We are thrilled to announce 45 grants approved at our April 2026 board meeting. These awards, totaling more than $8.2 million, support organizations advancing Arts and Culture, the Built Environment, and Investigative Journalism for Government Accountability.
Grants approved in April include expanded investments in investigative newsrooms, historic preservation and skilled-trades education, artist-centered shared space programs, and general operating support for organizations that strengthen civic life and cultural vitality. Together, these investments underscore the Foundation’s commitment to the artists, institutions, and storytellers who help shape strong, informed, and culturally rich communities.
Access Contemporary Music
$110,000 to support the series "Songs About Buildings and Moods"
Alliance for the Great Lakes
$50,000 to support the Flooding and Sewage Coalition in Chicago
American College of the Building Arts
$297,500 to support The Richard H. Driehaus Study Abroad Program at the American College of the Building Arts
Better Government Association
$1,958,300 to support the Embedded Reporters Initiative and Richard H. Driehaus Awards for Investigative Reporting
Capitol News Illinois
$250,000 to support investigative coverage
Chicago Bungalow Association
$225,000 to support preservation education, the annual Driehaus Bungalow Awards, and National Register of Historic Places Bungalow district nominations
Chicago Public Media
$500,000 to support Chicago Public Media's combined politics enterprise news desk
Clinard Dance
$30,000 to support the Subsidized Rehearsal Space Program
Columbia College Chicago
$90,000 to support the Chicago Artist Performance Platform (CAPP)
Community Desk Chicago
$100,000 for general operating support
Design Museum of Chicago
$90,000 as fiscal sponsor, to support the design and production activities, as well as the implementation and programming of the Chicago Sukkah Design Festival
Duo Development
$100,000 to support Obras Compartidas/Shared Works
Experimental Sound Studio
$32,400 as fiscal sponsor for Shruti Box Studios, for Shruti's recording studio
Fractured Atlas
$20,000 as fiscal sponsor for wrkSHap kiloWatt, LLC, to support the program Black in Preservation
Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation
$1,000,000 to support the restoration of the South Wing of Frank Lloyd Wright’s home at Taliesin, in Spring Green, Wisconsin
Free Street Theater
$80,000 to support the In / House program
Fulcrum Point New Music Project
$80,000 to support both the "Discoveries: Hear and Be Heard" and the "AuxIn: Connected" series
Gerber Hart Library and Archives
$150,000 for general operating support
High Concept Labs
$60,000 to support HCL’s Artist Programs
Honey Pot Performance
$80,000 to support the Chicago Black Social Culture Map
Hyde Park School of Dance
$100,000 to support the Community Partnership Program
IFF
$100,000 for general operating support
Land Use Atlas, Inc.
$100,000 to support the further development of the National Preservation Atlas
Latinos in Heritage Conservation
$80,000 to support Congreso: Latinx Heritage Leadership Summit in Chicago in August 2026
League of Chicago Theatres Foundation
$150,000 for general operating support
McGreal Center for Dominican Historical Studies, Dominican University
$200,000 to support Digitizing Chicago's Diverse Sacred Spaces
NON:Op Arts and Humanities
$70,000 for Listening Across Neighborhoods
National Public Housing Museum
$100,000 to support Case Studies for Truly Public Housing
National Trust for Historic Preservation (National)
$150,000 to support the management and presentation of the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Historic Preservation Awards
National Trust for Historic Preservation (National)
$75,000 to support “Farnsworth Forward” exhibition of Mexican art of the built environment
Northern Bedrock Historic Preservation Corps
$100,000 for general operating support
Preserve Montana
$40,000 to support the Preserve Montana Trades Corps
See Chicago Dance
$120,000 for general operating support
Society of Architectural Historians
$140,000 for general operating support
South Side Media Works
$150,000 to support the Investigative Reporting Hub
Synapse Arts
$60,000 to support the New Works program
Territory NFP
$140,000 for general operating support
The Chicago Community Foundation
$500,000 for the Neighborhood Capital Fund
The Ruth Page Foundation
$150,000 to support the Subsidized Theater & Studio Rental program, and the In-Residence Program
The Victorian Society in America
$50,000 to support the Victorian Society's Chicago Summer School
Timber Framers Guild
$50,000 to support the Historic Trades Education & Workforce Development: Timber Framing Pre-Apprentice Program
University of Illinois Chicago, College of Architecture, Design, and the Arts
$75,000 to support the exhibition, Perennial City: Urban Garden Experiments, at UIC Jane Addams Hull-House Museum
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, School of Architecture
$100,000 to support Public Displays of Affection: Social Infrastructures and the City
Urban Growers Collective
$100,000 for general operating support
Urban Rivers
$80,000 for general operating support
