Congratulations to the recipients of the 2025 Creative Placemaking grants! Learn more about their projects.
Strengthening the
suburban arts sector
Strengthening the
suburban arts sector
About the Initiative
Cook County Arts is a pilot initiative of the Cook County Bureau of Economic Development made possible by $5 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding. With a focus on suburban Cook County, Cook County Arts provides support for artists and nonprofit arts organizations, and seeks to mitigate the lingering negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and strengthen the suburban arts sector in the long term.
Cook County Arts aims to build vibrant, sustainable, and inclusive communities where people want to live, learn, work, and play.
Creative Placemaking
Cook County is providing between $50,000-$250,000 to grantees across the Cook County suburbs to support community-led creative placemaking projects.
Ecosystem Assessment
Our partners at Arts Alliance Illinois are embarking on a data-gathering process to assess the current landscape of the cultural sector in suburban Cook County and develop recommendations for the future.
See the bigger picture: Arts Alliance Illinois’ new Creative Economy of Illinois: Impact & Assets report explores the scale and value of the creative economy across Illinois.