The funding landscape for the arts continues to shift and many artists spend valuable hours preparing grants and seeking other forms of support in order to bring their talents before the public. So bedrock supporters of the arts are a special breed of funders, and this year 3Arts announced that across its various grantmaking initiatives, it will donate more than $1 million to more than 100 artists. This is an increase of some $400,000 over recent years and the organization noted when the grants were announced that “This significant increase reflects 3Arts’ deep belief that investing in artists is investing in the health and vibrancy of Illinois communities.”
At a time when some organizations have to tighten their belts and give less, it is exciting news to report that 3Arts is able to give considerably more than in recent years.
Cat Tager, the executive director of 3Arts, noted that “3Arts will dramatically increase our support for artists this year. We will add five new 3Arts Awards, 40 additional Make a Wave Awards, and over $150,000 in emergency funding, all of which will go directly into the hands of artists who shape the soul of our communities.”
The hefty increase in awards caught my eye because I have followed a few of the previous winners. Some of these winners performed at the 3Arts Celebration of this year’s awards.
Violinist Caitlin Edwards, for example, is a native of Birmingham, Alabama, but is now based in Chicago as a performer, teacher, and recording artist. In addition to a 2021 3Arts Award, she has been awarded an Esteemed Artist Award from the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, a Sphinx MPower Artist Grant and a Gateways Music Festival Rising Star. She is a member of D-Composed, which makes a point of bringing the work of Black composers to concert stages and introducing new audiences to their music.
Her commitment to her music shines through and it was a pleasure to hear her with her D-Composed colleagues offering up music that was both exciting and inspiring at the 3Arts celebration of this year’s winners.
Another previous 3Arts grant winner is Wanees Zarour, who directs the 60-piece Middle East Music Ensemble at the University of Chicago. Zarour and Fareed Haque run the Chicago Immigrant Orchestra, an organization dedicated to “collectively make music that represents the rich cultures of the world.” The orchestra features a wide range of instruments, including zhongruan and liuqin, veena, and Mongolian horse-hair fiddle.
This year, 17 artists were awarded $30,000 grants, an increase from 10 recipients last year. 3Arts has distributed more than $8 million to more than 2,500 Chicago-area artists since 2007. Women represent 66% of awardees, 74% are people of color, and 17% are deaf or disabled.
One of this year’s awardees is ebere agwuncha (eh–bear–ay ah–gwan-cha), a Chicago-born Igbo designer, maker and researcher. According to 3Arts, agwuncha’s “work honors the collective crafting traditions of Nigerian women. Through intimate installations and ritualized portals, agwuncha explores ancestral memory using techniques like ceramics, woodworking, basket weaving and jute netting. In 2025 they launched ‘woven together,’ a free basket weaving workshop celebrating Igbo craft heritage. agwuncha has held residencies at Writing Space, Chicago Artists Coalition, ACRE, and Soaring Gardens, and collaborated with groups including In Care of Black Women and Chuquimarca Projects. agwuncha was the inaugural artist-in-exchange at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago sculpture department and later taught as a visiting lecturer.”
On a web page devoted to agwuncha’s work, the artist writes, “I am excited to join the Hyde Park Art Center through the Jackman Goldwasser Residency as part of the 2026 cohort. My intentions with this residency include developing my studio art practice, facilitating ‘woven together’ programming, and continuing my research with local archives as a visiting scholar.”
Another 3Arts winner with a connection to Hyde Park is dancer, choreographer, and educator Wendy Clinard, the founder of and artistic director of Clinard Dance. Her work blends flamenco traditions with contemporary performances, and she has created nine full-length productions since the turn of the century. Clinard has worked all over the world, including Spain, India, China and Syria, and she is a 2025 Community Learning Fellow at the University of Chicago.
3Arts was created in 1912 and has a long history of working with and celebrating women artists. 3Arts is a nonprofit that supports artists working in the performing, teaching, and visual arts in the Chicago metropolitan area. The 3Arts awards were launched in 2007 to provide unrestricted awards, project funding, residencies, professional development, and promotion. Part of the organization’s mission is “to support Chicago’s artists by providing resources that help them take risks, experiment, and build momentum in their careers.”
For more information on 3Arts, visit their website at 3Arts.org.