Connect with Chicago arts and artists while growing your practice!
The Art Center’s unique model creates a pathway for artists to progress in their artistic practices and careers. By developing programming that fills critical gaps in traditional models for artist growth and development, the Art Center provides a variety of access points and means of support for artists working at all levels.
Professional Pathways
Professional Pathways develop the skills, experience, and network of artists at diverse stages of their careers, and are a means for artists to advance their practices outside of traditional and often cost-prohibitive MFA programs. Together, this suite of programs offers an inclusive and accessible ecology to support artists at every phase of their development. All Professional Pathways are Open Arts, the Art Center’s contribute-what-you-can tuition model.
- Bridge Program – A ten-week seminar-style course designed to help artists push their practices to the next level
- Center Program – A six-month course in which artists develop new work, receive feedback from professionals in the field, and work toward an exhibition to be held in the Art Center’s main gallery
Professional Pathways is supported by the Kanter Family Foundation.
Not Just Another Pretty Face
Not Just Another Pretty Face allows the Art Center to play matchmaker for artists and potential art buyers, facilitating a fun, accessible commissioning process that builds lasting relationships between artists and patrons, creates a new base of support for artists, and invests in the vitality of Chicago’s cultural community.
Frequently Asked Questions
The Art Center manages an Open Submissions Program inviting submissions of artists’ work and curatorial proposals for group exhibitions on a rolling basis. Submissions are reviewed annually by the Exhibitions Committee, which consists of artists and art professionals, as well as the Art Center’s Director of Exhibitions and Executive Director.
We are taking a moment to reassess our Open Submission Program guidelines and are unable to accept submissions at this time.
We sure do!
For Center Program, we offer:
- HPAC-funded Diversity scholarship for an artist of color
- HPAC-funded Teaching Artist Scholarship for a Hyde Park Art Center Teaching Artist
- Ground Floor Scholarship for artists who have been included in past or present Ground Floor exhibitions at HPAC
- Luminarts Fellowship to support two artists from their network
- Marwen Fellowship to support an alum from the organization’s history. All of these opportunities are primarily merit-based, assessed on clarity of statement, potential impact on the artist/practice, as well as potential overall contribution to the larger program and network of Center Program artists.
Additionally, some past Center Program artists received funding through the Community Arts Assistance Program offered by the City of Chicago. Click here to learn more about the Community Arts Assistance Program. Other Center Program artists have also secured financial support from Illinois Arts Council, linked here.
For Bridge Program, accepted participants can apply for assistance through our Financial Aid Program. Please submit your application below:
Unfortunately, we’re not art appraisers. Commercial galleries tend to set the prices of contemporary artworks, so your best bet is to do a web search to discover which Chicago galleries sell work like yours, and to approach them directly about appraising your artwork.
