.

Because data alone is not enough! But when it is shared in context, and taken up in community, it becomes knowledge we can use.

The presentation will include information about housing, labor, education, community connection, income, disability and accessibility, cost of living, transportation, fair compensation, and more! Attendees will have the chance to learn more about how the census was created, opportunities to connect to ongoing efforts, and meet other people interested in creating better living and working conditions for arts workers in Chicago. by @chicagoartscensus

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3 months ago

What are Chicago Arts Census Town Halls? Town Halls are where we make sense of the data together!

We collected data from 1,200+ arts workers in Chicagoland. This data reflects what arts workers across Chicagoland shared about their living and working conditions.

Town Halls are designed as an initial entry point into the data. Organizers from the Chicago Arts Census will share about how the census was created, and key findings on housing, labor, education, community connection, income, disability and accessibility, cost of living, transportation, fair compensation, and more.

Because data alone is not enough! But when it is shared in context, and taken up in community, it becomes knowledge we can use. We want to hear from you! Each Town Hall ends with an opportunity to connect with artists and arts workers around the data that resonates with you most.

Join us!

Upcoming Town Halls:

April 30: 5:30-7:30PM
Walls Turned Sideways

May 1: 5:30-7:30PM
ACRE Projects

May 9: 2:00-4:00PM
Blackstone Library

May 27: 5:30-7:30PM
Hyde Park Art Center

May 30: 5:30-7:30PM
Comfort Station

Register for an event and get full details as the link in our bio! Interested in hosting? Email us at census@acreresidency.org

Images:

Slide 1: Headline reads: “Explore the Data: Join a Town Hall.” Background includes data graphics against a rainbow gradient background.

Slide 2: Text reads: “What are town halls? We collected data from 1,200+ arts workers in Chicagoland. This reflects what arts workers shared about their living and working conditions. Data alone is not enough. When it is shared in context, and taken up in community, it becomes knowledge we can use.” Set against a rainbow gradient background.

Slide 3: Text reads: “What are town halls? Town Halls are where we make sense of the data together. We’ll share key findings, talk through what they mean, and connect across our experiences.” Set against a rainbow gradient background.

Slide 4: Text reads: “Join us to explore the data. Share what resonates, and hear from others across the field.” Dates listed in the caption. Set against a rainbow gradient background. by @chicagoartscensus

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6 months ago

Dear Chicago arts community, this report is for you.

Over the past six years, I’ve been part of a small team working on the Chicago Arts Census, a project that began in the early days of quarantine and has grown into a citywide effort.

We’ve just launched the public reporting phase!

The Census brings together what arts workers across Chicago shared about housing, healthcare, wages, caregiving, and the conditions that shape whether a life in the arts is sustainable. The launch includes a written report, an interactive dashboard, and a series of town halls across the city.

This has been a long, collaborative process, shaped by years of organizing, data collection, peer review, and community work. I’m grateful to have worked alongside Kate Bowen, Alden Burke, Tiffany Johnson, Anthony Stepter, and Adia Sykes, my beautiful co-organizers 💞

The GIF here is made from 482 screenshots from our meetings over the years, and it still doesn’t include the larger sessions with advisors and peer reviewers.

If you’re in Chicago, take a look at the report, explore the data, or join an upcoming session. If you’re an arts practitioner interested in data collection, it offers considerations you can adapt for your own work!

More to come! Chicago, ilysm🤓🫶🏽👩🏽‍🔬🧚🏽

@chicagoartscensus taken in Chicago, Illinois by @chicagoartscensus

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6 months ago

We’re launching the public reporting phase of the Chicago Arts Census!

Arts work depends on housing, healthcare, wages, caregiving, and access. These conditions determine who can sustain a life in the arts, and who is pushed out by instability and lack of support.

Arts workers need each other. This is part of our collective story. The Census data reflects what arts workers across Chicago shared about these conditions and how they affect their lives and work. On its own, data is not enough. But when it is shared in context, and taken up in community, it becomes knowledge we can act on together.

