The fall 2020 project for Management Studio I was focused around developing programming for Millennium Park, in conjunction with the Millennium Park Foundation. While the team initially planned on developing an in-person event, emergent COVID-19 restrictions in the city of Chicago forced them to reconceptualize programming for an online audience. The goal, however, remained the same: to contextualize and add to the large-scale art installations by Edra Soto and Christine Tarkowski, featured in the park's outdoor Boeing Galleries. The team accomplished this through the production of three short films — an artist talk and walkthrough by each of the artists discussing their work; and a recorded performance by Ayako Kato and Mabel Kwon that activated Edra Soto's site-specific installation in Boeing Gallery North, Screenhouse. The team then developed, scheduled, and promoted an online event featuring a screening of our films as well as a panel discussion with the artists, moderated by NPR's Ayana Contreras.
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Recognizing the stark resource difference between Millennium Park projects and community organizations outside of the Loop, the team shifted directions for the spring 2021 Management Studio II project from the development of park programming to the facilitation of cultural support throughout the broader nonprofit landscape of Chicago. Breaking with the chosen direction of the Millennium Park Foundation, the team proposed the establishment of a grantmaking program that, rather than concentrating resources and agency in Chicago's downtown core, would distribute them in a more equitable way among cultural organizations in historically marginalized neighborhoods. Throughout the semester, the team developed Requests For Proposals (RFPs) for three grants totalling $20,000: two (2) general operating grants for $5,000, and one (1) programming grant for $10,000. The eligibility requirements were restricted to small organizations in neighborhoods on the city's South and West Sides.
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