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Developing the Chicago Cultural Alliance
 At the core of the Chicago Cultural Alliance is over 25 ethnic museums and cultural centers, most of which first came together through The Field Museum’s Cultural Connections program that began in 1998. Three years of discussions, assessment, and planning solidified potential members’ shared commitment to forming the Alliance, and in 2006, it was formally chartered. The public launch of the Alliance and its website followed in February 2008, generating a growth spurt in the Alliance’s membership, as well as significant interest within the Chicago region’s arts and culture community.
In addition to the core members, membership in the Chicago Cultural Alliance includes partner institutions such as flagship museums, universities, libraries, and government bodies that seek mutually advantageous collaborations with the core partners. Also, organizations may participate in a single project as associates without formally joining the Alliance.
Early activities of the Alliance are underway to build core members’ capacities in the areas of organization development, archiving, and collections conservation. The Alliance's new efforts in public programming are designed to offer training in facilitating civic dialogue and incubate programs that link youth to nature.
"The guidance has been phenomenal... The Alliance has turned out to be not just an alliance of institutions, but a think tank."
—Sherry Williams, Alliance Board Member; Bronzeville/Black Chicagoan Historical Society Executive Director.
Vision:
The Chicago Cultural Alliance uses the strength of its constituents' first voice to make a regional and national impact on cultural and civic policy in order to effect social change. The Alliance promotes cultural understanding and provides invaluable resources for government, museums, libraries, universities, and other educational and cultural institutions.
 "[The Alliance] gives us all invaluable opportunities to accept each other and appreciate the commonalities and differences. This is a small beginning of peace."
—Kerstin Lane, Alliance Board President; former Swedish American Museum Center Executive Director
Mission:
The Chicago Cultural Alliance is a consortium of Chicago-area ethnic museums and cultural centers whose mission is to effect social change and public understanding of cultural diversity through first voice perspective. The Alliance increases the visibility and impact of Chicago's ethnic assets by leveraging partnerships between member organizations and major institutions. The Alliance assures the long-term efficacy of its public education, marketing, preservation, and social service programs by providing organizational development assistance to its core members.
More about the creation of the Alliance from Alliance Board Member and Field Museum Senior Urban Anthropologist, Rosa Cabrera...
"The Cultural Connections program provided frameworks based on anthropology for the partners to explore the similarities and differences among their communities, and in this process they created deeper connections and saw advantages in the comparative approach of the program. This experience has been the foundation for...continuing to develop cross-cultural programming and highlighting diversity as a social asset."
For more information about the Chicago Cultural Alliance, see the Business Plan Executive Summary or or email info@chicagoculturalalliance.org.
Download The Chicago Cultural Alliance Business Plan Executive Summary
(PDF format, 44kb, 6pp).
Chicago Cultural Alliance Phase II: Governance Development
(PDF format, 416kb, 29pp).
Download The Chicago Cultural Alliance Strategic Planning Executive Summary
(PDF format, 112kb, 18pp).
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