We are proud to support and serve artists through AnySquared with art projects + programs and our weekly Studio Days on Wednesdays. We are also excited to provide artists with opportunities in 2024. We have an amazing AnySquared Arts Community that has a positive impact on the Chicago community.
AnySquared is so thrilled to continue our Home Not Home Series Projects in 2024! We are also ecstatic to find out that we have received a DCASE Neighborhood Access Grant to fund this project! The grant will fund specifically Home Not Home projects including stipends for artists, curators, and programming. We have plans in place to make compelling arts projects that address ideas of home, housing, and resources in our community as we partner with Palenque LSNA, Pilsen Art & Community House, Humboldt Park Solidarity Network/Casa Hernandez, Renegades of Funk, Mutual Aid groups, and more in our community.
While the DCASE grant will fund our 2024 Home Not Home Projects, we rely on you to sustain AnySquared day-to-day costs, support our regular workshops, purchase supplies for the studio, fund additional community events, and add to our tools and materials that we share with artists. Please consider a donation to AnySquared!
Launched Initiatives in 2023
Along with our regular events, we continue to roll out different initiatives created at the all-AnySquared Visioning Session last year. We’ve implemented monthly meetings, alternate studio days on Fridays, inclusive planning, and developed programming including workshops, performance nights, exhibits, and specifically the Home Not Home Series. Through these, we created more avenues for artists’ participation in programming and proposing projects. Thank you to each and every person in AnySquared who were part of this process! Please also check out AnySquared’s updated website which documents what we have been doing!
Weekly: Free Studio Days For 14 Years!
Free Studio Day Wednesdays | Our free artmaking sessions are the heart of our organization and are an amazing arts incubator for all we do. Many individual artists’ projects develop at the studio outside of our own! Each week, we provide free supplies, offer technical support to artists, and plan events, all while we make art and music together — this year we expanded to include music in the space! We host 25–35 artists each week and have created space for an inclusive community. Studio Days are every Wednesday: 4pm–10pm at AnySquared Studio, 2338 N. Milwaukee in Chicago.
Launching the Home Not Home Series Events in 2023
Home Not Home Series launched in June 2023 and goes through 2024 | Our first installment of the series featured a premiere exhibition, performances, and workshops. Home Not Home Series Exhibition & Programming was at Agitator Gallery, our first partner in this series. The creation and conceptualization of Home Not Home core themes and ideas was truly a group effort in which all in AnySquared participated. The exhibition and programming were also juried by more than a dozen AnySquared artists — for most, it was their first time. As part of mentoring, more experienced curators guided the process, and it was exciting to debate and discuss the submissions with everyone. The inaugural exhibition included 60+ artists along with programming from the Exhibit Opening (featuring 60+ artists), Spoken Word Night (curated by Tattianna Howard, Tanae B., and Sunshine), Music Night (organized by Justin Merchan and Manny Munoz of Sinica), and two workshops (with facilitators Clau Rocha and Alicce Gabrielle). Please see Photos of opening | Links to programs | Installation Shots. Look for more Home Not Home programming in 2024!
New Workshop Series This Year!
Workshops in 2023 | We initiated our AnySquared Skillshare Series workshops this year in April and also hosted workshops as part of our featured exhibitions. Thank you to AnySquared friends and members who shared their skills with everyone for free! We filled the year with informative and useful workshops from April through November: Art in Stitches and Stitching Circle with Monstrochika, Photoshop Basics with Jarrett Brown/JunkBox Art, 2 Anatomy for Artists (Hands & Heads) with Noe Aleman, 2 Bookbinding Basics with Tracy Kostenbader, and Photography for Beginners with Insidious Studios. We Also hosted 2 workshops during our Home Not Home Exhibit: Collaborative Collage Oracle Deck with Clau Rocha, and Mindfulness & Art Therapy with Alice Gabrielle. We already scheduled our first workshop of 2024 for January 5th: Intro to Songwriting with Josh Lim in 2024!
New! Performances in 2023
Performances | Last spring, AnySquared launched music performances along with our programming. We highlighted AnySquared regular performers, along with other musicians and songwriters, and we also offered open mics. Our first event in April was at the AnySquared and focused on the Studio Regulars which was amazing! AnySquared also hosted a meaningful Music Night in July part of the Home Not Home exhibit at Agitator Gallery. At the Comfort Station, as part of the Black & Indigenous Futures exhibit by Akira, we had a wonderful evening of music and ceremony. At our November Pop-Up, we hosted great performances from The Regulars and friends!
