Redmoon Receives $250,000 Grant from ArtPlace America for Great Chicago Fire Festival

ArtPlace America announces today the award of a $250,000 grant to Redmoon, the large-scale spectacle and public art group, for the Great Chicago Fire Festival, a new festival that will culminate in a procession of illuminated floating fiberglass sculptures as well as a fire spectacle on the main branch of the Chicago River. The Great Chicago Fire Festival was chosen from over 1,200 applications as an exceptional example of creative placemaking.

ArtPlace America is a collaboration of leading national and regional foundations, banks and federal agencies committed to accelerating creative placemaking - putting art at the heart of a portfolio of strategies designed to revitalize communities. This is ArtPlace America's third cycle of grant awards. With this round of grants, in total, ArtPlace America has awarded a total of $42.1 million in 134 grants to 124 projects in 79 communities across the U.S. (and a statewide project in the state of Connecticut).

The inaugural Great Chicago Fire Festival, presented by Redmoon in partnership with the City of Chicago, will take place in October 2014. Redmoon also plans to work with artists to engage community members in the development of art projects across Chicago neighborhoods that would be a part of the spectacle event. The inaugural festival has potential to become an annual event tradition celebrating the diversity of Chicago's great neighborhoods and powerful spirit of renewal.

"The Great Chicago Fire Festival will be unique, an event worthy of our world-class city," said Mayor Rahm Emanuel. "The ArtPlace grant is a significant endorsement of Redmoon's work and Jim Lasko's vision for this new urban festival, which will highlight the City's cultural assets and allow Chicagoans from every neighborhood and visitors to enjoy the Chicago River, one of our greatest natural assets."

"Congratulations to Redmoon on receiving this major award for the development of the Great Chicago Fire Festival, an exceptional example of creative placemaking, said Michelle T. Boone, Commissioner of the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events. "The Festival will activate our City's public spaces, engage Chicagoans of all ages and advance many goals of the Chicago Cultural Plan." Released in October 2012, the Chicago Cultural Plan created the framework to guide the City's future cultural growth.

"ArtPlace America recognizes the central role arts and cultural activities can have in the revitalization of American cities," said Rip Rapson, chair of ArtPlace America's Presidents' Council. "With this grant award ArtPlace America is directing individual project support to scores of creative, high-impact projects throughout the country."

"ArtPlace America is also continuing to break new ground in drawing together some of the nation's leading foundations to think -- in a concerted way -- about how these kind of projects can become more widespread," continued Rapson.

"We wait for these moments when a visionary funder, or funders hopefully, set a project into motion that might otherwise lay dormant as a great idea waiting for its time," said Co-Artistic Director of Redmoon, Jim Lasko. "I hope these funds from Artplace propel The Great Chicago Fire Festival into the hearts and minds of Chicagoans and the nation as a whole as we celebrate the unique character of this great city by engaging its citizens, its neighborhoods, its river, and its history. I am full of gratitude."

The 54 organizations that received grants were selected from over 1200 applications. Inquiries came from all 50 states as well as the District of Columbia. Grant amounts range from $750,000 to $33,000 with an average grant size of just over $280,000. The complete list of 2013/2014 ArtPlace America awards can be found at www.artplaceamerica.org.

ArtPlace America provides grants and loans, supports research, and conducts outreach and advocacy. To date, ArtPlace America has awarded 134 grants totaling $42.1 million to 124 organizations in 79 U.S. communities (and a statewide project in the state of Connecticut).

Foundations participating in ArtPlace America include Bloomberg Philanthropies, The Ford Foundation, The James Irvine Foundation, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, The Kresge Foundation, The McKnight Foundation, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The William Penn Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation, Rasmuson Foundation, The Surdna Foundation, and two anonymous donors.

ArtPlace America also seeks advice and counsel from close working relationships with various federal agencies, including the National Endowment for the Arts, the departments of Housing and Urban Development, Health and Human Services, Agriculture, Education, and Transportation, along with leadership from the White House Office of Management and Budget and the Domestic Policy Council.

ArtPlace America is also supported by a $12 million loan fund capitalized by six major financial institutions and managed by the Nonprofit Finance Fund. Participating institutions are Bank of America, Citi, Deutsche Bank, Chase, MetLife, and Morgan Stanley.

Since its founding in 1990, Redmoon has continually challenged the definition of theater. Transforming streets, stages and architectural landmarks through performance, Redmoon blends elements of ritual and symbol, spectacular physical action, and live music with exquisitely crafted objects, masks and puppets. One of the only theaters in the country committed to creating civic theater, Redmoon produces works of stunning originality that are capable of delighting non-traditional audiences and conventional theatergoers alike in public spaces of all varieties.

Over the past 23 years, Redmoon has grown from a tiny storefront with an annual budget of $17,000 to the 8th largest non-profit theater company in Chicago. Redmoon has been commissioned by Millennium Park, the Art Institute of Chicago, the MCA, the Park District, the Spertus Institute, and the Mayor's Office of Special Events, as well as by some of Chicago's most prominent art collectors. The work has drawn as many as 10,000 people on a single night and is enjoyed by hundreds of thousands in a given year. This work has earned us a national reputation as a company with a unique style and vision. www.redmoon.org

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