Chicago Latino Theater Alliance

Established in 2016, the Chicago Latino Theater Alliance’s mission is to strengthen the infrastructure for Latina/o/x writers, producers, actors, and theater administrators. In 2022, a network of arts and culture organizations and their leaders formed the Chicago Latino Arts and Culture Summit to advocate for equitable distribution of resources to the Latina/o/x communities. With this award, the Alliance in collaboration with the network commissions the Great Cities Institute at the University of Illinois Chicago to conduct research on Chicago’s Latina/o/x arts and culture organizations.

The Chicago Latino Theater Alliance strengthens the infrastructure for Latino writers, actors, and theater artists. Its signature program is entitled Destinos: The Chicago International Latino Theater Festival, featuring Chicago-based writers and performers as well as artists from around the country and world. The eight-week annual festival marks Chicago as a center for Latino theater. This award provides general operating support to the Chicago Latino Theater Alliance as part of the Foundation’s Culture, Equity, and the Arts program.

The Chicago Latino Theater Alliance is a new organization that strengthens the infrastructure for Latino writers and actors by programming and supporting an annual Latino Theater Festival, which features Chicago writers and performers as well as artists from around the country and world. The Alliance is in the process of acquiring its own physical space which will become a home to Chicago’s existing Latino performing artists and incubate new Latino artists and companies. Award funds support activities related to the theater festival, space, and staffing.