The Illinois Arts Council is marking a milestone while implementing a new approach to supporting the arts throughout the state.
“We’ve had 60 years of funding the arts here in Illinois,” said Executive Director Joshua Davis-Ruperto. “We’ve given out over half-a-billion dollars to artists and arts organizations that support communities here in Illinois.”
Davis-Ruperto and other representatives from the state agency are touring the state to celebrate the IAC’s 60th anniversary. Their itinerary brought them to Macomb for a reception at the Western Illinois Museum, which is one of the organizations in Macomb that receives support from the arts council.
As part of its anniversary celebration, the IAC is promoting a new organizational structure designed to help it better serve people throughout Illinois.
The IAC divided the state into different regions, each with a program director. One region is the Chicago metro area. The others divide the state into north, south, east, west, and central sections.
“We decided to put more regional focus to our work to try and dispel maybe some of the belief that we mostly work in Chicago,” said Jerome Grand, program director for the western part of the state, which generally includes west-central counties between the Illinois and Mississippi rivers.
He believes the arts help define who we are and how we relate to one another.
“Coming here to Macomb and seeing the vitality that is here in this community and how the arts are part of that vitality is inspiring,” he said.
Grand said people with questions should feel free to email him. His contact information can be found on the IAC’s website. He said he’s available to provide technical assistance on programs and guidelines.
Grand said the regional approach will provide the arts council with a greater understanding of communities and what’s happening in them.
Davis-Ruperto concurred with Grand in saying that the IAC needs to change the perception that it is Chicago-centric.
“Yes, we do support things like the Joffrey Ballet in Chicago. But we also support grandmothers putting on festivals in the basements of churches,” he said.
“This is your taxpayer dollars. If you have something that you’re looking to make happen in your own community, we want to be here to help support that. Never, ever be afraid to reach out to us and have a conversation about what you would love to see in your own community.”
Davis-Ruperto said in addition to the structural overhaul, the arts council has simplified its grant application. He said that’s helped them increase their grant application pool.
“95 percent of those applications were from outside of Chicago because of the work we’ve done. We’ve also increased direct funding to Illinois artists by 325 percent. So we’ve had a lot of impact through these small changes that we’ve made,” he said.
Davis-Ruperto believes people also sometimes perceive state government is inaccessible. But he said the IAC is willing to hold conversations with any Illinois resident who reaches out to them to talk about arts-related ideas for their community.
He said the arts provide an economic impact, and he hopes the federal government will continue to fund the arts.
“We have a long history of supporting the arts through the federal government, and we really hope that that continues for the future,” Davis-Ruperto said.
He feels lucky to live in a state that supports the arts, and he said that support comes from Republicans and Democrats alike.
Christi Steelman, an IAC board member from Bushnell, agreed that the state supports the arts, and hoped Illinois residents will continue to show support.
“The arts aren’t a luxury. They are in the design of the chairs we sit on, the design of our homes, what we hang on our walls, the music we listen to. There’s not one area of our life that is not touched by the arts,” Steelman said.
She said you don’t need to speak the same language or come from the same background as an artist to be inspired by their work.
Steelman said the IAC has made some big changes, but they’re not done.
“You tweak as you go, but it’s only to make it better and more effective for artists, educators, organizations, even government entities who are doing arts programming,” Steelman said.
“It’s only going to get better.”
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