street smART
A nonprofit whose mission is to provide emerging artists with a platform for showing and selling their work in the windows of Chicago's storefronts while at the same time turning the city of Chicago into the world's largest art gallery. Whereas traditional art galleries take 50% of sales as their profits, leaving only 50% for the artist, through StreetSmART artists take 80% of sales and StreetSmART takes only 20% of sales and reinvests such funds into additional nonprofits that support our mission and make creativity a viable career. We will provide more than five billion artists impressions each year and further establish Chicago as a creative hub like Berlin, New York, Miami, London, Basel, and LA. Artists win, and the people of Chicago win.*
“Imagine a city where graffiti wasn’t illegal, a city where everybody could draw whatever they liked. Where every street was awash with a million colours and little phrases. Where standing at a bus stop was never boring. A city that felt like a party where everyone was invited, not just the estate agents and barons of big business. Imagine a city like that ....”
— Banksy
Bloomberg’s America’s Best Public Art for Summer 2015 by Mark Elmwood
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-04-06/america-s-best-public-art-for-summer-2015
Theaster Gates, Ted Talk
http://www.ted.com/talks/theaster_gates_how_to_revive_a_neighborhood_with_imagination_beauty_and_art
Jonathan Plotkin, Chicago Tribune