We are proud to support and serve artists and community through AnySquared with art projects + programs and our weekly Studio Days on Wednesdays. We have an amazing AnySquared Arts Community that has a positive impact on the Chicago community. We are excited to begin 2025 and continue to provide artists with many opportunities and work with social justice organizations in the community.
WEEKLY FREE STUDIO DAYS | As we gather each week at our studio day sessions, we stand united in the face of daily outrages. AnySquared is committed to creating art that serves the people while inspiring our members to engage in social justice campaigns and connect deeply with the community. We also provide a place of peace for our artists in the studio.
Our free artmaking sessions are the heart of our organization, serving as an incredible incubator for creativity. Many individual artists develop their projects at our studio for external events. Each week, we offer free supplies, provide technical support to artists, and plan events — all while collaborating on art together. Occasionally, artists experiment with music in our space too! We host 25–40 artists each week and have created space for an inclusive community. | Studio Days.
Home Not Home Series
Home Not Home Series launched in 2023 and continued through 2024 | For our Series, we collaborated with community and arts organizations through art activations, street art, and public events. The most impactful aspect of our work this year was occupying local spaces with art accessible to all, creating meaningful art, and asserting our presence in our neighborhood. We rallied our artists to create for social justice and developed a poster series for the streets.
We partnered with Palenque LSNA, Pilsen Art & Community House (PACH), Humboldt Park Solidarity Network (HPSN) /Casa Hernandez Free Store, Renegades of Funk (ROF), and other mutual aid and community groups.
We began the year by supporting Palenque LSNA’s affordable housing campaign. We are especially grateful to the AnySquared artists who designed the “Bring Chicago Home” posters and those who wheatpasted them throughout the area neighborhoods. We also thank those who created house-shaped installations to distribute our Home Not Home zines, buttons, and stickers. For the project, we projected a “Housing is a Human Right” video that our artists created on Milwaukee Avenue for several days. We also organized the Bring Chicago Home mural in collaboration with Renegades of Funk.
A significant achievement last spring was the successful curation and printing of a meaningful poster series. In partnership with Pilsen Arts & Community House, we developed our Home Not Home poster project series. In February, we held a Writers/Artists Meetup at AnySquared to inspire artist-writer collaboration. This project culminated in printed posters and the 1000 Words: Home Not Home exhibit at PACH. We also curated programming that included an Author Night and HNH Performances. Throughout the spring, summer, and fall, our street art crews installed these posters in our surrounding neighborhoods. The posters showcased selected artists’ and writers’ work and connected viewers to the HNH virtual gallery to read the full text, maximizing impact.
This Summer, we re-occupied our Project Logan space with our sibling organization Renegades of Funk as we highlighted our communities of artists on the mural walls for the Against Da Fence Mini-Art Fest on the theme of home. We teamed up with ROF in the fall for another mural production at Project Logan.
We concluded the year’s projects last fall by highlighting the Humboldt Park Solidarity Network’s Casa Hernandez Free Store. We organized and painted the “Casa No Casa” mural with the HPSN community and installed an exhibit for the patrons of the free store to enjoy that is still on display. The Home Not Home Poster Series and beautiful documentary photos (by Insidious) from our larger project were featured at the Casa No Casa Exhibit Opening. We began in 2023 with our first installment of the Home Not Home: a premiere exhibition with performances, and workshops with Agitator Gallery. The inaugural exhibition included 60+ artists along with programming from the Exhibit Opening, Spoken Word Night, Music Night, and workshops.
Free Workshop Series
Workshops in 2024 | Our AnySquared Skillshare Series continues to host workshops and stitching circles. Friends and members of AnySquared generously shared their skills and knowledge for free. Throughout the year, we filled our calendar with informative and engaging workshops from January to December, including: Ecstatic Dance with Cara Mastaduno and Noah Alonzo, Street Photography with Insidious Studios, Canvas Stretching with Mateo Badilla and Tracy Kostenbader, Natural Dye with Selinger Gonzo, Color Theory by Marie Hernandez, Song Writing 1 &2 with Josh Lim, Stitching Circle: Crochet with Mateo Badilla, and Kitchen Lithography with Vahnaree Weis. We have plans to host open source technology, printmaking, and other useful workshops in 2025.
Highlighting Artists Through Exhibitions
Our Featured AnySquared Exhibits in 2024 included:
- Love, Land, Deception: Deconstructing the Patriarchy Exhibit
at Chicago Art Department- This exhibit included workshops, vending fairs, and other free events.
- 1000 Words: Home Not Home Exhibit, programming, and posters series
with Pilsen Arts & Community House- Artists and writers collaborated for an exhibit that included workshops, performances, and wheatpasted posters around Chicago.
