Fourteen nonprofit arts organizations in Chicago were granted a total of $6.5 million by The MacArthur Foundation to promote the enrichment of the city’s arts and culture community.

Each year, the Chicago-based foundation gives grants to nonprofit arts organizations nationwide ranging from $200,000 to $1 million, but this year the recipients were exclusively  Chicago organizations. The organizations awarded grants this year include Lookingglass Theatre, Links Hall, Chicago Opera Theater and The Hypocrites Theater. 

According to Cate Fox, senior program officer at the MacArthur Foundation who oversees its arts and culture initiatives, the money is an investment in organizational creativity, but will also help the organizations take risks they may not have been able to before.

“We’re hopeful this will give them a little more comfort,” Fox said. “These organizations take a lot of artistic risk. We hope that it helps them sleep a little better at night, leverage other resources and raise money.”

The MacArthur Foundation gives to more than 300 organizations annually. However, for the larger grants, the foundation partners with the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation and Prince Charitable Trusts for funding. After receiving nominations from all the donor organizations, a panel of internal and external experts weighs in on a smaller subset of the 300 organizations to judge which should receive the 14 arts grants.

Fox said the criteria used to assess the recipients include strong artistic programming and quality of organizational management as well as potential growth and influence.

Birdie Soti, executive director of the Chicago Jazz Philharmonic, an organization that was awarded $400,000 from MacArthur, said her organization’s work has been “cut out for them” after receiving the generous gift.

“Before the call came for the grant from MacArthur, I was looking through my accounts payable and being like, ‘Who am I not going to be able to pay next month?’” Soti said.

Soti said the money CJP receives from MacArthur go toward establishing an operating reserve to allow the organization to test new programming, think innovatively and take risks, such as cultivating and workshopping new genres like bluegrass or spoken word into the organization’s jazz and classical ensemble.

However, the money MacArthur gives to recipients is restricted, which means the money has to go toward a specific purpose. Soti said CJP still needs to fundraise, but this grant allows them to “push the envelope.”

Sheniqua Faulkner Flinn, marketing and communications manager at Hyde Park Art Center, was overjoyed—yet astonished— when she found out the art center will receive $625,000 from MacArthur. Faulkner Flinn said she thinks $500,000 of the $625,000 will go toward the art center’s reserve fund ,and the remaining $125,000 will help it expand access to technology tools for the community. She also said this will help the center think big for the future.

“A grant this substantial offers the art center sustainability, flexibility and [the ability to] plan for the future with more confidence,” Faulkner Flinn said. “It allows us to offer innovative programs and support Chicago artists. This is an impact this grant really offers.”