Ten Chicago arts and culture organizations received International Connections Fund grants to support artistic exchanges. The 2019 grants support partnerships with groups in Canada, Ethiopia, Israel, Kenya, Mexico, Spain, and Sweden to pursue projects in film, dance, music, theater, and visual arts. The Fund began in 2008 to help facilitate new partnerships and creative projects to benefit Chicago arts organizations, their international collaborators, and their audiences. The following groups received grants:
Chicago Sinfonietta—$50,000 for a collaboration of emerging musicians and conductors with advanced students and musicians from a Nairobi, Kenya orchestra to perform together, provide master classes, and engage with communities in Chicago and Kenya.
Clinard Dance—$50,000 for a collaboration with a flamenco dance company from Madrid, Spain to devise original dance theater with youth from Spain and senior citizens from Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood.
Elastic Arts—$50,000 for an exchange with improvisational musicians from Mexico who draw upon the jazz tradition.
Full Spectrum Features—$50,000 for a cultural exchange between Chicago and Mexico City filmmakers exploring themes of displacement from both sides of the border.
Hyde Park Jazz Festival—$50,000 for a collaboration with an acclaimed improvisational string ensemble from Ethiopia.
KV 265—$50,000 for a collaboration involving film production, astronomy, and music to present a multimedia film and orchestral performance focused on lunar tides.
Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center—$50,000 for a collaboration with an all-women, Afro-Puerto Rican group from Barcelona, Spain to produce a series of performances and audio recordings in the traditional dance and musical style of Bomba.
Swedish American Museum—$25,000 for an exhibit interpreting the letters to early 20th century Swedish immigrants to Chicago. Exhibitions in Chicago and Arvika, Sweden will examine century-old migration in contrast with current flows of migrants.
Theatre Y—$50,000 for a collaboration with a Serbian dance company, on “The Camino Project,” an experience of collective walking, theater, dance, and performance art inspired by the 500-mile pilgrimage across Spain called the Camino de Santiago.
Victory Gardens Theater—$40,000 for a new script exploring U.S. race relations in collaboration with a Palestinian actor, director, and playwright based in Israel.
