AREA Chicago Needs Your Help!
Things people are saying about us:
- "AREA is a gift to every lover of the city. It is a promise kept to everyday heroes so that they will not be soon forgotten and that their stories will not be erased by bulldozers or wrecking cranes." - Ryan Hollon
- "In a very short time, AREA has become a place for serious policy discussions and independent criticism of city governance, a medium through which activists and organizations from throughout Chicago learn about each other, an indispensable grassroots teaching tool, a model of advocacy journalism, and a key element in the media landscape of the Chicago art scene." - Dan S. Wang
- "AREA Chicago reports on the city's hidden histories." - Lauren Weinberg, Timeout Chicago
In 2008, AREA:
+ Worked with over 100 Chicagoans to investigate issues impacting their lives in the city in our magazine
+ Shared our work in venues ranging from Paseo Prarie Garden and Backstory Cafe to the Jane Addams Hull House Museum and Chicago Cultural Center
+ Exhibited our work in venues ranging from the Museum of Contemporary Art to the Teachers for Social Justice Curriculum Fair
+ Distributed school classroom lesson-plans based on 6 previously published articles from AREA at the Teachers for Social Justice Curriculum Fair
+ Received grants of $1000-5000 from the Graham Foundation for the Arts, the Wicker Park Bucktown SSA and the Fire This Time Fund. At the same time we got 100 small donations amount to over $5,000 worth of donations from individual small donors (Donations range from $5 to $500).
+ Hosted the 2nd annual "Wants and Needs" Auction where two dozen contributors to AREA offer up their services and skills for auction to raise money for the publication and organization they care about. This year the auction and party raised $3800.
+ Exhibited our work in venues ranging from the Museum of Contemporary Art to the Teachers for Social Justice Curriculum Fair
+ Distributed school classroom lesson-plans based on 6 previously published articles from AREA at the Teachers for Social Justice Curriculum Fair
+ Received grants of $1000-5000 from the Graham Foundation for the Arts, the Wicker Park Bucktown SSA and the Fire This Time Fund. At the same time we got 100 small donations amount to over $5,000 worth of donations from individual small donors (Donations range from $5 to $500).
+ Hosted the 2nd annual "Wants and Needs" Auction where two dozen contributors to AREA offer up their services and skills for auction to raise money for the publication and organization they care about. This year the auction and party raised $3800.
+ Published AREA #6 City As Lab and that uses brief histories and interviews to explain complex policy topics relating to housing, education and labor in Chicago. A city-wide reading group of this issue was held at sites throughout Chicago as part of the Public Square/Illinois Humanities Council's "Cafe Society" Civic discussion program. See articles here
+ Developed AREA#7 68/08 as a project in residence at the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum. With their support we produced the largest issue yet, and developed programs throughout the city at venues ranging from the Chicago Cultural Center to the Southside Community Arts Center. See articles here
+ Developed AREA#7 68/08 as a project in residence at the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum. With their support we produced the largest issue yet, and developed programs throughout the city at venues ranging from the Chicago Cultural Center to the Southside Community Arts Center. See articles here
+ Expanded Notes for a People's Atlas by sponsoring a neighborhood collection drive of community mapmaking in Wicker Park, contributing to the nationally touring book/exhibition Experimental Geography and developing mapping projects with communities in Syracuse NY and Greencastle Indiana as well as throughout Chicago. Buy the book here
+ Promoted 300 events throughout Chicago to our 1,000 subscriber "Another Chicago" newsletter.
+ Promoted 300 events throughout Chicago to our 1,000 subscriber "Another Chicago" newsletter.
AREA was able to complete these projects with only one part time employee and a massive team of committed volunteers. But we can't run on enthusiasm alone. To help us survive and thrive through these challenging economic times, we need contributions from individual supporters who know the value of our work. Private contributions are among our few sources of general operating support - necessary funds to build our organizational capacity. With increased support and energy, we're looking forward to 2009. Please help us continue our work with Chicago's politically and socially engaged communities and build our momentum.
Here's what your support will enable us to accomplish in 2009:
+ Publish two more issues of our "Local Reader" magazines: One on the theme of Money and one on the theme of the Chicago Region and Peripheries. Read the call for proposals here
+ Collaborate with college students throughout Chicago to produce content for both of our magazine issues.