- The Casa No Casa Exhibit with Humboldt Park Solidarity Network
- the Digital Art Show with House Party Hotline
- plus more exhibits
Art + Community
Outdoor Events & Collaborations with Community Organizations
Against Da Fence Mini-Art Fest was a successful homecoming event, marking a significant moment for our community. We collaborated with Renegades of Funk to welcome back our neighborhood diaspora after being displaced last year by construction. Through public installations and interventions, we challenged issues of displacement, worked to reestablish a sense of belonging, and created a platform for all artists to participate. Against Da Fence symbolizes a reclamation of space, celebrates artistic expression, promotes intentional radical inclusion, and stands as a powerful testament to our community’s resilience.
The mural walls are seen by thousands every day from the EL and reflect our inclusive philosophy with artists. We also supported a secnd mural production in October with Renegades of Funk.
For the past 15 years, AnySquared has collaborated with Unity Park for the annual Art in the Park event! AnySquared has been instrumental in organizing the activities for the day. A special thank you goes to Helen Sanchez-Cortes, who has been our exceptional lead artist and organizer for this event. We appreciate all the volunteers for their support!
We are grateful to 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 back by Pilsen Art and Community House to host live art and arts activities for families at Hecho En Festival in Pilsen. A big thank you to Jarrett Brown, Mateo Badilla, Sofia Brunwin, Tracy Kostenbader, Tattianna Howard, Evrim, Thomas Donaldson, George Larson, and Bria Bridges for live art and assisting with the arts activities!
Mentoring Artists and Organizers
The Love, Land, and Deception exhibition curators at CAD. LLD curatorial team: Andrew Ramirez @mindsvoice • Tracy Kostenbader @tracykostenbader • Pamela Trejo @pam.dsign • Mario R. Salinas @goodnuff_creations • Maria Requena @sunflowersummit • Sofia Brunwin @fiasunn • Cielo Estrella Aguilera @cieloestrella • Insidious Studios @insidioustudios • Cara Mastanduno @caramastanduno • Sara Laureano @drvgee • Akira Iyashikei @_indio___
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 organizing and planning. We also guide artists’ into working for the community. We are so very proud of the many artists who we’ve mentored over the years.
We are also very proud of our members’ collaborative efforts in organizing — many for the first time—curating, jurying, installing, and creating programs, public art, social justice campaigns, and exhibitions for the whole Home Not Home Series, and Love, Land, and Deception: Deconstruction the Patriarchy and 1000 Words: Home Not Home exhibits.
About AnySquared
AnySquared is a place to make art, learn, and network. The community’s values have always been of belonging, mutual aid, and social justice. The community supports creative expression and community empowerment and is here to help you if you need it.
AnySquared was formed in January 2010 by a group of artists seeking to create a platform for their work and serve as a resource for Chicago’s creative environment. The organization was founded as a volunteer art collaborative based on radical generosity and transparency. With DIY shows throughout the city and weekly studio art-making days, AnySquared has provided opportunities for artists to present their work and expand their creative capacity. As the number of collaborators increased, so did the programming’s scope and depth. During the past Fourteen years, AnySquared has produced exhibitions, art festivals, film screenings, murals, youth art-making events, residencies, art markets and a variety of other platforms that promote artists and strengthen the Chicago art community.
In 2021, AnySquared became a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. We are excited to continue providing artists opportunities through exhibitions, screenings, murals, workshops, and other public events. AnySquared has a positive impact on the Chicago community. AnySquared events are almost always free, focus on the community, and presented as spaces for individuals who frequently feel excluded from institutional art spaces. We mentor artists! Through involvement in AnySquared-produced initiatives, we collaborate with artists to provide opportunities to engage in meaningful projects while gaining expertise in production, curation, marketing, fundraising, and strategic planning. We are so very proud of the many artists who we’ve mentored over the years who have created their own organizations, are working artists, and/or also teach art. As a nonprofit, AnySquared aims to build more artistic and organizational capacities for the future!
AnySquared.org | @ne2_gallerysquared | Projects | Videos | Art Catalogs | Workshops
projects@anysquared.com
AnySquared is an intergenerational collaborative, an art network, and a platform for artists. Propelled by a deep sense of cooperation with artists, neighbors and the wider community, our mission is to support, produce and promote collaborative projects that facilitate arts activities through inclusive participation. Our foundation is the belief that we can accomplish anything if we work together. We are proud of AnySquared’s impact. We are energized to continue to support and nurture local artists by providing space, materials, and opportunities!
Help AnySquared Thrive in 2025!
AnySquared relies on individual donations to support artists, create programming, and keep events free: Free Studio Days and with Free Supplies for emerging artists; Free Workshops where more experienced artists share vital skills and knowledge; Free events where all are welcome to experience art and performances.
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 From the AnySquared Team!