IMPORTANT UPDATE AS OF 7/24/24: CAC does not currently offer SPARK, ENVISION, MAKER, or Coney Family Fund Grants. This page will be updated if there are changes in the future.
Chicago Artists Coalition actively supports emerging artists in Chicago through four different unrestricted grant programs. These grants are designed to offer artists financial support to help them build on their practice.
All of our unrestricted grants honor visual artists based in Chicago, and offer varying levels of financial support.
MAKER Grant ($3,000/grant)
To support two exceptional visual artists whose work actively engages with social or environmental issues
Coney Family Fund ($10,000)
To support two Black or African-American visual artists who demonstrate artistic excellence and creative risk-taking in their work. Each recipient receives $5,000.
SPARK Grant ($2,500/grant)
To support the creative endeavors of ten visual artists who identify as ALAANA (African, Latinx, Asian, Arab, Native American), an artist with acute financial need, an artist with a disability, or as a self-taught/non-formally trained artist whose art practice is a primary vocation
ENVISION Grant ($2,500/grant)
To support the innovative and distinctive talent of two artists who make time-based work in the fields of digital, electronic, computer, internet, virtual reality or video-game art.