This is just the beginning. We are kicking off a year of programs and reporting.

This phase includes a written report, an interactive dashboard, and a series of public programs. Throughout the year, we will return the data to the community through presentations and conversations with arts workers across Chicago.

REPORT: Our Work Our Worth: The Lives and Labor of Chicago’s Arts Workers. The report shares the process and methodology, key insights and observations, and a series of recommendations generated from the stories and data arts workers shared with us.

DASHBOARD: Take A Deep Dive And Visit The Interactive Dashboard. Featuring over a hundred graphs and charts, along with a special filtering tool, users can drill deeper to gain more specific insights about the lives and working conditions of arts workers in Chicago.

TOWN HALLS: Join us for one of the initial presentations in a series where we will share the process of developing the Census, analyzing the data, and introducing some of the insights we gathered throughout. Each Town Hall session will end with an opportunity to connect with fellow arts workers on issue areas that matter to you most.

Upcoming Sessions:
April 30: 5:30-7:30PM | Walls Turned Sideways
May 1: 5:30-7:30PM | ACRE Projects
May 9: 2:00-4:00PM | Blackstone Branch Library
May 27: 5:30-7:30PM | Hyde Park Art Center
Would you like to host a Town Hall presentation? Send us an email we would love to bring this reporting to you!

You can find more information and a link to register for an event at the link in our bio. by @chicagoartscensus

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6 months ago

We called, and you answered! A big thank you to everyone who offered to be a user tester and who provided such rich feedback on the Data Dashboard.

The Chicago Arts Census just wrapped up the first round of user testing. The time that you spent reviewing the the Data Dashboard, our interactive data sharing tool, has given us some incredible notes that we’re hard at work to include into the public launch of the data. Stay tuned for much more about the dashboard’s public launch and future programming in the coming weeks! by @chicagoartscensus

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2 years ago

You’ve so generously shared your experiences and stories in the first survey. The Census team has been hard at work reading,analyzing, coding, synthesizing, and creating visualizations from your thousands of responses, getting us to a point of deeper understanding about the complexities and systems at play in Chicago’s arts ecosystem.

The Chicago Arts Census is moving into its next phase: User Testing! If you’re interested in being among the first folks to see the interactive data sharing tool that we’re calling the Dashboard and providing your feedback, then we’d love to work with you.

We’re looking for 6-8 Chicago art workers to test the Chicago Arts Census Dashboard over the next [month] before we launch it publicly. There are a few ways to give your feedback:

1) During a virtual review session with the Census Team (60-75 minutes, paid)
2) On your own time with a brief, 12 question survey

If you’re interested, follow the link in our bio for more info and to sign up. We’d love to hear from you by September 8th. Looking forward to hearing from you! by @chicagoartscensus

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2 years ago

“I imagine a Chicagoland where artists are able to pool resources and support one another, rather than be pitted against each other in a race for funding and support from gatekeepers and government agencies. I imagine a place where housing and healthcare are affordable enough that artists don’t need 3+ jobs to stay afloat and where artistic space is subsidized to make the rentals affordable.” - Chicago arts worker

PUBLIC UTILITY: The Chicago Arts Census, An Introduction to Abundance provides an intimate sneak peek of our findings 💫

Head over to @bridge.chicago to check out the full article. Link in bio 🔥 by @chicagoartscensus

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3 years ago

Join Marshawna Martin, ILA Creative Studio and the Chicago Arts Census for a workshop on tax filing 📑🔥

As a federally licensed tax specialist and a financial literacy enthusiast, Marshawna Martin is dedicated to helping small business owners become more tax and financially savvy, by helping them create strong financial foundations for their businesses, and building wealth by saving on taxes. With a goal to help her community see more of their money, and maximize their efforts and money by minimizing their tax liability and time spent on activities that don’t generate income. She brings financial clarity, and resources so that you can keep more of your money in your pockets by strategically helping you to build wealth in a tax-efficient manner.

