Last month, Artadia: The Fund for Art and Dialogue and EXPO CHICAGO announced their partnership to promote the work of Chicago-based artists as part of the 2012 awards cycle.

All visual artists living and working in Cook County, IL are invited to submit applications for the Artadia Awards 2012 Chicago online through August 20, 2012. Individual artists and collaboratives working in all media and at any point in their career are strongly encouraged to apply. Applications will be reviewed by an esteemed panel of nationally known curators, arts professionals, and artists the fall of 2012 in a rigorous two-tiered jury process. The Finalists will be exhibited at EXPO CHICAGO and the Awardees announced there on September 22, 2012. This marks the sixth cycle of Artadia Awards in Chicago.

All eligible applicants can access the application online via the Artadia website www.artadia.org through August 20, 2012. A short-list of 15 artists will be announced in early September after the first-round panel meets in New York. Works by these 15 Finalists will be on view at the Artadiabooth at EXPO CHICAGO from Wednesday, September 19–Sunday, September 23, 2012. Simultaneous to the exhibition, a second-round jury will travel to Chicago for 45-minute studio visits with each of the Finalists and determine the Artadia Awardees. A press conference on September 22 at EXPO CHICAGO will announce the seven Artadia Awardees 2012 Chicago with two awards of $15,000 and five awards of $3,000.

Artadia Awards 2012 Chicago
Online application deadline: Monday, August 20, 2012, 11:59 pm CST
www.artadia.org/forartists.html

For information on becoming a member of Artadia, contact Ute Zimmermann, Program Director, utezimmermann@artadia.org; 212-727-2233 ext. 204

About Artadia: The Fund for Art and Dialogue
Artadia’s mission is to encourage innovative practice and meaningful dialogue across the United States by providing visual artists in specific communities with unrestricted awards and a national network of support. Artadia was founded as The Art Council in 1997 by investment banker and art collector Christopher E. Vroom. The first awards were given in San Francisco, where Vroom was living at the time. Chicago was added as a program city in 2001, Houston in 2003, Boston in 2007, and Atlanta in 2009. Started as an individual’s vision, Artadia’s base of support now includes private foundations, a national Board of Directors, a National Council, a Junior Council, and members who are active in supporting the core of creative culture: the individual artist.

Artadia Awards are determined through a rigorous jury process that employs nationally prominent curators, artists, and critics. Artadia partners with local foundations and individuals in the host cities to raise funds that go directly to artists in that community. Artadia matches those contributions by providing the funds that administer the program. Once an artist receives an Artadia Award, he or she becomes part of a national network of lifetime support.

In 2009, Artadia launched a New York Artist Residency program, which brings Artadia Awardees from its program cities to New York for a three-month residency at the International Studio and Curatorial Program (ISCP) in Brooklyn. This groundbreaking addition to Artadia’s commitment to individual artists is the first of its kind in New York City for US-based visual artists and is supported by the National Endowment for Arts (NEA). In 2010, Artadia launched a publications program and an Exhibitions Exchange program that shows Awardees from one partner city in another, offering Awardees crucial exposure outside of their local communities. Artadia also presents events in New York and Miami, which intend to not only demonstrate the tremendous creativity in partner communities, but also facilitate exchange and dialogue nationwide.