Chicago Public Art Group supports art that enhances public spaces and fosters community participation. Our work is rooted in the principle that everyone deserves to engage with art, that every community deserves a voice, and that public art encourages community investment.
“We are not a passé 50-year-old organization. We have fresh energy and are involved in innovative activities. While we want to preserve our legacy, we are doing unique work.”
— John Weber, CPAG co-founder and artist
An artist passes by an amazing new mosaic under the Metra tracks everyday on her way to work. She’s always wanted to learn that medium. She sees how it transforms the way people move in the space, engaging with it rather than rushing past.
How can she work on a project like that?
Through CPAG, artists work with community members to produce powerful collaborative public art. We support these artists by providing administrative assistance and connecting them with projects, resources, and an inclusive network of peers and mentors. CPAG’s commitment to social and aesthetic diversity is reflected in our vast body of work, which includes historically significant murals, mosaics, and sculptures, as well as placemaking projects that feature innovative landscape art and space design.
A group of high school kids wants to do something. They have a lot to say. They’ve been learning about how art can empower people, how art has always been an important part of social movements. Everyone’s on board—the kids, the principal, teachers, parents.
How do they begin?
Chicago Public Art Group has been hard at work since 1971, helping communities transform their environment with artworks that express identity, creativity, and pride. We provide organizations, agencies, schools, and other partners with skilled artistic leaders and the professional management needed to produce these projects, whether large or small. Our community-centered approach builds deep, lasting connections within communities and throughout the city of Chicago.
A man loves public art and the way it can express so much about the community in which it resides. He doesn’t know many artists but he wishes there was some way he could support their efforts and get to know the people who do work he values.
Where does he start?
There are so many ways to get involved in Chicago’s thriving public art community with CPAG. Contact us if your organization is interested in starting a community-based art project, or if you’re an artist interested in working on public art. Join us for openings, workshops, and lectures in our Bridgeport studio. Meet up with us around the city to attend a CPAG project unveiling or sign up for a mural tour to learn more about the fascinating history of public art in Chicago. Volunteer opportunities abound as well.
A woman walks by a beloved mural in her community that she notices is slowly beginning to chip away and fade. She wonders about the city’s investment in her community and public art throughout Chicago.
Will this mural be restored?
We feel a responsibility to safeguard this important collective treasure of public art. That’s why we are as committed to restoring and protecting older works as we are to creating new work. We are also building a comprehensive archive documenting public art in Chicago that will be available to everyone, from scholars and academics to those just curious about the art they encounter everyday.
