Check out the latest insights from our program team and grantees.
Grantees
“Tarell Makes Man”
Joyce Awards Honoree Tarell Alvin McCraney Reflects on Artistic Growth in Chicago
Mobilizing the Community College Student Vote
Joyce Democracy Grantees Campus Vote Project and Students Learn Students Vote are mobilizing community college student voters through targeted education and engagement designed to meet the needs of a diverse and nontraditional student population.
Democracy Desk: “Unlock Civics” Advocates Expanding Voting Rights and Civic Education for Incarcerated Community Members
Two Joyce Democracy grantees, Chicago Votes and Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, discuss their inspiring voting rights work in Illinois.
Collective Engagement for Community Peace: Understanding the Black & Brown Researchers Collective
We caught up recently with Dr. Buggs, one of the nation’s leading experts on community violence intervention and using anti-racist methods to reduce gun violence, about the status of the Collective and what’s to come.
Grantee
Black & Brown Researchers Collective
Gun Violence Prevention Advocates Reflect on “Aspirational” Work During 11th Annual Vigil
In December 2023, Joyce grantee Newtown Action Alliance held it's 11th annual vigil. Hundreds of survivors, many carrying pictures of fallen loved ones, packed St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C.
Grantee
Newtown Action Alliance
Fresh Energy: A Midwest Climate Advocacy Leader
Minnesota-based Fresh Energy has been a leader in climate advocacy for more than 30 years, playing a significant role in what it calls “speeding Minnesota and the Midwest’s transition to a clean energy economy.”
Grantee
Fresh Energy
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2024 Joyce Awards Announcement
Increasing grants to $100,000, the Foundation awards a total of $500,000 to support the creation of new works by artists of color and Great Lakes nonprofits.
“Tarell Makes Man”
Joyce Awards Honoree Tarell Alvin McCraney Reflects on Artistic Growth in Chicago
Joyce Awards Information Session - August 2023
Culture director Mia Khimm and grants manager Lynne Wiora discuss the Joyce Awards program and application process. LOIs are due on Sept. 11, 2023. New applicants should create accounts by Sept. 6, 2023.
Ron OJ Parson
Acclaimed director/actor Ron OJ Parson is in a season of radical reflection. In a 50-year career that most creatives dream of, Parson has become one of the nation’s pre-eminent theater directors. Learn more about his work here.
2024 Joyce Awards Applications Open: Grants Increased To $100K Each
Now accepting applications for the 2024 Joyce Awards
2023 Joyce Awards Announcement
We’re thrilled to announce the 2023 winners of our Joyce Awards, which support the creation of community-driven new works by artists of color in partnership with organizations in the Great Lakes region.
They Got NEXT — Chicago Sinfonietta Celebrates 35 Years
During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Chicago Sinfonietta, like so many organizations, was forced to reimagine itself, pivoting programming and performances to a fully virtual space.
Grantee
Chicago Sinfonietta
Joyce Awards Information Session - August 2022
Culture director Mia Khimm and grants manager Lynne Wiora discuss the Joyce Awards program and the application process. LOIs are due on September 12, 2022. New applicants should create accounts by September 7, 2022.
2022 Joyce Awards Announcement
Five innovative new projects by pioneering artists of color spanning the visual, performing, and multidisciplinary arts that engage diverse communities in Chicago, Detroit, Indianapolis, and Minneapolis-St. Paul will receive this year’s annual awards.
The “Full-Circle” Moment Of Nick Cave And Forothermore
Recent work by Internationally acclaimed, Chicago-based artist and Joyce Awards winner Nick Cave.
Congo Square Play Promotes Healing, Catharsis in Chicago
Congo Square Theatre is an ensemble dedicated to producing transformative work rooted in the African Diaspora. For 20 years it has committed to telling stories by and for Black people.
Grantee
Congo Square Theatre Company
Groundbreaking Lyric Opera Show Led By Two Joyce Award Winners
Profile on Joyce Award Winners Terence Blanchard & Camille A. Brown involvement in new Lyric Opera show
Building collective power through research
Black Researchers Collective was founded in 2019 with a mission to train and equip communities with the research tools necessary to be more civically engaged and policy informed.
Grantee
Black Researchers Collective
The nation’s first Black arts museum
South Side Community Art Center is the nation’s first Black arts museum that develops and showcases some of the nation’s most influential Black artists.
Grantee
South Side Community Art Center
Joyce Awards Information Session - August 2021
Joyce Awards application information and 2021 Virtual Session recording.
Pivoting to a reimagined stage
The Chicago Black Dance Legacy Project adapts and endures, rethinking performance space and how to reach audiences and students through a pandemic.