near northwest arts council Wicker Park Art Center

near northwest arts council
Wicker Park Art Center

mission

NNWAC was founded by artists, teachers, and social activists. The purpose continues to resonate after twenty three years: to share the power of creativity building a network of resources that supports a vibrant arts environment, in a neighborhood context
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Why do we need culture? And what does culture do for community? It adds value, attracts investment, engages students more deeply, builds and sustains social groups. All human intelligence including scientific and political knowledge is derived from artistic creativity. Everyone needs to be creative.

NNWAC, an artist directed non-profit organization founded in 1986, strives to create, protect, design and manage space for multidisciplinary arts activities. This includes services for local artists, space for arts education workshops and exchange with international artists.

our work

In the past twenty years NNWAC has organized arts festivals, outdoor film programs, public art installations, arts education workshops, and hosted exhibits that launched many careers.

NNWAC is artist directed and as such, fostered programs that linked mature, experienced artists, with emerging artists and students. NNWAC’s goal is to engage the public in a year round cultural programs that encourages participation in life-long learning.

The prevailing opinion is that arts activities create a measurable economic impact; for every $1 invested there is an $8 return. Grants from government and corporate sponsors generally account for less than 15% of arts budgets. The majority of arts organizations that create new work operate on annual budgets of less than $50,000. This indicates that the artists themselves subsidize most creative work. The NEA and Columbia University Center for Creative Culture reports that artists typically earn less than $5000 per year from their art, which makes their work unsustainable.

Residents, artists and business owners within the Wicker Park Bucktown community are fearful that the commercial district is losing its unique character and is being displaced with high style retail. The Wicker Park Bucktown SSA commissioned a cultural audit in which artists complained bitterly about displacement and suggested ways to collaborate.

historic space lost,
arts community displaced

Artists, neighbors and local business need to stand up for common space dedicated to culture and learning, and public access. The principal decision makers, the trustees of the St Paul's Community Church in Wicker Park neighborhood, Chicago, IL. refused to listen to the neighborhood
and the vision of the Wicker Park Bucktown master plan..
The St Paul’s Church is an historic landmark building with a 120-year legacy serving the needs of the community for charitable purpose and public good. St Paul’s was built by Norwegian immigrants in 1890. The craftsman details in carved wood, stained glass and soaring wood ceiling provide an exquisite space, designed for acoustic events. The architecture reflects an era of new immigrants, labor activists fighting for an eight-hour day, Jane Adams Hull House services and the Burnham master plan.

The historical and social history of the building reminds us why place matters. Artists continue to activate space, creating a more attractive neighborhood. It's too bad, we all lost such a great space. More info here.

history

Back in 1985, when Harold Washington was Mayor, Fred Fine was the city's first Commissioner of Cultural Affairs, NNWAC was initiated in a series of town meetings organized by local artists. NNWAC worked with the chamber of commerce to host studio tours. Face the Street was a guerilla arts festival, a challenge to artists to engage local audiences.

NNWAC created its first home at the Flat Iron Building from 1986 to 1996, initiating an artist’s district in hosting exhibits, poetry, performance, video and studio tours serving more than 2000 artists in programs year round. NNWAC has always reflected the energy of artists not as a gatekeeper but as a resource open to new ideas that activate creative space in a professional manner and engage an intergenerational audience. In the early years, the economics were easy. Storefront space was cheap and plentiful. All it took was a good idea, a handshake agreement and an exhibit, a theater event, or a public art festival was launched.

The arts activity successfully refocused economic investment in the neighborhood. If gentrification is vicious, it may just eat the heart and soul of what makes the neighborhood vibrant. The artists set the stage, but lacked access to capital to earn back the early investment.

people

Board of Directors
John Ketterson, President
Martin Rathgeber, Secretary
Bonnie Lopez
John Paige
Jon Rosenblatt 
Paul Wargaski

Laura Weathered, Executive Director

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mission

our work

historic space lost, arts community displaced

history

people

investors + partners

historic space lost,
arts community displaced