We're excited to have her share her extensive knowledge to help our community of creators become more tax proficient. Follow the link in our bio to sign up! 🔥💫

Acompaña a Marshawna Martin, ILA Creative Studio y el Censo de las Artes de Chicago en un taller sobre declaración de impuestos.📑🔥

Como especialista en impuestos con licencia federal y entusiasta de la educación financiera, Marshawna Martin se dedica a ayudar a los propietarios de pequeñas empresas a ser más conocedores de los impuestos y las finanzas, ayudándoles a crear bases financieras sólidas para sus negocios, y a crear riqueza ahorrando en impuestos. Con el objetivo de ayudar a su comunidad a ver más de su dinero, y maximizar sus esfuerzos y dinero reduciendo al mínimo su responsabilidad fiscal y el tiempo dedicado a actividades que no generan ingresos. Ella aporta claridad financiera, y los recursos para que pueda mantener más de su dinero en sus bolsillos, ayudando estratégicamente a construir riqueza de una manera fiscalmente eficiente.

Estamos encantados de que comparta sus amplios conocimientos para ayudar a nuestra comunidad de creadores a ser más competentes en materia fiscal. ¡Sigue el enlace en nuestra biografía para inscribirte!💫🔥

#chicagoartscensus #chicagoarts #artworker #chicago #labor #ILACreativeStudio #ILA #taxworkshop # #getmoney #marshawnamartin taken in Hyde Park Art Center by @chicagoartscensus

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4 years ago

Chicago Arts Census Friends!

Did you miss our witty captions and titillating updates? We know we've been a bit quiet, but check out the slides above to hear more about what we've been up to and stay tuned for much more as we continue to synthesize this data set and share it out.

¡Amigos del Censo de las Artes de Chicago!

¿Os habéis perdido nuestros ingeniosos pies de foto y nuestras excitantes actualizaciones? Sabemos que hemos estado un poco callados, pero echa un vistazo a las diapositivas de arriba para saber más sobre lo que hemos estado haciendo y mantente al tanto de mucho más a medida que continuamos sintetizando este conjunto de datos y compartiéndolo

#chicagoartscensus #chicagoarts #artworker #chicago #labor #raffle #giveaway #getmoney by @chicagoartscensus

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4 years ago

The arts ecosystem in Chicago is vast. A 2014 report from the University of Chicago found that 63,000 artists were employed in the city, representing 4.5% of total employment, encompassing everyone from photographers to performers to musicians to fine artists.

In a field with so much diversity, it can feel insurmountable to find common challenges or new ways of supporting each other. Kerry Cardoza (@booksnotboyz) speaks with some of the folks working towards greater equity and sustainability in the Chicago arts community, and tries to identify some of these commonalities and solutions.

One thread that emerges is the difficulty of accessing funding. Several artists and organizers identified the entire structure of the nonprofit world as problematic and in need of a complete restructuring.

“The reason to become a nonprofit is so that people who have excess funds—the wealthy—can make donations, and then usually these nonprofit boards are all wealthy people. Then you’re beholden to them,” says Jen Delos Reyes (@jendelosreyes), an artist and educator who founded and ran Open Engagement, an international conference on socially engaged art from 2007-2019.

“[The nonprofit industrial complex] is so broken and it just continues to promote and instill this really toxic, unhealthy culture of competition and scarcity, instead of community support, abundance, and growth,” she says.

Read the full article at the link in our bio.

This is the sixth and final in a series of articles made in collaboration with the @chicagoartscensus to explore the living, labor, and material realities of art workers in the city of Chicago. Visit chicagoartscensus.com to learn more about the Census and how to get involved.

Image: Performers left to right: Meida Teresa McNeal, Ligaya, and Abra Johnson in a live presentation of @honeypotchicago's project 'ways of knowing' in November 2019. The performers lean towards each other, and Ligaya glances upwards with eyes closed and their arms interlocked with the other performers. Each performer wears garments in various shades of blue and purple, and are softly illuminated by stage lighting. Photo by Seed Lynn (@seedlynn). by @chicagoartscensus

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4 years ago