3Arts announces recipients of 2025 3Arts Awards

3Arts announces recipients of 2025 3Arts Awards

3ARTS TO commit OVER ONE MILLION DOLLARS IN UNRESTRICTED GRANTS IN ONE YEAR TO SUPPORT OVER 100 artists navigating THE shifting funding landscape

CELEBRATION ON NOVEMBER 10 AT THE HARRIS THEATER WILL FEATURE PERFORMANCES BY THE CHICAGO IMMIGRANT ORCHESTRA, D-COMPOSED, AND MORE

CHICAGO, IL – 3Arts, the Chicago-based nonprofit grantmaking organization, announces the 17 recipients of this year’s 3Arts Awards: dance artists Wendy Clinard, Chih-Jou Cheng (程之柔), and Torrence “Tea Buggz” Griffin; musicians Tommy Carroll, Ariella Granados,Kara Jackson, and Maxwell Senteney; teaching artists ebere agwuncha, Victoria Boateng, and Tom Lee; theater artists Rammel Chan, Nina Castillo-D’Angier, and Kristin Idaszak; and visual artists Jess Atieno, Leasho Johnson, Fern Logan, and Odette Stout. The organization will honor the new recipients on Monday, November 10 at 5:30pm at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, 205 E Randolph Street. Tickets to the 2025 3Arts Awards Celebration include a welcome reception, awards program, and a jubilant after-party. Tickets cost $150-$300 and are available at 3arts.org/tickets. Funds raised during the event will be split between 3Arts and Chicago nonprofit Center for Native Futures.

Across its various grantmaking initiatives, 3Arts will grant over one million dollars to more than 100 artists this year, marking a $400,000 increase from years’ past, to support artists navigating the shifting funding landscape. This significant increase reflects 3Arts’ deep belief that investing in artists is investing in the health and vibrancy of Illinois communities.

Cat Tager, Executive Director of 3Arts, said, “A thriving city depends on a thriving arts community. Right now, our arts community faces mounting challenges with each new day, each news cycle, and each trip to the grocery store. Recognizing this critical moment, so similar to the onset of the pandemic with its requirement for greater resources and greater resolve, 3Arts will dramatically increase our support for artists this year. We will add five new 3Arts Awards, 40 additional Make a Wave Awards, and over $150,000 in emergency funding, all of which will go directly into the hands of artists who shape the soul of our communities.”

This year’s 3Arts Awards Celebration features powerful performances by three past 3Arts awardees, including music from The Chicago Immigrant Orchestra (with 2024 3Arts Awardee Wanees Zarour); D-Composed (with 2021 3Arts Awardee Caitlin Edwards) and JUNTOS; and an aerial dance by Michel Rodriguez (2013 3Arts Awardee) and Jacinda Ratcliffe (2021 Make A Wave Awardee) with choreography by Sylvia Hernandez-DiStasi (2014 3Arts Awardee).

The event will shine a spotlight on 17 remarkable artists receiving $30,000 3Arts Awards--an increase from 10 recipients last year--and introduces two new awards in Music and Visual Arts for artists in downstate Illinois, presented in partnership with Artspace Southern Illinois. The ceremony also honors six Next Level Award recipients, each receiving $50,000, and 40 Make a Wave recipients, up from 10 in 2024, who were selected by past 3Arts awardees to receive $2,000 grants in recognition of their impact on Chicago’s creative landscape. In total, 3Arts will distribute more than one million dollars in 2025, including over $150,000 in emergency grants to address urgent and unexpected financial needs in the arts community.

3Arts has distributed more than $8.2 million in grants to over 2,500 Chicagoland artists since 2007. 3Arts awardees reflect 66% women artists, 74% artists of color, and 17% Deaf or disabled artists.

Founded in 1912, with a history centered on women artists, 3Arts is a nonprofit organization that supports artists working in the performing, teaching, and visual arts in the Chicago metropolitan area, including women artists, artists of color, and Deaf or disabled artists. The 3Arts Awards were launched in 2007 to provide unrestricted awards, project funding, residencies, professional development, and promotion to help artists take risks, experiment, and build momentum in their careers over time.

3Arts extends special thanks to the 2025 Award Partners: The HMS Fund, The SIF Fund, Stan Lipkin & Evelyn Appell Lipkin, MSUFCU, The Reva & David Logan Foundation, and the estate of Alison Zehr.

One of the 10 3Arts Awards, the 2025 3Arts/MSUFCU Community Award, is named in honor of the 75 community donors who contributed to a crowdfunding campaign to fund the award.

3Arts also recognizes support for the Next Level Awards from an anonymous donor at The Chicago Community Foundation, Good Chaos, and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and from The Siragusa Family Foundation, our Make a Wave Partner.

3Arts gratefully acknowledges the generous support of its 2025 sponsors: Presenting Partner: Allstate Insurance Company; Lead Sponsors: Morningstar and Comcast; Corporate Friend Sponsor: Center for Advanced Emotional Intelligence; and Artist Pass Sponsor: Graziano and Robyn Berto.

For more information about 3Arts, please visit www.3arts.org.

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