Why the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events matters to local artists – Chicago Sun-Times

J. Star performs during the Chicago House Music Festival and Taste of Chicago Humboldt Park in June. The event is one of many put on by Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events.
Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
Last week, Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office officially announced a leadership transition at Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, or DCASE, with Clinée Hedspeth replacing Erin Harkey as commissioner.
As leaders of the city’s creative community, we offer gratitude to Harkey for her service. Under her leadership, DCASE prioritized equitable, direct investments in our citywide arts and culture community. It pioneered the largest city-run individual artist grants program in the nation and distributed grants in all 50 wards.
DCASE harnesses both public and private funds into the hands of creatives across Chicago. Its mandate encompasses far more than just organizing events and issuing permits. In this moment of transition, we ask our city to remember how DCASE nurtures our city’s creative soul, strengthens our economy and fosters a more inclusive Chicago.
So, why should you care about DCASE? The department produces big citywide events you love like the Blues, Gospel and House Music festivals, as well as Taste of Chicago, and it supports your neighborhood cultural treasures, whether they’re a local dance organization or your favorite down-the-block singer-songwriter.
It also wields the arts as a powerful tool in addressing our city’s larger community challenges, like housing inequities, public health issues and placemaking opportunities. Programs like Together We Heal advance the arts in promoting health, healing and safety for communities. They support home repair, beautification and other creative placemaking efforts in neighborhoods across the city. An arts and health workforce pilot trains artists as creative community health workers. We Will Chicago integrated artists, creative practice and community engagement strategies into our city’s planning process. And these examples only scratch the surface.
Art and culture are not luxuries but necessities that greatly enhance the livability of our city. They’re also quite the money machine. According to data gathered by Arts Alliance Illinois, the arts and culture scene in Chicago generates $3.2 billion in economic activity, contributes $336.5 million in government revenue and creates 85,000 jobs. That’s a lot of financial output for a sector with a minimal presence in the city’s annual budget. In fact, the DCASE budget currently represents one-half of 1% of the total budget for the city.
We support the department’s ongoing work strengthening Chicago’s citywide arts and culture scene. We look forward to working alongside Hedspeth to achieve our shared goals, including:

At last year’s Lollapalooza, Mayor Johnson referred to our city’s arts and culture scene as the “soul of Chicago.” We look forward to working with Hedspeth to continue shaping the department into the home our soul needs.
Tonika Johnson is a social justice artist who created the Folded Map Project. Coya Paz is strategic director at Free Street Theater. Rich Regan is CEO of Auditorium Theater. Charlique C. Rolle is president of Black Arts & Culture Alliance of Chicago. Sam Thousand is an artist, curator and founder of ChiBrations.
The Sun-Times welcomes letters to the editor and op-eds. See our guidelines.
The views and opinions expressed by contributors are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Chicago Sun-Times or any of its affiliates.

© 2024 Chicago Sun-Times Media, Inc.

source