Arts groups loomed large in the announcement today that the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is awarding $325,000 in new grants to eight local organizations to foster “international connections” and advance “Chicago’s growing role as a global city.” Winners include the Art Institute, Chicago Children’s Choir, Chicago Human Rhythm Project, Facets Multimedia, Next Theatre Company, and Pegasus Players. (Non-arts recipients are the Heartland Alliance for Human Needs & Human Rights and the Chicago Sunday Parkways Stakeholders Committee.) With the exception of Next, which will get $7,000, winners will receive $40,000 to $50,000 each. The Art Institute’s grant will “support a cultural exchange with Nigerian scholars and dignitaries” in connection with its current show of mostly stolen treasure, “Benin — Kings and Rituals: Court Arts from Nigeria.” I’ll have more about how the loot was taken a century ago and the polite dance around where it belongs now in my column this week.
