CELEBRATING THE INDESPENSIBILITY
OF CHICAGO’S CREATIVES

Glowing cultural vibrancy and great world cities are so often intertwined they are effectively one. Scan the globe and nearly every city that enjoys high international prestige harbors a rich, and often dazzling, arts community. Whether it’s Paris, Cape Town, Mexico City, Lisbon, London or Hanoi, the arts explode with extraordinary intensity and variety from January to December. Like New York City, those who monitor and report on the synergy between metropolis and culture place Chicago securely in that constellation.

(photo by Richard Rankin)

On November 10 at 5:30, a gala celebration will be held at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance announcing the recipients of the 2025 3Arts Awards.

An organization that helps artists be artists by offering them support in their creative pursuits, 3Arts has been championing Chicago’s arts community for over century. Founded in 1912 “with a history centered on women artists”, over time the non-profit has broadened its reach to include artists of color and deaf and disabled artists. An assortment of awards launched in 2007 range from unrestricted gifts to “project funding, residencies, professional development, and promotion to help artists take risks, experiment and (progressively) build momentum in their careers”.  Since then, “3Arts has distributed more than $8.2 million in grants to over 2500 Chicagoland artists”. Every award adheres to 3Arts Executive Director Cat Tager’s conviction that “a thriving city depends on a thriving arts community”.

Exceeding over one million dollars, this year’s awards amount to a $400,000 increase over the previous year’s and will be shared among 100 artists. The increase, according to Tager, is in response to the criticality of the current moment and its impact on the arts.

This year’s ceremony will highlight 17 of 2025’s awardees; each of whom will be receiving a $30,000 3Arts Award. Awards cover the creative arenas of dance, theater, music, teaching arts and the visual arts.

Along with The Chicago Immigrant Orchestra (with 2024 3Arts Awardee Wanees Zarour), performances by three of last year’s winners will also be components of the festivities: Michel Rodriguez (2013 3Arts Awardee) and Jacinda Ratcliffe (2021 Make A Wave Awardee) with choreography by Sylvia Hernandez-DiStasi (2014 3Arts Awardee).

Responses from those receiving the awards offer a personal perspective of their impact. For theater awardee Kristin Idaszak, whose plays draw on science, history and philosophy, the award is equally validating and emboldening. “Having the weight of 3Arts behind this work is a beautiful buoy.”

For Torrence Tea-Buggz Griffin, who chose dance rather than the lure of the streets in his formative years, the “award shows that hard work, dedication and love of what you do can pay off”.

Passion and resolve pour from another dance winner, Chih-Jou Cheng. Plagued by chronic knee pain and describing her personality as autistic, Cheng didn’t begin dance until she was 19. Despite being bombarded with well-intended discouragement, Cheng persevered and now works “as a full-time movement artist”, realizing her hard fought dream to find a place for herself in the world.

These artists and others who will be and have been recognized by 3Arts are some of the people, among thousands of others, who help make Chicago’s cultural presence roil with dynamism and gleam with a radiance that only grows brighter.

2025 3Arts Awards
Harris Theater for Music and Dance, 205 E. Randolf Street
November 10, 2025
5:30pm – Welcome Reception
6:30pm – Awards Celebration & After-party
for more info and tickets, visit 3arts