+ Expand our Notes for a People's Atlas to Rochester, Minnesota; Albuquerque, New Mexico; and Waterville, Maine. Join us for an open-house exhibition for the Chicago maps on January 15th
+ Expand our involvement in the Logan Square community with more activities at our office space in the congress theater, which now also houses the Chicago Underground Library and the artist residency InCUBATE.
As more and more eyes around the world are on Chicago, its culture, and its politics-especially as Barack Obama takes office and takes our housing and education policy makers (the same people we reported on in issue #6)-there needs to be more emphasis placed on representing and documenting what life is like here and what the engaged citizens are thinking and doing to make the city more just and more livable. Help AREA do that work.
Tax deductible donations can be made through our website at www.areachicago.org/donate/ or by check (make checks payable to our fiscal sponsor Experimental Station and mail to AREA Chicago PO Box 476971 Chicago IL 60647). Our annual budget is merely $20,000 and we have already raised half of that amount. If it is within your means, please support us generously through donations of $100 or more. Regardless of the size of your donation, your name will be publicly credited in our upcoming spring 2009 issue.
Sincerely,
AREA
http://areachicago.org/ | areachicago@gmail.com
2009 Editors
Daniel Tucker
Rebecca Zorach
2009 Advisory Group
Alex Blanchette, Laurie Palmer, Beth Gutelius, Martha Boyd, Amanda Gutierrez, Salem Collo-Julin, Cassie Fennel, Chris Cutrone, Charles Vinz, David Marques, David Omotoso Stovall, Erica Meiners, Euan Hague, Aaron Sarver, Gabriel Piemonte, Jerome Grand, Jake Elliott, Jason Reblando, Jayne Hileman, Karen Reyes, Laurie Jo Reynolds, Lisa Lee, Mairead Case, Micah Maidenberg, Dave Pabellon, Nick Krietman, Michelle Vannatta, Nance Klehm, Ryan Hollon, Lisa Sousa, Therese Quinn, Daniel Tucker, Dakota Brown, Rebecca Zorach
+ Publish two more issues of our "Local Reader" magazines: One on the theme of Money and one on the theme of the Chicago Region and Peripheries. Read the call for proposals here
+ Collaborate with college students throughout Chicago to produce content for both of our magazine issues.
+ Expand our Notes for a People's Atlas to Rochester, Minnesota; Albuquerque, New Mexico; and Waterville, Maine. Join us for an open-house exhibition for the Chicago maps on January 15th
+ Expand our involvement in the Logan Square community with more activities at our office space in the congress theater, which now also houses the Chicago Underground Library and the artist residency InCUBATE.
As more and more eyes around the world are on Chicago, its culture, and its politics-especially as Barack Obama takes office and takes our housing and education policy makers (the same people we reported on in issue #6)-there needs to be more emphasis placed on representing and documenting what life is like here and what the engaged citizens are thinking and doing to make the city more just and more livable. Help AREA do that work.
Tax deductible donations can be made through our website at www.areachicago.org/donate/ or by check (make checks payable to our fiscal sponsor Experimental Station and mail to AREA Chicago PO Box 476971 Chicago IL 60647). Our annual budget is merely $20,000 and we have already raised half of that amount. If it is within your means, please support us generously through donations of $100 or more. Regardless of the size of your donation, your name will be publicly credited in our upcoming spring 2009 issue.
Sincerely,
AREA
http://areachicago.org/ | areachicago@gmail.com
2009 Editors
Daniel Tucker
Rebecca Zorach
2009 Advisory Group
Alex Blanchette, Laurie Palmer, Beth Gutelius, Martha Boyd, Amanda Gutierrez, Salem Collo-Julin, Cassie Fennel, Chris Cutrone, Charles Vinz, David Marques, David Omotoso Stovall, Erica Meiners, Euan Hague, Aaron Sarver, Gabriel Piemonte, Jerome Grand, Jake Elliott, Jason Reblando, Jayne Hileman, Karen Reyes, Laurie Jo Reynolds, Lisa Lee, Mairead Case, Micah Maidenberg, Dave Pabellon, Nick Krietman, Michelle Vannatta, Nance Klehm, Ryan Hollon, Lisa Sousa, Therese Quinn, Daniel Tucker, Dakota Brown, Rebecca Zorach