Highlighting Artists Through Exhibitions
Exhibitions | AnySquared hosted and facilitated exhibitions throughout this year. We have been curating exhibits for Art @ Coles Exhibits with local artists for over 14 years! This year’s line-up included Serious Play with Raine Kam Yung and Nez, the History of Project Logan co-curated by Flash ABC, and A Sense of Mirage with Bria Bridges and Insidious Studios.
Our Featured AnySquared Exhibits included the AnySquared Showcase Exhibit curated and organized by Noa Aleman, our thoughtful intergenerational Home Not Home Exhibit, and our AnySquared Artist’s Pop-Up. Looking forward to a new year of exhibits and have plans to create a Home Not Home themed exhibit with Pilsen Art & Community House in May 2024!
Art + Community
Outdoor Events & Collaborations | AnySquared regularly partners with local community organizations and fellow arts groups.
This year, we worked with local mutual aid groups to host Artmaking Days at Piotrowski Park in June and August for migrant families. Since early spring, we have invited migrant families staying nearby at the police station to come to our regular studio days. We also help create portable art supply bags for families. Special thanks to Zarana Patel for facilitating these events!
Collaborating with Unity Park for their annual Art in the Park event for a dozen years, AnySquared helps organize the arts activities of the day in July. Helen Sanchez-Cortes has been our excellent lead artist and facilitator for this event for the last few years! Thank you to all of the many volunteers!
The annual Against Da Fence mini-art festival is a testimony to AnySquared and Renegades of Funk’s regular cooperation with our combined communities. We were displaced from Project Logan in 2023 and decided to move the venue to the Logan Square Dog Park Mural. In July, we showcased art on the fence and art vendors, hosted an artmaking activity, and touched up the Dog Park Mural. We hope to return to our home at Project Logan in June of 2024. We are also grateful to our partner Renegades of Funk for inviting us to the Battle 4 the Eagle event in August — our art tent was fun!
We were excited to be invited by Pilsen Art and Community House to host live art and arts activities for families at their Hecho En Festival in Pilsen. Thanks to Bria Bridges, Tracy Kostenbader, Maurice Buckley, George Larson, Sofia Brunwin, Zarana Patel, and Tattianna Howard for being the live artists for the two days and helping with the arts activities!
AnySquared was recruited to facilitate a Dia De Muertos Celebration arts activity with Palenque LSNA. Thanks to Norma Rios for preparing our team of artists to guide the family arts activity! We had a great time. Gratitude to our AnySquared Volunteers for facilitating some of the arts activities of the day: Marie Hernandez, Burt Fondue, Justin Merchan, Jimmy Duran, Maribel Cruz, Tracy Kostenbader, and Jarrett Brown!
Public Art Touch-Ups
Repair & Updating of Public Art | In partnership with Haas Park and collaboration with Renegades of Funk (ROF), our crew touched up the Logan Squared Dog Park Mural and added more to the mural over a few weeks this summer. The dog park mural was completed in 2016 by AnySquared and ROF with over 40 artists and more than 200 community members. We will be checking on it in the mural in the Spring. We are grateful to Haas Park for funding the touch-up paint and materials.
We are also excited that this year the Plant refurbished the 2014 art installation by Stephan Manka created for our Salvage Exhibition — a collaboration with G-Studio. Salvage Exhibit Photo Album | Check out Salvage Exhibit Page with a full list of artists and statements.
Mentoring Artists and Organizers
We love mentoring artists | Through involvement in AnySquared-produced initiatives, we collaborate with artists to engage in meaningful projects while they gain expertise. We continue to mentor artists through real-world experience as both older and younger work artists side-by-side in conceptualizing, organizing, and planning projects and events. We are so very proud of the many artists who we’ve mentored over the years.
Thank you to our SAIC Intern | This Fall, Mateo Badilla became AnySquared Administration & Communications Intern from SAIC! We are grateful for their work in staffing and organizing events, setting up the studio each week, facilitating work with children, creating art for social media, and updating the website. We plan to create more mentorship opportunities in 2024!
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Help AnySquared thrive: As costs have gone up significantly as a nonprofit, we do not want that to affect how much work we do and continue to focus on making things happen in our community! One-time donations are critical and monthly donations are something we can depend on! To make a donation or become a monthly donor, please visit our Donation Page for details. Gratitude for considering a donation.
Thank You For Your Suppport!
AnySquared Team
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ANYSQUARED ARTS NFP | Supporting and nurturing artists and creating a community for 14 years, AnySquared is a nonprofit artists collaborative, a network, and a platform for artists. AnySquared’s mission is to support, produce, and promote collaborative projects that facilitate arts activities through inclusive participation.