Ignite Fund

⏰ One week left to apply for The Ignite Fund!
Six $10,000 grants are waiting for bold, public-facing projects that engage the community and spark impact.

🗓 Deadline: Monday, April 13 | 11:59PM CT
Don’t wait, submit your application now!

Thinking about applying to The Ignite Fund? Make sure your project checks the boxes ✔️If your project meets these requirements The Ignite Fund grant is the opportunity for you!

Learn more about the eligibility criteria at our last Info Session on April 7.

Thinking about applying for The Ignite Fund? Don’t miss our first Info Session tomorrow!

Join us to learn everything you need to know about the program, application process, and what makes a strong proposal. This is your chance to ask questions, get tips, and feel confident before you apply.

Some of the things we’ll cover:
How to fill out the budget template
What makes an appropriate work sample
How we define a “new project”
Get your questions answered and set your project up for success!
Can’t make it tomorrow? Sign up for our second Info Session on April 7.

🔗 Register at the link in our bio!

The Ignite Fund application is officially OPEN!
Want to learn more before you apply? Join one of our upcoming Info Sessions to get the details, and sign up for Office Hours if you have specific questions about your proposal. We’re here to help!

🗓 Important Dates:
Info Session #1: Tuesday, March 17 | 4–5PM CT
Info Session #2: Tuesday, April 7 | 12–1PM CT
Office Hours: March 16–30, 2026
Application Deadline: Monday, April 13 | 11:59PM CT

Don’t miss your chance to apply for one of six $10,000 grants supporting bold visual arts projects in Chicago.
Tap the link in bio to register + apply.

Are you an early-career arts professional eager to learn about grantmaking, nonprofit work, and Chicago’s visual arts community? The Ignite Fund is looking for a detail-oriented, curious, and collaborative intern to join us for the 2026 grant cycle!

Since 2022, The Ignite Fund has supported bold, public-facing visual arts projects across Chicago. In 2026, we’ll award six $10,000 grants to local artists and artist-led collectives.

As The Ignite Fund Intern, you’ll gain hands-on experience in:
🎨 Arts grantmaking processes
📣 Nonprofit communications
🗂 Panel coordination & event support
🌐 Website updates
🤝 Supporting in-person artist gatherings

🔗 Application Link In Bio
Questions? Email mailto:[email protected]

Big ideas? Bold vision? Ready to bring a project to life?
The 2026 cycle of The Ignite Fund opens TODAY!

This cycle The Ignite Fund is awarding six $10,000 grants to Chicago-area artists and artist-led collectives to create and present exciting new work rooted in the visual arts.
This is your chance to showcase the vibrancy, creativity, and resilience of Chicago’s arts community. Apply now and ignite your vision.

Learn more via the !

✨In anticipation for our next round of The Ignite Fund we’re taking a moment to spotlight our most recent grantees and their projects all week✨

For our final spotlight, we have the collective CollⒶpse Consulting and Kenn Cook Jr!

CollⒶpse Consulting (lead by Bambi Kunst Non Ai Girlfriend Art Critic () is a new collective debuting their first project: Everyone’s (A) Critic. Drawing inspiration from subcultural gatherings and experimental art traditions, this project challenges the gatekeeping structures of traditional criticism by transforming it into something more alive, part performance, part gathering, and part critical exchange.

Artist Kenn Cook Jr. (Kenn Cook Jr. () presents From The Westside, With Love – Outdoor Exhibition, a traveling public art project adapted from an upcoming photo zine of the same name. Rooted in the people and places of Chicago’s Westside, Cook’s large-scale photographs transform streets, parks, and community spaces into open-air galleries, making art free and accessible to all.

✨In anticipation for our next round of The Ignite Fund we’re taking a moment to spotlight our most recent grantees and their projects all week✨

Next up, we have Alonso Galue and Brandon Calhoun!

Artist Alonso Galue (.galue), presents Push-On: The Prophet of the Extra-Life. Blending gaming metaphors with post-colonial folkloric traditions, this project features a modified pinball machine, sculptures, and monumental paintings of syncretic deities walking together.

Brandon Calhoun (), presents Through Their Eyes: In the Shoes of Black Women, a dance-layered visual series that centers a Black woman-led dance company. Shared online and through intimate public events, this series foregrounds the lived experiences, artistry, and leadership of Black women in Chicago, offering space for reflection, respect, and deeper understanding.

✨In anticipation for our next round of The Ignite Fund we’re taking a moment to spotlight our most recent grantees and their projects all week✨

Next up, we have Dorrah Alharbi and Leticia Pardo.
Dorrah Alharbi (), presents their project Objects of Memory (@‌littlepalestineproject), a digital archival documenting and preserving one of the largest Palestinian populations in the US. Located in Chicago’s southwest suburbs. The project conducts oral histories with first generation Arab immigrants who first settled in the community during the 1970s.

Leticia Pardo’s (), project greetings from Chicagoacán (stories from within) gathers oral histories and casts of domestic spaces from members of Chicago’s Mexican diaspora. This project forms a visual and auditory archive reflecting on migration, memory, and the ways home is continually reimagined and rebuilt.

✨In anticipation for our next round of The Ignite Fund we’re taking a moment to spotlight our most recent grantees and their projects all week✨

Next up, we have Laurel Hauge and the collective The Adoptea.
Artist Laurel Hauge’s () project Help Me Help You, transforms an exhibition space into a temporary office where visitors can receive support for personal, civic, or professional tasks. By positioning the artist as an assistant rather than author, Hauge creates a space of care, responsiveness, and practical utility.

The Adoptea (), an all-adoptee artist collective created by adoptees for adoptees, presents their project Spill The Tea. Through art, dialogue, and community-building, the collective challenges the sugar-coated narratives of adoption, fosters solidarity, and develops public programming and online resources to amplify adoptee voices.

We are pleased to announce the 2025 Ignite Fund Grantees!  
  
Push-On: The prophet of the extra-life by Alonso Galue 
Through Their Eyes: In the Shoes of Black Women by Brandon Calhoun 
Everyone’s (A) Critic by CollⒶpse Consulting 
Objects of Memory by Dorrah Alharbi 
From The Westside, With Love – Outdoor Exhibition by Kenn Cook Jr. 
Help Me Help You by Laurel Hauge 
greetings from Chicagoacán (stories from within) by Leticia Pardo 
TRANSplantas - carrying belonging  by Marimacha Monarca Press 
Spill the tea by The Adoptea Collective 
Glimmers: Latinx Illuminations by John H. Guevara & Xavier Robles Armas 
  
The Ignite Fund provides ten $6,000 grants for community centered, public-facing visual arts projects that represent experimental, unconventional, and accessible practices by Chicago-area artists and artist-led collectives.  
  
To learn more about the Ignite Fund and the 2025 Ignite Fund grantees, visit the  !