We are happy to have recently received a $45,000 #TogetherWeHeal Creative Place Program grant to launch Roots & Blooms!
Our funded project, Roots & Blooms, a collaboration between We Sow We Grow and The Black Bloom Project, will promote healing & transformation in West Pullman and we can’t wait to get started! Chicago Mayor’s Office Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events #LetsTalkHealingChicago #yearofhealing2022
Meet the two folks bringing Roots & Blooms to you. Natasha Nicholes – Executive Director of We Sow We Grow and Jade Williams of The Black Bloom Project
Natasha & Jade can’t wait to share with not only the West Pullman community, but Chicago as a whole, the things that we accomplish through agriculture and art.
The Together We Heal Creative Place Program focuses on arts-based solutions, with the belief that creative works can play a significant role in addressing systemic inequities, act as a convener for dialogue, encourage problem-solving, and spur positive transformation in communities throughout the city.
The Together We Heal initiative was launched with the intent to educate and engage about long-standing systemic injustices, identify lessons learned from the past to inform new values and norms that shift power, envision a more inclusive future, and design policies to produce and sustain more equitable outcomes.
Ranging from $25,000 – $500,000, the grants will support artist and community partnerships in designing and implementing art projects that promote healing and transformation in Chicago’s neighborhoods, with a focus on communities disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and systemic racism. The selected projects will integrate various artistic disciplines including, but not limited to, architecture, dance, film, music, performance art, photography, public art, and theater.
From Fall 2022 through Winter 2024, selected artists and organizations will work in partnership with stakeholders to create projects that strengthen the economic, physical, and social character of a neighborhood or place.
This program is part of Mayor Lightfoot’s Chicago Recovery Plan, which utilizes once-in-a-generation federal funding and an equity-based investment strategy to catalyze a sustainable economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
