What We’re Launching (and Dreaming Up)!

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Celebrating our young artists and authors, our deep feelers and big thinkers, our joy-makers and movement-starters through programming that meets them where they are — and lifts them even higher.

As arts programs vanish from public schools and young people seek spaces of belonging, we believe children deserve more than survival, they deserve beauty, mentorship, and bold self-expression. TCGC responds with joy, justice, and unapologetic creativity.We’re a bold reimagining of what happens when you open the four white walls of a gallery to young people—kids so often told to hush, to shrink, to sit still—and instead invite them to spill color, story, and sound across every inch of the room.

What begins as a studio becomes a safe space. A classroom becomes a stage. A scribbled sentence becomes a manifesto. At The Children’s Gallery Chicago, we aren’t just teaching art; we’re building a city of young visionaries, brick by brick, canvas by canvas.

Our pilot launches in late summer 2025 and grows into fall with after-school programs in visual art and creative writing. Rooted in our Spiral Studio Method, each session encourages young people to return to their own ideas with deeper curiosity, to build on what they already know, and to stretch toward new possibilities. We don’t teach identity; we honor it. We create space for reflection, dialogue, and joyful expression, where youth can witness their own growth unfolding in real time. Layer by thoughtful layer.

Our ultimate goal is to open a fully functioning youth art studio that offers programming in everything from painting and drawing to screen-printing, ceramics, photography, and even glass blowing — all under the careful guidance of trained artists and mentors. But that’s just one side of the coin. We also envision a citywide network of TCGC neighborhood galleries that double as hubs for studio practice, community events, and youth-led exhibitions.

Most importantly, we are committed to placing these studios and gallery hubs directly within under-resourced communities where arts education has been systemically stripped away. Where young people are too often expected to shrink their dreams to match the limits of what resources are available to them.

We believe creative spaces should not be luxuries reserved for a few, but vital infrastructure for all. Our vision is to build lasting, joyful, and radically welcoming studios where youth can walk in, feel seen, and know they belong. By rooting our presence in the communities most impacted by disinvestment, we aim to not only meet kids where they are, but to remind them that where they are is already worthy of beauty, brilliance, and bold imagination. Here, young people aren’t asked to fit into old frames. They’re offered blank walls and invited to create meaning on their own terms.