Dear Concerned Peoples of Chicago:
Do you ever wonder who does the important and challenging work to confront the status quo in this city? We wonder that too, and that's why we started AREA Chicago, to document the Art/Research/Education/Activism happening here.
For more than four years AREA Chicago has been producing critical publications and events in Chicago. AREA is a unique project about the city and its social movements. We're writing today to tell you more about what we are doing and to ask that you help us to continue this work by giving AREA a tax-deductible donation.
AREA continues to grow. Here are a few highlights from 2009:
-AREA #8 - a Local Reader about creative responses to the statement "Everybody's Got Money Issues" was released to the public on May 1st. A dynamic series of lectures, workshops and other events took place following the release from August through October and has even inspired a new independent reading group of past AREA contributors.
-AREA #9 - A Local Reader on the geographic edges of Chicago that also brought in reflections on issues and ideas which are sometimes at the edges of our work was released on November 1st at the South Side Community Arts Center, the last living WPA era community arts center in the country. This issue had a strong emphasis on mapping projects and was funded especially for that work by grants from the Smart Museum of Art and the Graham Foundation.
-areachicago.org is getting a face-lift and it will be easier than ever to freely access the archives from our past magazines dealing with themes such as privatization, the local food system, solidarity, prisons, education, public policy, the legacy of the '60s.
-We are developing curriculum out of the articles from past issues of our Local Reader series. With hundreds of articles and interviews about Chicago and the people who live here, we are confident it can be a resource for classrooms and informal education environments.
-The "Notes for a People's Atlas" mapping project that we sponsor has been expanded to other cities and will be touring throughout the country for the next few years in an exhibition entitled "Experimental Geography" (http://peoplesatlas.areaprojects.info/).
- In recent weeks we were notified that we received a $6,000 grant from the MacArthur Fund for Arts & Culture at The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation. We also held our most successful community fundraising auction ever, raising $5,200. This means we are just $2,000 away from our goal for starting the new year with the funds we need. We aspire to raise as much money through grassroots fundraising as possible and this year we have proven we can do that.
As you can see we have a very busy year. We are planning for 2010 already and will be releasing our summer double-issue on the topic of "institutions and infrastructures." We depend on contributions from individual supporters like you to do all of this. From office supplies, to youth mapping workshops to printing the publications, your support makes this work possible. Please give a tax-deductible donation to AREA today! Checks can be made to our fiscal sponsor "Experimental Station" and mailed to AREA Chicago at PO Box 476971 Chicago IL 60647. To donate online visit http://www.areachicago.org/donate/
Sincerely,
Daniel Tucker and Rebecca Zorach, Editors of AREA Chicago
AREA 2009/2010 Advisors: Beth Gutelius, Amanda Gutierrez, Charles Vinz, David Marques, David Omotoso Stovall, Euan Hague, Gabriel Piemonte, Jerome Grand, Jason Reblando, Jayne Hileman, Laurie Jo Reynolds, Lisa Lee, Mairead Case, Dave Pabellon, Ryan Hollon, Therese Quinn, Daniel Tucker, Dakota Brown, Rebecca Zorach, Rachel Wallis, Eric Triantafillou, Lee Ann Norman, Ashley Weger, Frank Edwards, Robin Hewlett, Sam Barnett
